An East Bay medical center shuttered last year could soon reopen its doors to a different set of guests: hotel-goers.
Doctor's Medical Center in San Pablo has been sitting empty and idle for the past 10 months, but investors may breathe new life into the former hospital. A hotel operator has made an offer to buy the property.
West Contra Costa Healthcare District Board Chairman Eric Zell said Royal Guest Hotels has offered $13.5 million for the property -- an offer the debt-ridden district cannot refuse.
"We had a preference to sell it to some kind of health care center, but no health care option was put before us," Zell said.
Officials said the deal has not been finalized and can take four months before the sale is complete.
If the sale passes, it would take quite some time to remodel the property and reopen it to new guests.
Royal Guest Hotels have also done projects in the Davis and Sacramento area, Zell said.
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San Pablo Mayor Rich Kinney said a hotel would be a good fit for the city.
"We all know hotels brings jobs and there's always a lack of hotels in our area," Kinney said.
But West Contra Costa County residents are not so sure about the plan.
Resident Rebecca Collins-Puerto thinks the developer is hoping to cash in on the San Pablo Casino crowds, but said the idea of a hospital turned hotel does not seem hospitable at all.
"No, my mind would be thinking about who died in the room I'm in," Collins-Puerto said. "I'd be looking for spirits and ghosts."
