Condo plans force Delaware AIDS clinic to relocate

Plans to construct a 10-story condominium complex in Wilmington, Del., will force the state's only full-service AIDS clinic to relocate, the Wilmington News Journal reports. The board of directors of the housing group Brandywine Gateway Neighbors last week voted to exercise its option to buy the Wilmington Hospital Annex, a four-story building that currently houses Christiana Care, the largest AIDS care center in Delaware. Brandywine is in negotiations with Midtown Development of Baltimore to tear down the building and construct a new building containing 46 condominiums. Jessica Reed, the only Brandywine board member to vote against the plan, told the News Journal the decision was made strictly to turn a profit on the property. Brandywine, which will pay the city of Wilmington $2 million for the property, plans to sell it to Midtown Development for $3 million. Christiana Care spokesman Bill Schmitt told the News Journal that the sale of the building is "a major problem for us. We serve the health care needs of more than 750 patients at this location, and there's no room for it at the hospital." Brandywine officials did not say when the AIDS clinic will have to relocate.