City of Salem considers purchasing former Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility property

Salem officials are weighing whether to buy the former Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility on the city's southeast side, though it's too soon to say what they'd do with the land.

The juvenile corrections campus, which was operated by the Oregon Youth Authority, closed in 2017 as state officials moved youth in custody to MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn.

They were transferred because the number of people under the Youth Authority's supervision had fallen over recent years to the point where the Salem and Woodburn campuses were approximately half full, according to state officials.

The Oregon Department of Administrative Services, which generally handles the state's real estate transactions, has listed the roughly 45-acre Hillcrest site at 2450 Strong Road SE — across the street from the former Fairview Training Center property — for $5.6 million. 

The campus is located within one of the city's four opportunity zones, which can essentially give investors a capital gains tax break. In downtown Salem, for example, Portland developers have proposed building a $43 million, 123-room hotel inside another opportunity zone.

Lawsuit:Special ed lawsuit against Oregon ed dept., Gov. Brown filed by disability rights advocates

More:Salem man sentenced to 4 years prison for string of coffee shop, restaurant burglaries

Hillcrest has several halls, an administrative building and a former high school. Should Salem officials buy the Hillcrest site, they would consider leaving at least one of the buildings for housing, according to a city report.

The site's administrative building is apparently "the most feasible option" to turn into transitional single room occupant housing that would include restroom and kitchen facilities, according to the report.

"The site as a whole is too large to operate and manage efficiently or effectively for shelter use or for transitional housing," the report said. "The dormitory buildings are extremely large and of an older construction type that would be expensive to heat and cool as well as to monitor and secure."

SWAT:Salem police takes burglary suspect into custody on Summer Street NE

City officials also could issue a request for proposals to redevelop the site, with the aim of finding a developer or investor who might benefit from the site being inside the opportunity zone.

Kristin Retherford, Salem's urban development director, said in an interview that city staff have toured the site and met with the Department of Administrative Services.

The Salem City Council is expected to review information about the potential purchase, which Retherford put together, at a Wednesday work session.

"This would really be (the) beginning of any conversation about it," she said. "This is all very high-level information."

Contact Jonathan Bach at jbach@statesmanjournal.com, call (503) 399-6714 or follow him on Twitter @jonathanmbach.