The site of a proposed Des Moines treatment and rehabilitation center that generated controversy for its proximity to an elementary school is looking like it will sell without the facility ever being constructed.

According to CEO Ken Taylor, Valley Cities signed an agreement with a potential buyer of its Woodmont property last Friday to enter into a 45-day period to complete a feasibility study and property value appraisal. The Valley Cities Board of Directors has agreed to sell the property if a viable offer is received.

Valley Cities is a nonprofit community behavioral health center with multiple outpatient treatment facilities. The Woodmont property was tabbed to house the eight-acre Woodmont Recovery Center, which would have provided involuntary inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, involuntary psychiatric treatment and other services.

Many protested those plans because the land, which is about a block north of Federal Way city limits, was next to a library and about a block from Federal Way Public Schools’ Woodmont K-8.

Valley Cities has an agreement with the city of Des Moines through the end of March to identify potential uses for the Woodmont property, including the sale of the property, and to explore all options for relocating the services that had been planned there – some of which have already been relocated.

“We have successfully found sites in Kent and Seattle to house inpatient mental health care, substance abuse detoxification, and treatment and recovery services,” Taylor said in a news release. “Between those two facilities, we will be adding more than 100 desperately-needed acute-care treatment beds.”

Valley Cities is still searching for locations to house outpatient counseling services, administrative offices, and a recovery café. It is expected to take until the end of March to make any decisions about these locations and the sale of the Woodmont site.

Valley Cities has provided treatment services to residents of King County, primarily in South King County, for over 50 years. It operates offices in Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, Midway, Northgate, Rainier Beach and Renton and will soon operate in Enumclaw. It served over 7,500 people in 2016 with licensed mental health counseling and chemical dependency treatment for people of all ages; domestic violence services; homeless outreach services and housing programs; family support programs; employment services; and specialized services for veterans and their families.