Lovelace to build long-sought Valencia hospital

County’s voters approved tax in ‘06

The long wait for a Valencia County hospital seems to be over.

County commissioners have voted unanimously to award a contract to Lovelace Health System to build and operate a hospital and 24-hour emergency health care facility. Lovelace submitted the sole response to the county’s request for proposals.

Commissioners expressed relief that the project was moving forward after more than a decade of legal battles. Valencia County voters approved a tax levy to fund a hospital in 2006.

“This is overdue,” Commissioner Helen Cole said. “It’s been 12 years that the taxpayers would come and ask, ‘Where is our hospital?’ ‘Where is our money?’”

The contract between the county and Lovelace spells out how the $25.8 million collected in property taxes will be disbursed for operation and maintenance of the hospital.

Lovelace will get 20 percent of the balance 10 days after services begin, then a portion of the remaining balance for eight years, until the funds are depleted.

As the hospital project has stopped and started over the years, location has been one of the key concerns.

According to Lovelace’s written proposal, site selection will be based on factors that include proximity to Interstate 25, the cost of land, zoning, the number of people living within a 15-minute drive, estimated population growth in the next five years and room for expansion.

The site needs to be large enough to accommodate the building and parking for staff and patients, estimated between 12,000 and 20,000 square feet total.

Lovelace has hired CBRE, an Albuquerque commercial real estate service, to research commercial locations in Valencia County suitable for the facility.

After more than a decade of lawsuits and controversy since the mill levy was approved in 2006, the most important thing the County Commission did was take the location selection out of its own hands, Chairman Jhonathan Aragon said.

“I think by putting it in the hands of the provider, it creates a mechanism for success for this project,” Aragon said.

He said the hospital project is something he remembers his parents talking about when he was a teenager.

“Over time, it’s become the No. 1 topic in Valencia County politics. As I got older, I realized all the time that’s been put into this, all the concern by the taxpayers about where is their hospital. Everyone wondering why it isn’t built,” Aragon said.