TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County will become the owner of the PACE North building after agreeing to purchase the property back from the organization for more than $2.6 million.
Grand Traverse County commissioners voted Wednesday to finalize the purchase agreement of the building at 2325 N. Garfield Road. The approval was listed in the agenda’s consent calendar and included a memo from County Administrator Nate Alger, who will move forward with closing the deal by Sept. 1 for a total sale price of $2,621,250.
PACE — which stands for “Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly” — purchased the property from the county for $2,912,500 last year, an agreement that included the county’s contractual right of first refusal should another entity offer to purchase the property.
That agreement also included the county’s ability to reacquire the property for 90 percent of the purchase price offered by the third party.
In Alger’s memo detailing the transactional history of the property, he noted the county was notified in April of PACE’s intent to sell the building, triggering the county’s contractual right.
In June, PACE North Executive Director Nicole Farkas confirmed the program was finalizing a partnership with One Senior Care, a Pennsylvania-based elderly care company. The director also added the partnership wasn’t impacted by the sale of the building and that PACE North intends to remain at the Garfield Road location and continue its services.
“The focus remains exactly where it should be on delivering exceptional care to the participants we have the privilege to serve,” Farkas said in June as both organizations awaited Michigan’s regulatory approval.
In Alger’s memo and the lease agreement, the county will collect $17,848 in monthly rental payments from PACE North.
“The county will now be the landlord and will assume responsibility under the lease that was managed by the DHHS Board,” Alger wrote. “The county will incur costs under the lease for facility repairs and grounds maintenance.”
The administrator also noted the purchase was not a budgeted expense and recommended that payment for the property comes from the county’s Capital Projects fund.
“It is also our recommendation that all future settlement payments and residual rent payments go back into the capital projects fund so we may reimburse what we can, knowing there will be a gap in what we receive in rent and what we pay as the building owner,” Alger’s memo added.
County commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. Aug. 19 in the second-floor commission chambers at the Governmental Center, 400 Boardman Ave., in Traverse City. The public is welcome to attend.