What will become of unfinished Tacoma psychiatric hospital? Sale set for this month
The once-proposed site of a 105-bed psychiatric hospital in Tacoma is scheduled to be sold this month to pay off construction debt.
In April, attorneys for two construction firms that had earlier won a $2.8 million judgment against the site developer requested and received an extension to the foreclosure-sale deadline.
According to attorneys for Archer Construction and Anderson Construction, the extension was at the request of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, which “requested an extension in order to facilitate proper notices to the Judgment Debtor ...,” the motion stated.
The sale date of the property, near South 19th and South Proctor streets, is scheduled for 10 a.m. June 28 at the County-City Building, 930 Tacoma Ave. S., second floor entry plaza, according to the sheriff’s sale calendar posted online.
In October 2023, site developer Tacoma Life Properties LLC, affiliated with Signature Healthcare Services of Southern California, was ordered to pay a default judgment to the construction companies to resolve unpaid debt owed to both for work at the site.
In March, the property was ordered to be sold at sheriff’s sale to help satisfy the judgment.
Work started at on the $42-million project in January 2022 but was suspended that summer by the developer due to a lack of financing, according to court filings in the case.
The 5 1/2-acre property has an assessed value of more than $4.6 million.
It is unclear what’s next after the sale. Tacoma Life Properties/Signature has a year to reclaim the property by paying the owed judgment and all costs incurred during the foreclosure process.
Signature was granted a Certificate of Need for the hospital from the Washington state Department of Health in 2019.
Frank Ameduri is a media representative for the state Department of Health. He told The News Tribune on Tuesday in response to questions that the department was “aware of the situation with Signature and is working through our normal process to determine if regulatory action is needed.”
He added, “At this time no action has been taken against that (Certificate of Need), pending the determinations of our investigation.”
That determination is anticipated to “happen relatively quickly,” he noted.
Original plans called for construction of the city’s second behavioral health hospital just a few blocks west of Wellfound Behavioral Health, also on South 19th Street. Signature moved forward after settling with the City of Tacoma in March 2020 following Signature’s legal challenge to allow for a rezone of the property.
Signature has administrative offices listed in California and Michigan. It owns and operates 19 freestanding acute psychiatric hospitals in the United States. In 2017, the company sold and leased back some of its properties to raise capital, though that transaction involved sites post-expansion or in the process of adding capacity.
A Signature representative did not immediately respond Tuesday to questions regarding future Tacoma plans or the impending land sale.
This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
