By Rusty Bradshaw
Twitter: @SunCitiesEditor

Residents in the area of the former Acuity Hospital became concerned again the weeks of Aug. 1-14 when they saw activity at the facility.

But one local official said the empty facility was undergoing repairs after a large water leak damaged the building.

Sun City residents living near the southwest corner of North 111th Avenue and West Thunderbird Boulevard noticed activity at the property, which has been vacant since 2016. They worried the owners, AR Global, might try to create in a behavioral rehabilitation center, a prospect that had them up in arms in December 2019.

Zoning attorneys Adam Baugh and AR Global representative Trent Taylor discussed the site’s future with more than 100 residents Dec. 3, 2019. The meeting was at the now-abandoned site, which once housed a specialty hospital. Residents’ ire was drawn because a letter announcing the meeting was sent to a small number of people near the property only a few days before the meeting. The letter also stated the owner had plans to create a behavioral health and treatment facility at the location.

“Is it for seniors or all ages? Patients from outside of our community? What type of behavior problems?” Sharon Bartlett, a resident of Sun City Estates near the property, stated in an email prior to the Dec. 3 meeting. “Personally, I do not feel this type of facility belongs in a senior community.”

Neighbors may have little to worry about, at least from the recent activity at the property. Sun City Fire Marshal Jim Fox said he visited the property when he noticed activity there.

“It seems that there was an AC condensate line that leaked inside the building and wasn’t caught right away so there was 1-2 inches of water on the floor throughout the building,” he stated in an Aug. 17 email. “Of course the water was wicking up into the drywall.”

Workers were drying it out with more than 300 fans, and cutting and replacing the drywall about 24 inches up on the walls throughout, Mr. Fox explained.

But the activity as seen from the outside looked to some residents like preparations for a new tenant.

“There are now large skips outside the building and I believe they are gutting the inside,” Nearby resident Patricia Whittley stated in an Aug. 14 email. “A month ago there were trucks belonging to a company that does fire prevention works, sprinklers, etc. working in there. Probably bringing the building up to code. The fire department put up a nice new red sign to that effect.”

After seeing the activity, nearby resident Chris Tracy wondered if AR Global officials had approved a tenant for the building.

“There were supposed to be additional public meetings about anything considered” she stated in an Aug. 14 email.

Mr. Baugh told attendees at the Dec. 3 meeting there would be additional public meetings if AR Global officials identified a prospective tenant.

“We are trying to work with neighbors and the community to get the best project possible,” he said Dec. 3. “We’ll have more meetings, a dozen or more if necessary, if we have a viable project.”

AR Global officials did not respond by press time to emailed requests for comment. A representative in Mr. Baugh's office said his firm has not represented AR Global since the Dec. 3 meeting.

Mr. Taylor said AR Global purchased the property in 2013 with an existing lease in place. But the leaseholder abandoned the property in 2016 and it has been vacant since. The 4.64-acre site previously had been operated under various owners as a nursing home.

During the Dec. 3 meeting, Mr. Baugh and Mr. Taylor said there are no current plans to locate any specific tenant on the property.

“We are not dealing with anyone yet,” Mr. Taylor said. “Our brokers have reached out to us with interested parties, but we aren’t negotiating with anyone right now.”

Mr. Baugh said numerous behavioral health companies have expressed interest in the property.

“But we wanted to get neighbor input, and that’s why we are having this meeting,” he said.

The majority of residents’ concerns at the meeting were about neighborhood security, echoed by Ms. Tracy in an email to the Independent the day before the event.

“What security will be in place? Are patients confined to the facility or permitted to walk the neighborhood?” she asked.

Mr. Baugh said behavioral health and treatment encompasses a variety of things, including mental issues and drug abuse. He said BH and T facilities take patients voluntarily, not by court order, and are typically not lockdown facilities.

The property is zoned by Maricopa County as R-3, multifamily residential. It was able to be operated under a county special-use permit allowing for nursing home use only. Mr. Baugh said a different SUP could be requested, but that would not happen unless there was a specific client committed to the site. An SUP request normally takes six months to go through the county’s process, but this effort could take up to one year, he added.

Residents at the Dec. 3 meeting suggested other uses for the property, including a restaurant, dollar-type store, multi-unit housing to be rented to community visitors or as a Hospice facility. Mr. Taylor said the building layout makes those options unworkable.

“The building is set up in pods surrounding nursing stations,” Mr. Baugh said. “The rooms are standard hospital rooms with a bed and corner restroom.”

He said brokers have reached out to memory care operators, but none have expressed an interest. Mr. Taylor said brokers have approached hospice and other sources about the facility but found no interest.