Aiken County’s deadline for accepting offers for the purchase of the old Aiken County Hospital has been extended by a week.
The new deadline for prospective buyers to submit sealed bids is 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14.
The original cutoff point in the county’s request for proposals was 3 p.m. on May 7.
“We received some indication that at least one interested party needed a little more time (perhaps there were more),” wrote Aiken County Administrator Brian Sanders in an email to the Aiken Standard. “I decided that it was worth an investment of one additional week if it meant that [County] Council may have more proposals from which to choose. Besides, a one-week addition would not delay it going to Council [during the panel’s next meeting May 21], so there seemed to be no harm in delaying a week.”
In a telephone interview, County Council Chairman Gary Bunker said: “My understanding is that there will be a selection (multiple offers) for Council to consider.”
Built prior to World War II and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the old hospital is at 828 Richland Ave. West in Aiken.
After it ceased to be a medical facility, the old hospital served for a time as Aiken County government’s headquarters. But it no longer was needed for that purpose after the Aiken County Government Center opened on University Parkway in Aiken in 2014.
The old hospital currently is vacant.
Since 2018, the county has failed to finalize agreements to sell the brick building and the 9.44 acres on which its stands to The Marian Group, WTC Investments LLC, Aiken Lofts Manager LLC and, most recently, Turner Development, LLC.
Tracey Turner is the CEO and owner of Washington, D.C.-based Turner Development.
He had a deal with the county to purchase the old hospital for $950,000, but he didn’t complete the transaction by the deadline of March 31 this year.
Prior to then, the Aiken Standard reported that Turner was facing foreclosure on his Weeping Willows mixed use development project in the North Augusta area and also that he and his company had been involved in the past in a series of other legal battles.
Plans for the old hospital discussed publicly by Turner included putting luxury condominiums in the 66,072-square-foot brick building. He said he also wanted to construct a 41,000-square-foot office building, townhomes, apartments, several commercial buildings and more on the property.
