The Office of the Attorney General for DC (DC OAG) announced a revised deal for the Providence campus after a lengthy investigation into the proposed $1 sale of the campus to a team of developers EYA and Menkiti (known as Vision PH Associates) for a new development.

Around 2018, Providence started gradually reducing services at the hospital and emergency room before permanently closing. They poorly ran an urgent care center for a few months following closure of the emergency room. These years were marked by lack of transparency and strange focus group meetings regarding the fate of the hospital before the deal with the development team was publicly announced in May 2023.

The campus sits in ANC 5A, and the development team held several meetings beginning in mid-2023 before the investigation stalled plans. DC OAG’s press release explains the reason for the investigation and the terms of the revised deal.

OAG’s independent experts determined that the $1 purchase price that Providence initially agreed to sell the campus for did not reflect the true value of the campus — even accounting for the extensive, value-depleting demolition and remediation costs necessary to clear the campus for residential housing development. As a result, OAG concluded that the originally proposed sale would not adequately preserve Providence’s charitable assets, which DC taxpayer dollars have supported for decades.

Following its evaluation, OAG informed Providence and Vision PH that it would only approve the proposed sale on certain conditions. Under these conditions, Providence and Vision PH have agreed to:

• Contribute $5 million to support healthcare services in the District. These funds will be placed in a charitable healthcare trust. If an urgent care center is approved and established on the Providence campus, the trust will use the funds to help support the center. If a center is unable to be established, the trust will otherwise dedicate the funds to support healthcare services in the District, as HECA requires.
   
• Include plans for an urgent care center as part of Vision PH’s proposal to redevelop the Providence campus.
   
• Transfer millions of dollars worth of Providence’s functional medical equipment to the District or District-designated charitable healthcare providers, including diagnostic and medical imaging equipment.

During redevelopment, Vision PH will facilitate continued operation of the healthcare services that remain on the campus. These services, which Providence does not provide, include a senior assisted living facility, a first responder clinic, and two medical office buildings offering a wide range of specialty and general practitioner care.

Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker released a statement on social media.

Read DC OAG’s Determination.