SOUTH SALT LAKE — Granite School District is entering its 100th year by buying the vacant Rocky Mountain Medical Center and transforming it into an education center, believed to be the only one of its kind in Utah.
The district on Tuesday announced it would pay $15 million for the four-building, 23-acre medical campus and turn it into the Granite Education Center, complete with district offices, a brand-new technology institute for students, and a slew of other educational, job training and community offerings, including a possible elementary lab school (see graphic).
The Granite Board of Education OK'd the sale in a Tuesday night meeting.
The buildings will be remodeled, at a district cost of $9 million, and open their doors to children and adults by year's end.
"It's a dream come true for us," Granite Superintendent Steve Ronnenkamp said. "We're going to be able to access things we could only dream about for the last several years."
Rocky Mountain Medical Center, 2500 S. State, closed its doors in June 2001, a year after it opened. At the time, owner IASIS Healthcare said it was averaging 17 inpatients a day. IASIS was the third hospital chain to own the building since FHP built it in 1993, and later sold it to Paracelsus.
IASIS officials wish the facility could have remained a hospital, but praised Granite as a buyer.
"We're excited for them, and for the community," said Doug Boudreaux, director of marketing and public relations for IASIS Healthcare, which owns Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, Jordan Valley Hospital, Pioneer Valley Hospital and others. "This is going to benefit the surrounding community."
Granite will pay for the center with its own money and some borrowing.
The $15 million to buy the facility was already in the district's buildings-only budget to build a new Granite Technical Institute and replace the district's foods facility over the next three years.
But the money is budgeted for over three years. And the district needs $9 million to remodel the center's nearly 304,000 square feet of building space.
So Granite will buy about $10 million in bonds, to be repaid in about two years, at less than 2 percent interest. The bonds will be secured under the municipal building authority and do not require voter approval or a tax increase, district officials said.
The district also likely will sell its current food services and district office building once the two move into the center, Ronnenkamp said.
Granite School District currently is debt-free.
The investment, which the district says will help increase innovative programs and cost efficiency, will not affect funds for teacher salaries or school operations.
When the center opens, it is expected to include: a new Granite Technical Institute for students, including health sciences, biotechnology, and pre-engineering courses; expanded community education and English as a second language programs; Jones training center for people with disabilities; the district's teacher quality center; and more classes through a partnership with Salt Lake Community College.
The district also will partner with the Utah System of Higher Education, the Utah College of Applied Technology and local businesses to give students and adults more educational and job-training offerings, still in the works.
The district could build an elementary lab school, where teachers would train and put in place cutting-edge curriculum and best practices in the field.
It could create a fine arts academy.
It could have a family resource center, through partnerships with state and community agencies, that could include crisis and family counseling, educational guidance and a preschool and day care.
And the center could operate year round, Monday through Saturday.
"From a real estate perspective, this is a real home run," said Randall Woodbury of Woodbury Corp. real estate and president of the Granite Education Foundation. "Talk about having a little bit of money go a long way."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com