By Associated Press
Tuscaloosa AL – No agreement has been reached, but University of Alabama officials appear interested in buying Bryce Hospital property from the state mental health department. Talks on a possible land deal began in late 2005.
Gov. Bob Riley said the 209-acre Bryce property would be an ideal piece of state land to sell.
"Bryce is a perfect example of land that potentially would be of greater and more efficient use and more profitable if it was sold," Riley said Wednesday after a news conference about the sale of state prison land.
The Bryce property is about one-third the size of the university. The university in recent years has developed its campus to the fenced-in edge of the Bryce property. Mental Health and Retardation Department spokesman John Ziegler has said that Bryce patient and employee needs would be considered first before any land deals are considered.
Bryce Hospital has about 350 patients and about 1,000 employees.