Restriction Keeps County From Selling Empty Lot

EL PASO, TX-A contractial restriction is keeping County Commissioners from developing a 64,000 square foot lot in west-centralElPaso.

The empty lot, which is near St. Patrick Cathedral, was sold to the county by Columbia Healthcare, which operatedLandmark Medical Center on it. As part of the sale agreement, columbia healthcare mandated the county could not use the lot for healthcare purposes or sell the land to other healthcare agencies.

The piece of land is only minutes away from I-10 and isnear an area filled withnumerous medical institutions. This has prompted several healthcare organizations to make bids on the land, county officials said.

However, the restriction has kept the county from selling the land to such bidders. According to documents obtained by ABC-7, everything from nursing homes to rehabilitation clinics is prohibited from beingbuilt on the land.

In 2005, county commissioners said they wanted to create a park for cancer survivors on the land. However, the plan fell through when candlelighters, a group that works with cancer survivors, failed toraise enough money to buy the land.

“It’s hard because being close to Downtown and being close to all the hospitals, they want to do something related to a hospital,” said Piti Vasquez,the county’spurchasing agent.

Vasquez tells abc-7 he is trying to find out if Columbia Healthcare would be willing to lift those restrictions so the county would be able to sell the land.

The lot is currently worth $945,000 and keeps rising in value every year, said county officials.

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Written and reported for broadcast by Stephanie Valle

Written for the web by Joe Villasana