Investment Group Eyes Mat Su for Senior Facility

An Idaho company is looking into the possibility of constructing an assisted living facility near Palmer.

Douglas Clegg, CEO of Spring Creek Capital in Boise, told the Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly recently that he has met with Borough officials on tentative plans to purchase property as a location for future transitional housing for seniors. Clegg says discussions center on the fact that there is no facility in Mat Su designed specifically for the care of seniors after they are released from acute care at local hospitals:

“Currently you do not have what we would call a rehabilitative post acute or sub-acute facility in the greater Mat Su, which is designed in large measure to help people move from a hospital situation to their homes. 

” And so consequently what is happening right now, is that they’re full, they are staying in their swing beds, they don’t have a place to go, they are going home prematurely, and they come back to the hospital for repeat visits, and it’s causing some real challenges down there.”

Clegg says he’s met with representatives of both Mat Su’s senior centers, and with Assembly members on a likely piece of property to purchase, and is looking at four acres located near Mat Su Regional Hospital that is currently occupied by the Mat Su Convention and Visitor’s Bureau [CVB]. Spring Creek Capital has made a cash offer and pledged one million dollars in earnest money on the property, according to Borough manager John Moosey.

“It is early, but it is my understanding that they [Spring Creek Capital] would be the owner and operator of the facility,” Moosey says.

Moosey says the Borough owns the land .

“Because the property is held in title by the Mat Su Borough, they’ll have to go through the normal process for any sale by the Borough, and that will essentially include Assembly approval.”　

Currently, the property and the building on it are undergoing an appraisal. The building, which houses the visitors bureau,  would be part of the sale. Moosey says  the CVB has planned for a year to move  to a new facility a mile up the Parks Highway.

Clegg, who  is a member of the National Investment Council for Housing and the Assisted Living Federation of America [ALFA] ) says needs for Mat Su’s burgeoning senior population are pressing due to rapid population growth.

“Your community right now is in dire need of this, this is not an issue, this is epic. If you look at the numbers of the growth of seniors in the Mat Su, you are one of five locations in the United States of America that has the fastest growing rate for seniors over the age of 65.”

Clegg says the Mat Su is in danger of losing families because of the lack of facilities for seniors.  He says that the history of Mat Su is living in the lives of its senior citizens right now.

Bonnie Quill, executive director of the Mat Su CVB is unavailable for comment.