- Saratoga County Homestead, a hospital for tuberculosis patients in the early 1900s, just sold for $55,100 at auction, according to the Times Union.
- After a “bidding war,” James Walk of Texas walked away as the new owner. He plans to turn the property into a retreat for war veterans.
- The dilapidated property was left untouched for 46 years and will likely cost millions of dollars to renovate.
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A one-time tuberculosis hospital will have new life as a retreat for war veterans – if the property’s new owner sees his plans come to fruition.
Saratoga County Homestead, a decrepit former sanatorium in upstate New York, was put up on Auctions International by county officials. The county-owned property has long been rumored to be haunted, and it’s a popular spot for paranormal “tourists,” despite the hazardous condition of the long-abandoned building.
Read more: 21 photos of the most bizarre real estate projects around the world that were left in ruins
James Walk of Texas placed the winning bid of $55,100 before the auction closed on August 28, 2019. Now, he says he intends to renovate the ruinous property and turn it into a retreat for veterans.
Read on for a closer look at the former asylum.
Bidding on the dilapidated Saratoga County Homestead started on July 24, 2019.
Source: Auctions International
The property sits on over 28 acres of land in Providence, New York — roughly 45 miles north of Albany.
Source: The Daily Gazette, New York Post
Built in 1913 and opened in 1914, it first served as a tuberculosis sanatorium until 1960.
Source: The Daily Gazette
The Homestead reopened in 1961 as The Saratoga County Infirmary, a public nursing home.
Source: The Daily Gazette
The decrepit asylum (and the caretaker's house on the same land) remained untouched for 46 years.
The Saratoga County Homestead was once owned by Bruce Houran, a man based in Florida, according to the Daily Gazette. After the owner failed to keep up with the property taxes, Saratoga County took ownership of the former hospital.
The county put the property up for auction. Despite needing massive renovations, a bidding war erupted.
Source: New York Post
The old hospital (spanning 31,000 square feet) has a caved-in roof, missing doors, broken windows, and is covered in overgrowth.
Source: Times Union
It's also a popular spot for paranormal enthusiasts and abandoned site explorers, given its rumored hauntings. These "guests" have also covered the building in graffiti.
Source: New York Post
Bidding closed on August 28, 2019. The Homestead sold to a Texas-based man named James Walk, who pledged the winning bid of $55,100 under the username "jwalk2515."
Source: Times Union
The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors approved the sale on September 11.
Source: Times Union
One county official, Providence Supervisor Sandra Winney, told the Times Union that she was glad the county no longer had ownership of the property: "So many kids would go up there because they thought it was haunted. I was worried someone would get hurt."
Source: Times Union
In fact, officials had sealed off the "haunted hospital" in March 2012, after the January death of a high school student in a car accident just down the road from the former infirmary.
Providence's volunteer firefighters told reporters for the Daily Gazette that the teens wouldn't have been in the area if not for the decrepit building.
Walk, who never saw the property in person before shelling out $55,100 for it, told the Daily Gazette that he'd like to turn it into a retreat for war veterans.
"I just looked as it as a serene place, [a] place where veterans could come," Walk told the Gazette. "Like most things in life, I strive for something that exceeds my grasp. I work for a large company, and one of the bosses' mottos is, if you believe it and work at it, it will happen."
Walk is a veteran of the Iraq War.
"I looked at it and the first thing I saw was beautiful old architecture, it was a historic building and I wanted to restore that sense of something grand," he said. "I was looking for land, but not necessarily a project this big."
Source: The Daily Gazette
Walk has started up a GoFundMe page with the intention of raising money for the restoration project, which will likely cost millions of dollars.
Source: The Daily Gazette, GoFundMe
"I realize [the restoration] might not be finished in my lifetime, [but] I will be the person to start it," said Walk, who still lives in Texas but expects to relocate to New York in the future.
Source: The Daily Gazette
