Sutter County OKs lease for former Kmart

The Sutter County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the purchase of a lease agreement for the former Kmart building at 850 Gray Ave. in Yuba City.

The 84,000-square-foot building will accommodate 400 health and human services employees scattered throughout the county in seven buildings at a lease cost of about $715,000.

The deal gives the county possession of the building through 2047 at an annual fixed cost of $193,500.

Megan Greve, general services director, said the building would improve the services the county provides to its citizens. Greve anticipates the building’s completion could take from a year to 18 months.

The county will be buying the lease from Sears Holdings Corp.

Specialty signed the lease with the county, agreeing to pay $2,000 in monthly rent.

“As an acknowledgment of American Specialty’s investment in the facility and community, and in an effort to facilitate the successful reopening of the hospital, the county temporarily deferred collection of the rent and offered assistance in seeking critical licensing designations,” the county said.

But recently, according to the county, Dr. Gurpreet Singh, American Specialty’s board chairman, told the county American Specialty would not proceed with the deal.

“The county is saddened and disappointed by American Specialty’s refusal to follow through on its promises and representations, or meet its contractual obligations,” the county said in its press release.

“In response, the county will take the hospital back as provided for under the lease and begin the process of evaluating what it can do to bring needed hospital services to the residents of Colusa County.”

The hospital closed in April 2016 and lost its state license to operate.

American Specialty was expected to secure a new license.

In a Bankruptcy Court filing last year, Franklin Adams, an attorney for the county, wrote that “the county and its residents are in dire need of hospital services, including but not limited to an emergency room.”

Adams wrote that “the needs of its citizens simply dictate that the county be as proactive as possible to get competent medical treatment, especially emergency treatment, as soon as possible.”

In the bankruptcy case, American Specialty, based in Modesto, was the only bidder that provided the county with enough information to assess its proposal.

The others were Nivano Health and an unnamed party on the East Coast.

After the deal with American Specialty was signed, the county said it was “looking forward to working with American Specialty to reopen the hospital as soon as possible.”

In its business plan for Colusa Regional, American Specialty noted Stanislaus County, home to Modesto “is an underserved area, yet we have, in the space of just a few years, brought many new services to the community, created almost 1,100 jobs, and have introduced a previously unavailable type of care to the area. We envision something similar for Colusa.”

Colusa County, according to the business plan “has all the elements necessary to build a strong health care system centered on the, nowclosed, acute hospital. To restore and upgrade the hospital, resume home health services, and introduce a native ambulance service to the county, it will require hard work, innovative thinking, and a strong foundation in the community. These things, along with the restoration of the jobs lost with the closure of the hospital, are the goals we have set for ourselves.”