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NANTICOKE — The former Nanticoke Special Care Hospital, vacant for more than a year, will be sold at auction next month.
The approximately 80,000 square feet in multiple buildings and nearly 4 acres of land off of West Washington Street had been used to provide long-term acute care to patients with complicated medical needs until it closed in mid-2014. Commonwealth Health had operated the facility before selling the unit to Post Acute Medical, based in Camp Hill, which then moved it to the seventh floor of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
The property had been known as Mercy Special Care Hospital until Community Health Systems purchased it and other former Mercy Health Partners facilities in 2011. Mercy had been leasing the hospital property from the state for $1 per month for 20 years. When Mercy decided to sell the hospital, the Pennsylvania Department of General Services negotiated a new two-year lease with Nanticoke Hospital Co., a subsidiary of Community Health Systems, for $2,000 per month, with a $500,000 option to buy.
Built in 1909 as a private hospital on land donated by the Susquehanna Coal Co., the building was taken over by the state in 1911. It served the needs of coal miners and eventually offered nursing education and later acute care.
After Post Acute Medical moved out last year, a clause in the property deed required that ownership be given back to Susquehanna Coal or its successor, said Stephen Rudman, a spokesperson for the state Department of General Services.
“The property is now owned by Newport Aggregate under a reverter clause that said the property could belong to the Commonwealth as long as it was being used for medical purposes,” Rudman said. “We did own title to the property until July 1. The Commonwealth no longer has any financial interest in the property.”
An auction has been scheduled for Nov. 9 by Fortna Auctioneers of Annville. Mike Fortna, the firm’s president, said the auction will be conducted live on-site and simultaneously on the Internet, beginning at 1 p.m. There is no minimum bid, but would-be buyers will need to pre-qualify and place a $50,000 security deposit in advance, Fortna said.
The property is being sold as-is. Inspections will be held on Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.