Carbon County officials are looking at buying a Lehighton building to help solve some spacing issues.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners acknowledged a letter from St. Luke’s University Health Network, dated Nov. 16, regarding the intent to purchase the 525 Iron St. building. St. Luke’s Wound Care Center is currently in the building and there is additional available space.

The building would be used to create necessary space for the Children and Youth Services department.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner presented a PowerPoint presentation regarding his thoughts over the matter.

The sale price for the 525 Iron St. building is $510,000 and would cost approximately $1.5 million to renovate, bringing the total cost to approximately $2 million.

Ahner suggested using money from the American Rescue Plan funds the county received for this project. Carbon received $12.5 million from that plan.

If the county purchases the building, Ahner said 16 employees could be moved in as early as February with the remaining staff staying at the current location at 76 Susquehanna St., Jim Thorpe, and gradually moving everyone over through June 2023.

There is currently 5,671 square feet of space available in the proposed purchase, with an additional 2,650 square feet still occupied by Wound Care.

St. Luke’s would continue to rent the Wound Care space from the county at $23,850 a year until the department’s new location is ready.

One unknown factor in the purchase, Ahner pointed out, would be the front section of the building, which is in poor condition and would need either extensive renovations or the county could demolish the section and build a new addition.

“I think this is a great opportunity for us to try and get people out of Jim Thorpe and straighten our buildings out here,” Ahner said.

If Children and Youth moves out of 76 Susquehanna St., then that opens space for moving other departments.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich discussed the Jim Thorpe administration building that the county had just withdrawn from purchasing.

He said that there was also a private developer interested in that property at 410 Center Ave., that would have renovated the space and sold it to the county through a lease to own option at $6.3 million, approximately $3.1 million less than the total cost for the county to purchase and renovate the structure itself.

Lukasevich said that the county should look at options, to see what would be best for the future.

Lukasevich said the Iron Street building doesn’t meet the future growth projections for Children and Youth, but he said the county should still consider the building.

“We have some extremely difficult decisions here,” Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said. He mentioned spacing issues in the sheriff’s department, the Area Agency on Aging and other departments throughout the county offices. “There’s a lot more that goes into it.” Nothstein said he would love to see a new construction be the solution, but having the county seat in Jim Thorpe means the courthouse and elected officials have to remain there. Space to build isn’t easily found in the borough.

“There’s a lot of moving parts here and it’s not an easy decision for all of us, but we’re trying to work through it,” he said.

Last year, the commissioners looked at the Iron Street building as a rental possibility to create a temporary courtroom to hold trials while maintaining proper distancing during the pandemic. The option never materialized and extra space was rented in the 410 Center Ave. building in Jim Thorpe.