GRAHAM — Peak Resources cut the ribbon Wednesday on its new 120-bed rehabilitation, nursing and hospice care facility, giving its residents more space and amenities, and filling an empty space in town.
“It’s the kind of development we look for — infill development,” Graham City Manager Frankie Maness said. “It brings previously untaxable property onto the tax rolls, provides a valuable service to the economy.”
The nearly 6-acre lot off North Main Street at 215 College St. was the site of the old Graham High School, an important place in people’s memories, but unused for years.
“I think it’s an answer to a property that’s central to this part of town,” City Council member Griffin McClure said. “We’ve managed to find a use for an important part of our community.”
Mayor Pro-tem Jimmy Linens reminisced to the crowd of around 100 about being a student at the old school and playing baseball. “If I live long enough, I might be coming back and living at this place,” Linens said. “But I won’t be playing baseball.”
It took years to get to this point. The company moved into its old facility at 779 Woody Drive, Graham, in 2011 with the intent to upgrade, facility administrator Chip Lacy-Sellers said. At the end of lengthy negotiations with the county, the property’s previous owner, Peak Resources bought the property for $3.9 million.
It was a well-attended ribbon cutting with the Graham High School band starting things off for visitors, local officials, Peak Resource employees, and volunteers. Besides members of city and county government, there were representatives from Alamance County EMS and Hospice and Palliative Care of Alamance-Caswell.
While there are other facilities like this in Alamance County, this one stands out in Graham.
“We’re the only skilled nursing facility in Graham,” Lacy-Sellers said.
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Reporter Isaac Groves can be reached at igroves@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3045. Follow him on Twitter at @tnigroves.