A Hospital Abandoned For Over 25 Years

All, All Abandoned, Hospitals, OhioJune 17, 2022June 17, 2022No Comment

The St. Joseph Riverside Hospital in Warren, Ohio has sat vacant since 1996.

Over the course of 25 years of abandonment, the elements have surely taken a toll on the structural integrity of the building. Paint peels from walls, while mold and fungus grow throughout the flooded basement. Holes in the ceiling let in sunlight, allowing overgrowth to take place in the form of moss carpets and plants growing in the hallways. Aside from the elements, the building has fallen victim to years of destruction by vandals and scrappers. In 2022, the city of Warren finally aim their efforts to tear it down.

The hospital was constructed in the 1920s, and was originally opened as the Riverside Hospital. When the Sisters of the Humility of Mary purchased the building at the bishop’s request in 1924 , the name was changed to St. Joseph Riverside Hospital. Over time, the building would see additions, with an eastern wing being added in 1970, and a south wing added in 1980.

Residents of the surrounding neighborhoods say they vividly remember the days when the hospital was in operation. Many recall the hustle and bustle through its main doors as doctors and patients came and went. It was a busy place serving a large area. The hospital was mostly all shut down by 1995, but not due to going out of business as is the unfortunate ending for many vacant buildings.

In 1995, the Humility of Mary Health Care System merged St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth and home-care services creating one organization called HM Health Services. The hospital was then renamed to St. Joseph Health Center, but would almost immediately begin to move as HM Health took over ownership of the Warren General Hospital. The emergency room was the last part of the building to remain in operation before its final closure in June of 1996.

The building has sat mostly unused since, though there were numerous attempts at reuse by buyers over the years.

In 1997, the facility was bought by Riverside Square of Warren Inc. who would go on to operate various businesses within the building, until it was purchased in 2003 by Thomas Dobson of PKAM LLC. By this time, the building had seen tenants such as the Trumbull County Republican Party, a Safe House, a privately owned charter school, and a commercial laundry. One of the buildings was sold to the Veterans Administration, who utilized the space as an outpatient clinic. Dobson declared bankruptcy after failure to bring the building’s alarm system up to code, and it was ordered that the building be vacated by October 2008.

The property once worth $14 million in the 1980s was sold by PKAM LLC to Georgia-based corporation Fairview Commercial Lending Inc. for $600,000, and shortly after to Florida-based Euro-American Finance Network Inc. for just $200,000 in 2010.

Slavo Stefanovic, owner of Euro-American Finance Network had failed to make any attempt at reuse of the building, leaving it to decay for the next four years. In 2014, with years of unpaid taxes built up totalling $156,000, foreclosure proceedings had begun.

In 2015, the Trumbull County Land Reutilization Corporation took ownership of the building, which then remained empty. In 2019, two sheriff’s sales had taken place, each time with no interested buyers. Finally, the state took possession of the property. In March of 2021, the Trumbull County Land Reutilization Corporation once again holds ownership, and the city plans to get rid of the building and occupy the area with greenspace.

The city of Warren has seen the blighted building as an eyesore for years, and has wanted it demolished, but costs are high to demolish a 270,000 square-foot asbestos-ridden structure. In the case of this hospital, asbestos isn’t the only hazard to consider after sitting for 25 years. Movement on demolition has only begun recently after the city received a 2.5 million dollar grant from the state of Ohio. According to the grant, the city of Warren has two years to use the grant funds. With the state taking care of asbestos abatement, that brings a whole lot of weight off the city for the entire demolition, which is planned to cost approximately $5 million.