DATE: Tuesday, November 25, 1997            TAG: 9711250826

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL  

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   61 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** The Portsmouth General Hospital buildings, which were purchased 18 months ago by Maryview-Bon Secours, are not yet vacant, as a headline said in Tuesday's Business News. Correction published in The Virginian-Pilot, Wed., Nov. 26, 1997, page D2. ***************************************************************** PORTSMOUTH IS POISED TO BUY VACATED HOSPITAL BUILDINGS

City Council tonight will consider an appropriation of $500,000 to buy Portsmouth General Hospital buildings on Crawford Parkway from Maryview-Bon Secours, which is dismantling the medical facilities.

The transaction is expected to be approved in light of the council's prior support of the proposed purchase.

When the purchase is completed, Maryview will lease back the buildings for a year at $5,000 a month and pay all costs of maintaining the facilities. At the end of the lease, Maryview has agreed to raze the buildings and give the city an ``environmentally clean'' site, according to Luke McCoy, a deputy city manager.

Louise B. Eidson, a Maryview Medical Center vice president, said Maryview has received a bid from a Portsmouth company to tear down the buildings for $800,000.

Eidson said Maryview will ``recapture some of the costs'' from the federal government in the form of Medicare credits for ``selling depreciable assets.''

Maryview bought Portsmouth General 18 months ago from Tidewater Health Care for an undisclosed amount. Subsequently, Maryview has received state approval to move outpatient surgical beds and major diagnostic equipment to a new facility under construction in Suffolk at Interstate 664 and U.S. Route 17 North.

Maryview will continue to operate an urgent care center, outpatient kidney dialysis, some diagnostic services and a rehabilitation unit at the Portsmouth General location for a year.

``At the end of a year we hope to find a site nearby to relocate the downtown facilities,'' Eidson said.

Maryview attempted to market the buildings but was unable to find buyers to return the property to the Portsmouth tax rolls. The city stepped in with an offer to pay fair market value for the land only, which the city assessor has determined at $400,000 to $600,000.

``If we control the property, we have the chance to put the best thing possible on it,'' McCoy said. ``If we don't control it, it could be damaging to the neighborhoods.''

He said the city wanted to determine the best use for the land, which is adjacent to the Naval Regional Medical Center, where a $400 million building program is ongoing.

He said any new projects also should be compatible with the Park View Historic District, which surrounds the land. The area is part of Portsmouth's Vision 2005 economic and community development plan. ILLUSTRATION: VP MAP

PORTSMOUTH KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu