The fate of the old Angel Medical Center on Riverview Street remains undetermined following a feasibility study of the building.
HCA Healthcare, which bought Angel Medical Center in 2019, opened a new hospital off the 441 Bypass in September 2022. HCA has offered the old building to the Town of Franklin. The town has discussed the possibility of using the property for senior citizen housing, but before moving forward, opted to conduct a feasibility study to learn more about the building.
The town received a $267,5000 grant from Dogwood Health Trust to conduct the study. Givens Communities, a nonprofit organization, has been serving as a consultant and the town contracted with SFCS Architects to conduct the feasibility study. The results of that study were presented at the Town Council meeting on Feb. 6.
The market analysis conducted as part of the study shows there is a need for affordable senior housing, however making that a reality at the old hospital comes with challenges.
The estimated cost to rehabilitate the 161,302-square-foot building for independent living senior apartments would be $50,800,000 to $63,500,000. The project would not qualify for any historic tax credits.
“There is not enough of the original historic building remaining,” said Teresa Stephens from Givens Communities. “That was a big blow to find that out.” On the other hand, she noted, the fact that it is not a historic building would give a developer more flexibility in what could be done with the building.
The original hospital opened on the site in 1925 in Dr. Rogers’ renovated home, followed by a new hospital building in 1927. Brothers Ed and Furman Angel built a new hospital in 1957 with major renovations and additions in 1976, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2000-2002. Angel Medical Center became part of Mission Health in 2013, and HCA bought Mission Health (including Angel) in 2019.
Stephens said there are funding sources that could help pay for about two thirds of the rehabilitation costs, but there would still be a funding gap between $23.2 million and $28.8 million.
“We would have to come up with far more money than we could ever come up with to close that gap,” she said.
Going into the study, Stephens said they thought if the funding gap was $7 million to $10 million, they might be able to work with that. “It’s too big to close,” she said.
“Our bottom line is that it is not feasible for affordable housing,” Stephens said. She added that Givens is still interested in bringing senior housing to Macon County.
“That need is there, it’s great and the market study substantiates that.” She said they are still looking for property in the county.
Another obstacle that came up in the process is that HCA would consider Givens Communities “a potential referral source.” Stephens said Givens operates facilities, such as assisted living, in other locations, which makes referrals to the hospital. Although that kind of service was not part of the plan for the Franklin project, it still would have been in conflict with HCA’s policy and part of the agreement to donate the property to the town. Macon County is also considered a potential referral source since it operates EMS, thus the property cannot be donated to the county.
Stephens said the way to get around the “potential referral source” conflict would be if someone leased or bought the property at fair market value. She said following an appraisal, HCA has come up with a hard number of $1.4 million, as is. “They have said there is no negotiating that number for us if we want to do it at market value.” Stephens said HCA has indicated they want to keep the portion of the property that includes the helipad.
Mayor Jack Horton said the town might not be able to afford ownership of the building, because even paying the power bill would be “astronomical.” But he has asked HCA to include the town in discussions about what happens to the building and to ensure it is something beneficial to the town and residents.
When asked about the cost of demolishing the building, Stephens said she would not be comfortable giving that estimate. However, the town had been told previously it might cost $3 million to $5 million to tear down the building.
At this time HCA maintains ownership of the building.
Council members Stacy Guffey and David Culpepper spoke about other needs in the county and the region such as mental health care, substance abuse treatment and transitional housing that the building might be suited for.
“There is hardly a family in this county who’s not affected by mental illness, drug abuse, suicide,” said Guffey. “We used to have facilities available for treatment.”
He noted the town had been told there were five overdose deaths between Thanksgiving and Christmas. “Probably three of those could have been prevented if they had somewhere to go,” he said.
“It’s a shame that we have a facility here in this county that could be used for that, and we can’t use it. I think it goes beyond any kind of business problem and morphs into more of a moral issue.”
Culpepper said in the big picture $1.4 million is not that much for someone already in the healthcare-related business to buy the building and provide the services needed here.
Guffey said the council should work with other partners in the region to come up with a solution, as those problems are not just singular to Macon County. He said corporate entities are trying to limit competition. “The only way to solve that is there are a lot of voices in the room.”
Stephens said that although the building is not going to work for them to provide senior housing, conducting the study gives the town good information in its discussions going forward.
She said that while the environmental assessment of the building included the finding of asbestos and lead paint that it was less than what they anticipated. There are also chemicals and equipment remaining in the building that HCA would need to remove before the property is transferred.
The full feasibility study is available on the town’s website, franklinnc.com; click on “Agendas and Minutes” under the Town Government tab. A copy is also available at Town Hall to review.