LAWRENCE COUNTY Property interests developer

The buyer wants to develop the land around the nursing home for commercial use.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A private buyer is interested in the county-owned nursing home and the land surrounding it.
Lawrence County commissioners will vote Tuesday to formally enter into negotiations over the next 30 days. Commissioners are not revealing the potential buyer's name, but said Anthony Staph of Castle Realty will be given permission to act as the county's negotiator on the deal.
Commissioner Roger DeCarbo said commissioners were asked to formally vote on entering into negotiations so the buyer can prove to banking institutions that the county is interested in selling the land and nursing home.
Two parcels
The nursing home property includes about 35 acres along Pa. Route 65 that has been cut into two parcels. Twenty-one acres of largely wooded property has been for sale for several years and a Cleveland-based company wanted to buy it, but the deal fell through when the company couldn't get financing, DeCarbo said. It had planned to build an assisted living facility on the grounds.
The other 14 acres of land contains the county-owned nursing home, Hill View Manor, which commissioners recently had appraised and placed on the real estate market.
DeCarbo said the buyer has told county officials that the nursing home will remain operational and the buyer would keep the unionized workers and fund their pension. DeCarbo noted that the potential buyer has also expressed an interest in adding onto a newer section of the building and razing an old wing of the building that is no longer in use.
DeCarbo said the buyer has indicated plans to develop the wooded parcel first for commercial purposes and then develop the area surrounding the nursing home.
Commissioners said a cemetery on the property will remain county property and noted it is less than an acre. It mostly contained pauper's graves and was started when the land was a farm for indigent county residents.