LAKE PARK — After 22 years, a personal-care facility is closing, a company official said Wednesday.

Baptist Village, at 763 Johnston Way, which offered assisted-living services, officially closes July 31, said Dr. Eric Mathison, vice president of Baptist Village Retirement Communities.

All of the facility’s residents have already been relocated to other locations around Lowndes County, he said.

Baptist Village, which was licensed for 40 beds, was down to only 14 residents when the decision was made to close, Mathison said.

“For us, it was a business decision,” he said. “We worked closely with the families to take care of the residents; we gave 60 days notice when the law requires 30 days.”

Baptist Village Retirement Communities, founded in 1958 in Waycross as a ministry of the Georgia Baptist Convention (now the Georgia Baptist Mission Board), has other care homes in Waycross and Macon. The organization acquired the assisted-living home in Lake Park in 1996, according to the Baptist Village website.

“The Macon home has a waiting list for its 50-bed facility, and the Waycross facility is always full, so for us (the closing of the Lake Park home) is something of an anomaly,” Mathison said.

Talks are underway to sell the property to the Francis Lake Baptist Church in Lake Park, he said.

“The church has already voted to buy, but the sale hasn’t been finalized yet,” he said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.