Tell City awarded grant for demolition of former hospital
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The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs this week awarded a $500,000 matching grant to the city of Tell City for the demolition of the former Perry County Memorial Hospital on the city’s south side.
The nearly 90,000-square-foot building has sat vacant since 2015, and Mayor Chris Cail says it has become an eyesore to the community.
The grant comes from OCRA’s Community Development Block Grant: Blight Clearance Program. Cail said local not-for-profit RamTell Inc., agreed to provide the match for the grant in addition to covering the cost of purchasing the site from the private entity that acquired it in 2017.
“In preparation for the grant application, RamTell Inc. conducted Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments on the property,” Cail said in a release. “RamTell Inc. also paid for engineering services to conduct an Asbestos Investigation Report of the building.”
The facility, located at 1 Hospital Road, was built in 1950 and received additions in 1963, 1975 and 1995. The hospital was closed in 2015 after the new Perry County Memorial Hospital opened on the city’s north side.
The mayor said the project has received overwhelming support from the public, who have expressed concerns for health and safety hazards, crime, vandalism, and the quality-of-life risks posed by the site’s current condition.
The total cost of the project will not be known until the project is put out for bids, the mayor said, noting he hopes work will get underway sometime this year.
The city said prior to demolition, all environmental hazards will be remediated, including the abatement of identified asbestos and the removal of an underground storage tank. Any voids left by the demolition will be filled in to give the site a uniform slope.
Cail said the city will obtain ownership of the property from RamTell after demolition and environmental remediation is completed, but will not incur any expense related to the project.
The mayor told Inside INdiana Business that as a condition of receiving the OCRA grant, the property must be used as a green space for five years after the cleanup is completed. He said the city will use that time to seek public input and develop a future vision for the property.
Tell City is located along the Ohio River, about 150 miles southwest of Indianapolis.