St. Mary council OKs sale of Franklin Foundation Hospital

The St. Mary Parish Council has stamped the final approval needed to sell the former Franklin Foundation Hospital for $226,000 to Rukkus Properties LLC.

Hospital Board Chairman Marshall Guidry told the parish council that the board agreed to a 120 day “due diligence’ clause with the company before the sale is finalized.

“Already, they are planning to lease areas of the building to addictive medicine and substance abuse treatment centers,” Guidry said. “They’re really playing their cards close to their vest, because they don’t want competition coming in to the area.”

No one from Rukkus Properties LLC was present at the meeting when the council approved the sale.

However, Guidry’s comments sparked questions from Parish Councilmen the Rev. Craig Matthews, and Charles “Butch” Middleton, who are concerned that the group could lease portions of the former care center to labor crews.

Hospital Attorney Russel Cremaldi said, “We have done the most we could in the sale to make this property restrictive. There will be no labor crews housed there.”

He said if Rukkus sells the property, zoning for the area would not necessarily prevent labor crews or similar businesses from opening.

Councilman David Hanagriff, whose district includes the former hospital site, said “We did all we could to protect the residents around the facility.”

Guidry said that between utilities, maintenance and insurance costs, the hospital cost the board $50,000 last year.

A new Franklin Foundation Hospital opened last year on Northwest Boulevard in Franklin at a cost of roughly $12 million, Parish President Paul Naquin said.

Guidry said business is up 26 percent, while admits are up nine percent, and patient days are at 23 percent and growing.

“We had record revenues this summer and the best is yet to come for us,” he said.

Dr. Gary Wiltz, who headed the emergency room at the former hospital site, said he believes the building is roughly 56 years old.

Built in 1952, the site offered 50 patient beds on three floors. Wiltz was hospital chief in the 1980s. The facility was finally closed because of roof leaks and asbestos concerns. The facility had only one floor in operation and 20 available patient beds when it closed, he said.

In other business, the parish council approved:

• $51,500 for the St. Mary Parish Community Action Agency to provide the elderly with nutritional programs and transportation.

• $50,000 for the St. Mary Council on Aging.

• $15,000 for Bayou Industrial Maintenance Services in Berwick, a grant-based, non-profit agency that provides employment, training and empowerment for people who are considered as developmentally disabled.

• $10,000 to the St. Mary Center of Hope, formerly known as the St. Mary Association for Retarded Children.

*$9,000 to St. Mary Outreach, a non-profit corporation established in 1985 by the East St. Mary Parish Ministerial Alliance, that provides food, hygiene items, and energy service, among other things, to needy families in the area.

*$4,000 to the St. Mary Parish Fair and Livestock Show.