UNC Health Care will continue paying taxes on Eastowne Office Park property it bought this month from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, a spokeswoman said today.
As N&O staff writer David Bracken reported last week UNC paid $14.2 million for the seven buildings that Blue Cross vacated last year as part of a cost-cutting effort. The deal includes 47 acres and 152,000 square feet of space across U.S. 15-501 from the insurer’s 40-acre campus headquarters.
The property has an appraised tax value of $16 million, according to Orange County land records. The sale price was negotiated after both sides did their own appraisals, Blue Cross spokesman Lew Borman said..
Blue Cross paid $253,000 in property taxes on the buildings to the town, county and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district in 2010. When two vacant land parcels in the deal are included, taxes totaled $334,000, Borman said.
Today, UNC spokeswoman Karen McCall said the health care system understands the costs of providing government services and will continue to make those payments.
“It is not coming off the tax rolls,” she said,
UNC expects to develop a master plan this year to determine how best to use the property, but spokeswoman Jennifer James said it would likely end up housing a mix of administrative and patient-care facilities.
“We’re continuing to grow, and so is the Triangle,” she said. “To support research and clinical and teaching missions, we don’t really have enough space right now. We’re kind of at capacity on campus.”
Comments
UNC Heathcare pays taxes???
Fri, 01/13/2012 - 13:20 — Shadow722So UNC Healthcare is a not-for-profit integrated health-care system, owned by the State of North Carolina, has made a unilateral decision to pay property taxes, on property now owned by the state (the people), to the town of Chapel Hill.
So now the people of NC will be subsidizing the town of Chapel Hill, so who voted for that???.
This is a great development.
Fri, 01/13/2012 - 09:34 — ClaudiusThis is a great development. It is further evidence that UNC really is a loyal partner in the town's economic future. Now, if we can only convince them to do the same with the Carolina North property....
Good Lesson Here!
Thu, 01/12/2012 - 20:39 — fhblackThe lesson here is rather than immediately jumping to the conclusion (as some did) that the property would come off the tax rolls, it's better to wait until we hear from those who really know rather than those who just speculate.