NMJC to buy former hospital building for $1.75 million
Levi Hill/News-Sun
Pending an environmental study and approval from the New Mexico Higher Education Department, New Mexico Junior College will soon be the owners of the former Lea Regional Medical Center campus.
NMJC Board of Directors voted unanimously Thursday to approve a $1.75 million purchase agreement with Covenant Health to buy the former hospital building.
The sale cannot go through until the land purchase is approved by HED, according to NMJC general counsel Scotty Holloman.
“We signed an agreement to buy it back in June,” Holloman said. “There are several due diligence things in there that have to be done — a survey, appraisal, title binder — it just takes a little while to get some of this stuff together. If we can get everything in place, we would like to submit by February 9th to be heard at the HED meeting in March.”
NMJC President Cathy Mitchell told the News-Sun previously the building is not salvageable, at least not affordably so, and the plan is to tear it down.
Holloman said tearing down the facility remains the plan. He said office complexes around the building will likely come down too, eventually, after lease agreements for those facilities run out.
“The plan is to tear the big building down as soon as we can. There is some salvage work to be done first,” Holloman said. “I’ve been told there is some equipment in there that might be usable to someone else. The intent is not to extend leases, but the Junior College doesn’t want to kick anyone out on short notice.”
He said the final piece of the puzzle before submitting the land purchase to HED for approval is an environmental impact report that should be completed soon.
The purchase of the former hospital building is a project that has been in the works since as far back as 2024 when Lea County Commissioners approved the transfer of $1.75 million in taxpayer funds to NMJC so it could purchase the former hospital in July 2024.
Covenant purchased the hospital in 2021, which by then was licensed for 99 beds, and moved to its new hospital building at the corner of Lovington Highway and Millen Drive in September 2022.
Lea Regional Medical Center — located immediately north of the NMJC campus — was built in 1974 and was originally licensed for about 200 patient beds. The four-story building had several additions added over the years, such as the Medical Center Plaza in the 1980s.
