A new Valley Crest era in the works

Construction of a new Valley Crest Nursing Home is officially under way, giving Luzerne County officials a green light to begin planning to sell the old county-owned home and surrounding land in Plains Township.

However, commissioners will likely have to wait until 2010 for the revenue because Valley Crest residents may not move into the new home until January or February of that year.

In the best-case scenario, the new home will be completed in December 2009, said Pete Licari, President and Chief Executive Officer at Complete HealthCare, which assumed ownership of the financially troubled county nursing home in January 2006.

Commissioners did not budget revenue from the sale of Valley Crest land in the 2009 budget because it wouldn’t be realistic to expect the money next year, said Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla.

County Engineer Joe Gibbons said a steering committee of county managers will work with county consultant Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services to come up with a marketing plan.

“My suggestion is that we should start now with marketing because the parcel is so large,” Gibbons said.

The county owns about 58 acres and the old home, which was built in 1958, Gibbons said. Another 11.5 acres was sold – 8.5 acres to Complete HealthCare for the new home and 3.4 acres to Bold Gold Media WBS, LP, which had been leasing land for a radio tower at the site.

The steering committee is trying to come up with a package that would generate the most revenue for the county, Gibbons said. Options include: selling the entire parcel as is; leasing out the old building and selling the remaining land; or selling the building and land separately, he said.

It’s unclear how much the county should expect to make from the sale, though millions of dollars has been projected in the past.

Complete HealthCare and Bold Gold both paid $95,000 per acre. An appraiser has valued the remaining acreage at anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 per acre.

The location is visible off state Route 315, but county officials have questioned whether the restrictive access road would put off high-traffic businesses.

Complete HealthCare agreed to buy the land for the new home at the start of 2008, but construction was delayed because an easement claim prevented the company from obtaining a clear title to the property until September.

Licari said construction is back on track. The site has been cleared, and footers are being poured for the new $12-million, state-of-the-art, 180-bed home. Valley Crest’s occupancy has been around 170 residents.

Most of that is expected to come from selling a former Hazleton bank building that was purchased last year for $700,000 to use as a southern county annex, according to county Budget/Finance Chief Tom Pribula.

Commissioners want to sell the building because it would cost an estimated $750,000 to $1 million to prepare the structure for use as a southern annex, and several county offices couldn’t be housed there because they are locked into other building leases that don’t expire for years.