City in talks to tear down abandoned hospital building

Feb. 9—Joplin city officials are in talks with the owner to demolish the abandoned hospital building at 2008 Sergeant Ave.

"Nothing has been decided yet but we are working with the property owner to make plans for demolition," said City Manager Nick Edwards.

The building's owner, Randy Kraft, said Friday: "We have a letter of intent to donate it to the city."

Vandalism has been an ongoing problem.

"Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of copper have been stolen out of that building," Kraft said. "We make repairs only to have it broken into again."

Kraft, who has owned the building since 2008, said the need to add a fire suppression system would be cost prohibitive to future use as apartments or offices, as would asbestos remediation.

He also said that the building sustained damage in the 2011 tornado that was a final nail in the coffin.

Edwards said Thursday: "We've heard from citizens and our council members that there is a strong desire to have some revitalization in the community to make the community safer, more attractive and remove blight. We feel an overwhelming direction from the citizens that they want to see Joplin cleaned up."

Edwards said the City Council devised a strategic plan with a set of goals. "One of those goals is to improve our city's appearance. Another was to improve our neighborhoods and to improve our safety. So over the last few years we have made it a priority to really clean up some of our deteriorating areas."

Troy Bolander, the city's planning, development, and neighborhood services director, said the building has twice been declared a dangerous building under city code by the city's Building Board of Appeals. It was ordered secured until a demolition plan and funding could be developed but the building is declining again.

"Things have been falling off the building and it's creating a safety issue for surrounding property owners," Bolander said.

The city is looking at the possibility of using federal grant funds it has applied for from the American Rescue Plan Act and other options to pay the cost of the demolition. The cost is estimated to be in a range of $500,000 to $1 million but that is not firm, city officials said.

"Those are discussions we are having with the property owner," the city manager said.

Nothing has been brought forward to the City Council.

"We're exploring different avenues. Under ARPA, we are eligible to demolish the building and receive the property for the express purpose of housing. It's in a qualified census tract for that. It was part of our application for the American Rescue Plan Act," as one of the possible uses for the grant money.

Under normal circumstances, the city would pay the demolition costs and try to reimburse itself through a special tax bill but he said there is little chance the city could recover that much cost through a tax bill.

Bolander said it also is unlikely a developer would take the building for refurbishment.

"There has been interest in trying to get tax credits, especially historic tax credits, but it was not eligible. Most likely, like most of these old buildings, it would take some sort of incentive but it's been modified so many times it's not eligible for tax credits," Bolander said.

If it was still in its original form as a hospital, it might be eligible for tax credits, but it's had two to three additions and remodels that now disqualify it for incentives, he said.

After the hospital left the building in 1975 to locate on 32nd Street, the building underwent some renovation to serve as the Ozark Gateway Council of Governments office.

Taking down the building will further the city's effort to clean up neighborhoods.

"Over the last few years, we have really made it a priority to clean up some of our deteriorating areas and some of our dilapidated housing stock and dilapidated commercial buildings," the city manager said. "We've really gotten aggressive about that and like seeing the results we have had."

One of the first commercial buildings to be taken down as part of the strategic plan efforts was the former John Q. Hammons Holiday Inn hotel at 3615 S. Range Line Road. It was demolished last fall by the city.

"That was a success to have that building removed and have that property available for new development. We've gotten good response on that."

Building history

John Freeman, an inventor and businessman in early Joplin, built mining equipment at the Freeman Foundry that he started in 1889 on 14th Street between Joplin and Wall avenues.

He and wife Florence Campbell had a brick house built in 1911 at 2008 Sergeant Ave. A decade later, in 1921, the couple's first child, Orley, died of typhoid fever after a swim in Shoal Creek. After his death, the Freemans decided to donate their home for conversion into a hospital and Freeman Hospital was chartered on Sept. 8, 1922.

Three years later, in 1925, a multistory brick wing was built next to the house to expand the hospital. Another wing was added later. The hospital operated at this site until 1975.

The Freeman house was demolished several years ago.