Commercial developers interested in former Mayview Hospital parcel
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The Aloe family may have made its fortune in mining and minerals -- members hold large interests in Imperial Coal Co., Shenango Inc. and Quality Aggregates, among others -- but it has also seen recent success developing business parks on reclaimed mine property through Imperial Land Co. in Findlay.
That latter experience is the motivation behind the family's bid to buy the former Mayview State Hospital property, according to consultant Dennis Regan.
"We looked at it, and saw the benefits of having parcel property with access to I-79, and a place quiet enough for light industrial and mixed-use commercial development," Mr. Regan said.
"Our plan for that property is exactly what's in our proposal."
That proposal, under the name Aloe Brothers LLC, calls for the site's redevelopment as a business park with parcels along existing roads and with substantial green space and the potential for trails linking Wingfield Pines in Upper St. Clair to Fairview Park in South Fayette.
Aloe Brothers bid $505,505 for the 170-acre property. The only other bid received by the Mayview Land Reuse Task Force was for $130,000 from a Washington County developer.
The state closed Mayview, which served those with mental health issues, at the end of 2008, and created the task force to help make sure the property was reused properly. Mental health care advocates have throughout the process been pushing the state to maximize profit and put the money toward the care of those who would have been served by the hospital had it stayed open.
At the task force meeting last week, several speakers expressed disappointment in the small amounts bid, given the property's location. It is in South Fayette on a curve in Chartiers Creek, surrounded on three sides by Upper St. Clair.
But the hospital's 39 buildings range in age from 50 to more than 100 years old, they were purpose-built for hospital functions and many contain large amounts of asbestos. An extensive appraisal set the value of the land itself at $7.8 million -- almost $50,000 per acre -- but said it would take $13 million to raze and/or remediate the buildings, leaving an actual value of negative-$5.2 million.
First Published June 10, 2010 5:32 am
