New use for old hospital?

The old Allen County Hospital may be repurposed rather than razed.
Arlyn Briggs asked Allen County commissioners for a price to buy or lease the structure Tuesday morning.
He and part of his team of investors met with commissioners in executive session a week earlier, during which they fleshed out plans to convert the hospital into a care facility for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, as well as a possible station where dialysis could be performed. Other possibilities, he told the Register, center on intervening in abusive situations.
“We’d like to have a place to care for families as a whole,” he said.
Commissioners didn’t respond immediately to Briggs’ request, and said they likely would have an answer at next Tuesday’s session.
County Counselor Alan Weber said he received an assessment of hazardous materials in the hospital that would have to be dealt with, whether it were razed or kept standing and reused. “The report isn’t too bad,” he said, which led him to mention commissioners might want to look to remediation by the county if they decided to demolish the structure. That could lead to better bids for the work, he said, suggesting costs for razing very well might be $300,000 to $400,000, maybe more.
Briggs looked over the report while commissioners were otherwise occupied and said it didn’t give him pause. If his investment group is given control of the building, the county would be off the hook for dealing with asbestos and other such hazardous material.
The older hospital is a usable structure, Briggs advanced.
While no specific plans have been laid out for its refitting, Briggs said it was the belief of his group that some rooms could be used with little change and with those that needed upgrading the work would not be difficult.
“The building’s sound,” he said. “It’s built like Fort Knox,” a statement he based on an inspection and review of original construction plans.

THE INVESTMENT and development group is based in Indianapolis and includes a couple from Danville, Iowa, Richard, an engineer, and his wife, Marjorie; his son Ethan, who earned degrees in business, computer science and graphic arts from Baylor University; a couple from California with roots embedded in health care; Linda Gregory, an income specialist whose work mainly is with health care units in St. Louis; and Tammy Call, a school psychologist in Topeka.
“We also have several local investors, who don’t want to be identified just yet,” Briggs said.
Briggs was raised on a farm south of Lone Elm, where he still farms about 1,200 acres with his brother Gary and has a ranching interest with another partner. They are putting together plans to sell processed beef to Kansas City markets.
He also worked with several technology companies in the Kansas City area, before returning to the farm. Among his accomplishments, Briggs said, was developing software programs for companies such as Wells Fargo and AT&T.
While he has no previous business development experience on the scale proposed here, Briggs said he thought his penchant for “thinking outside of the box” and willingness to work hard played well in efforts to make the ACH-based project successful.
However, there is a plan B.
“If things don’t work out with the hospital, there is another site in Iola that we will look at,” he said, with the ACH proposal actually being a second attempt at a health care project.
Several months ago he purchased Hedge Apple Acres bed and breakfast along U.S. 54 east of Moran, with initial thought of making it into a care center for Alzheimer’s patients. When cost became prohibitive, Briggs said he reverted to the place’s original purpose and will re-open the bed-and-breakfast f on May 1.

IN OTHER NEWS:
— Commissioners approved Sheriff Bryan Murphy’s proposal to sell an older pickup in the department’s fleet to Iola for $2,500, so it may be used by Iola Rural Fire to fight brush and grass fires. The truck has four-wheel drive and will accommodate a tank and spray equipment, he said.
— At Commissioner Jim Talkington’s request, Bill King said he would have a ditch in Bassett cleaned and would look into cost of erecting lights along South State Street, between Iola’s south limit and Elm Creek. Lights are in place south of the creek.