Arukah Institute of Healing to buy Princeton’s Perry Plaza for $440,000

The Princeton City Council approved Monday the sale of the building at 526 Bureau Valley Parkway, commonly known as Perry Plaza, to Arukah Institute of Healing in the amount of $440,000.

The purchase of the 38,560 square-foot building was approved with a 4-0 vote, with one council member abstaining. The building was appraised most recently in 2022 at the amount of $550,000, with the approved sale being at 80% of the appraisal.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to pass on this building to a very worthy organization,” City Manager Theresa Wittenauer said.

The city originally was given the deed to the building in the summer of 2020 and later decided it has no use for the building and put it on the market in March 2021.

Mayor Ray Mabry said Wittenauer and City Clerk Pete Nelson have been involved in many showings over the years of the property and also have been instrumental in the sale to Arukah.

“We’re excited that this is going to a great home,” Mabry said. “This is a win-win for everybody. It’s a win for the community as a whole.”

Founder and CEO of Arukah Institute of Healing, Sarah Scruggs, was in attendance Monday and said her organization looks forward to continue to invest in the local community by investing in the newly acquired property.

“Our plans are to put approximately $3 million into the building to really give it a lot of curb appeal for Princeton,” Scruggs said. “We really want to continue to put in a lot of comprehensive mental health services that will service this city and the surrounding communities for generations to come.”

Scruggs said the organization plans to utilize much of the space to offer their mental health services such as counseling, psychiatry, case management, crisis stabilization unit, mind-body therapies, school prevention services and more at a centralized location.

Since its beginnings, Scruggs said Arukah has continued to grow to fit the need for their services identified in the community, including in other locations, such as Ottawa.

Arukah also expects this move to Perry Plaza to create about a 50% growth from its amount of services.

“We need growth, 50% is about the average growth we expect for each program,” Scruggs said. “Each program is a little different in how we are growing them.”

Arukah hopes to be able to begin construction on the building by Jan. 1, barring the availability of contractors and the speed of the bidding process.