KRAUSE: City, IHA Remain in Talks for Michigan Avenue Property

City of Saline officials are still talking with officials from IHA about purchasing Lot 20A, the last city-owned parcel on East Michigan Avenue. Saline City Councillor Dawn Krause, who also chairs the City of Saline Healthcare Task Force, briefly reported to her council peers on the matter during Monday's meeting.

"There's an offer - we've talked about the offer for IHA. We're still talking to them about Lot 20. That's not done yet. We're still talking about that, but that's exciting that we're at least in talks," Krause told council.

The city is listing the property with Swisher Commercial, which built the SalineLand.com website to help market the property. The 6.5-acre parcel is listed for $817,500.

In 2018, the city received proposals to buy the land - or at least some of it - from IHA and GBA Development, LLC.

GBA Development offered to buy the entire parcel for the city's asking price, submitting a plan to build a grocery store, retail and restaurants. The city and GBA entered a purchase agreement that was extended several times as the developer change plans. Earlier this year, the city elected to not extend the purchase agreement and the city began talking to IHA about the property.

In 2018 IHA proposed a single-story, 11,650 square-foot health center that would have housed primary care physicians, urgent care, labs, X-rays and other services.

But IHA only wanted the front portion of the property with Michigan Avenue frontage. 

Now, as the city's health care task force continues its work to bring more services to the city, city leadership is talking to IHA about the same parcel of land.

In related news, Kerstin Woodside, Katelym Schaible, Kelly Chantelois, Carol Hoeft, Jamie Fear and Heidi Shields have joined the  Healthcare Task Force. High school students Jennifer and Nancy Gage have also joined the Task Force.

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