By Pacific Island Times News Staff
“If she wants to return it, we will accept it,” Christine Perez said, reacting to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero's proposal to return the Ypao Point property to her family.
Mrs. Perez is the widow of the late Francis A. Perez, the son of the late Francis D. Perez, the registered owner who donated the property to the government of Guam on the condition that the property would be used as a hospital facility.
“Personally, I would like to see a new hospital in that area. That’s what I was hoping for,” Mrs. Perez said.
She said she was surprised to hear about Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s proposal to return the property. “I just heard it from the news this evening,” Mrs. Perez said Monday night.
When asked what the family might use the property for if the government returns it, Mrs. Perez replied: “It’s too early to say right now.”
Located near the cliff on the west end of Guam, Oka Point is bounded by cliffs dropping off to sea level. Except for Hilton Resort and Spa, the surrounding area is generally residential.
On June 23, 2015, Francis A. Perez claimed interest in the property.
The real estate in question was valued at $19.3 million in 2013, and was seen as a potential use of commercial or hotel activity conducive to its size and location, according to the environmental site assessment report prepared by EA Engineering Science and Technology in 2018.
Oka Point has been parceled, creating Lot No. 5173-1-R2NEW-7, which will be the site of a long-stalled government project: he Chamorro National Shrine and the Reinterment of Ancestral Remains,
Also known as Oka Point, the property was the previous location of the old Guam Memorial Hospital.
According to the EA report prepared by geologist Robert P. Shambach, the first recorded use of Oka Point was in 1909 when it was used as a coconut plantation owned by Don Lorenzo de Leon Guererro y Manalisay.
In 1952, GMH was built as a residential nursing school. Two years later, the main hospital structure was built. It mainly served as a tuberculosis hospital until the introduction of new medicine that led to a reduction in TB patients, The TB hospital was then converted into a general hospital.
During the conversion process, the government of Guam expanded the facility by constructing two more buildings.
Because GMH was built on a piecemeal basis, it failed to meet the building code and the minimum fire safety requirements established in 1973 by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Hospitals.
In 1968, GMH started planning to remodel and build a new hospital. However, the Department of Health Education opposed the remodeling plan due to the numerous building code violations.
Typhoon Pamela destroyed the walls and ceilings of the hospital facility including blowing away the air conditioners and windows in 1976.
The master plan to build a new GMH facility was accepted in 1973.
The following year, a new hospital was created in its current location. “The exact date of the old GMH demolition is unknown but happened around the 1990’s. Significant data gaps exist regarding the demolition of the old GMH,” the EA report said.
“Even after the demolition of the old GMH, there are 14 housing units that still exist on the western boundary of the subject site. Those houses are abandoned and covered by vegetation. When Typhoon Pongsongwa hit Guam in 2002, the site became used as a transition station for typhoon debris,” EA said.
Around 2010, the real estate developer Younex used the site as a staging area for the construction of the Jonestown Tower project, which is now known as the Summer Towers.
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