By Mary Thurwachter
During the first week in March, Gov. Rick Scott signed off on the sale of A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana to a Boca Raton developer for more than $15 million.
“Now it is in the private sector and the devil is in the details,” said Mayor Dave Stewart at the town’s March 10 City Council meeting.
Developer Ken Endelson, of Southeast Legacy Investments, and urban planners are drawing up plans to develop the 80-acre property with commercial and residential space.
Just east of I-95 at Lantana Road, the property housed a hospital for tuberculosis patients until state legislators closed it in 2012 following complaints about the $10 million yearly operating cost and the age of the building.
Expecting the sale for several years, Lantana officials have made revisions to its comprehensive plan so they would have some control of what happens on the property.
One concern for the town is what will become of the 23-acres Lantana leases in the front of the property on Lantana Road for its baseball fields. Lantana has said it would move the fields if Endelson will pay for the construction and development of the fields at a new location. The town’s current lease for the ball fields extends to 2024.
The town, Stewart has said, would like to have residences and commercial development that will increase the town’s tax base.
Endelson’s Kenco Communities built Wycliffe Golf and Country Club in Lake Worth, Addison Reserve Country Club in Delray Beach and the Oakes at Boca Raton.
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