The last brick and slice of concrete that once were components of the old Vereen Memorial Hospital will soon be hauled away. And within weeks, the Colquitt County Hospital Authority will be discussing the future of that six acres that fronts South Main Street.

Jim Lowry, administrator of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, said several people have called and voiced interest in the property.

“We hope to get a reasonable return on this real estate,” said Lowry.

And it is expected to be substantially more than the $490,000 spent on the demolition.

Lowry said based on other property that has sold on Main Street, he would expect that the hospital authority and Colquitt County Board of Commissioners would recoup their investments with some left over.

Of the $490,000, the hospital authority pays two-thirds and the county pays one third.

“I haven’t been given a bill yet. But I expect by the last week in January, the hospital board along with county commission will meet and come up with a reasonable price to ask for those six acres,” said Lowry.

Once the property is sold, its future becomes a matter between the developer and city codes.

A few people initially had suggested that the area be made into a park. However, the City of Moultrie is strapped for cash and has numerous other needs on its priority list. That’s one reason that the city opted not to help pay for the demolition. And it may not have been legal for the city to have participated since citizens in Moultrie would have been paying twice (once as a city resident and once as a county resident). A state law passed several years ago mandated that cities and counties work out plans that excluded what amounted to double taxation in local services for some citizens.

And even though the city did not chip in a third of the demolition costs, it did offer in-kind services via its engineers and was involved in a steering committee than examined the future of the property.

“City Manager Bob Hopkins was a lot of help to us in this endeavor, and we still seek the city’s input,” said Lowry. “We still intend to be a good neighbor in what happens from here out. The community has been good to Colquitt Regional.”

Actually, the hospital authority, which owned the property once it was no longer used as a county office facility, had expected a much higher price for the demolition. At one point, the estimate was about $1 million, which included an asbestos factor that often complicates removal of old structures. When the $490,000 figure came in, the authority did not hesitate to cover two-thirds of that cost.

The authority could have sold the property for a dollar and walked away from it, but more than once the authority noted that it wanted to complete a due diligence effort to make sure the community was best served by its decision.

After months of searching and seeking input, it was decided the old structure had no viable future use. At one point, an Albany religious foundation sought the building to be developed into a home for young wayward girls. The authority decided this use was not conducive to Main Street development.

Residents of South Main Street have been very vocal recently on projects that involve their neighborhood. They successfully opposed a bed and breakfast facility’s plans to also serve as an events center. The city council approved a special use permit for it as a bed and breakfast, but added a restriction to the permit that it could not be used for receptions and similar events that the developer had planned.