Salvation Army demolition makes way for medical building in Palmer

PALMER — Just three days after demolition was completed of the Salvation Army Store, new construction has begun on a medical building in downtown Palmer.

Janet Kincaid, chairman of the advisory board for the Salvation Army said the building, the site of the old Elks Lodge, was condemned after an earthquake in January compromised its supporting frame, and the demolition paves the way for the opening of a new store on the Bailey’s Furniture lot on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

“To me, it’s huge,” Kincaid said. “We got ride of a building that we had repurposed and served us well for a time.”

Developer Richard Stryken, working with Anchorage-based company JL Properties, said the project started Tuesday with utility lines put in Tuesday and ‘dirt work’ starting today. It’s his 18th project, he said, in Palmer, the latest being the 125 Evergreen building.

Leased to Mat-Su Regional Hospital, it is expected to open March 1.

“It’s 11,500 square feet with urgent care and specialty doctors,” Stryken said. “It will have full-blown X-Ray and imaging capablities and between both areas, I think it will have a total of 18 rooms, as far as spaces for doctors and patients — it’s a nice building design.”

Stryken said Gary Wolf, of Palmer-based Wolf Architecture, is the architect on contract.

“Talking about the positives of this, the Salvation Army is going to overdouble in size and its food bank is going to overdouble in size,” Wolf said. “It’s a 501(c), so the borough benefits and the city benefits — not only from sales tax, but figuring this will add 22 well-paid jobs with physicians and techs and such, and it’s part of the restoration of downtown Palmer.”

Kincaid said moving into the Bailey’s Furniture property has not yet been made official.

“Right now we don’t have anyting signed on the dotted line,” she said. “But the Salvation Army is an Army and it moves ponderously slow.”

Kincaid said a number of influential Salvation Army leaders are in town this week for an annual camp at King’s Lake, where the organization owns a significant amount of property, and, she hopes, progress can be made toward securing a new location.