Ohio city looks to state for help demolishing empty hospital

WARREN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio city is looking to the state for money to demolish an abandoned hospital that’s become a dangerous eyesore.

The former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital in Warren in northeastern Ohio has been largely abandoned since its emergency room closed in 1996. The graffiti-ridden and vandalized building sits in a residential neighborhood near other healthcare facilities including a Veterans Affair clinic, The Tribune Chronicle reported.

About 150 people attended a rally last summer calling for its demolition, including a caseworker at a nearby domestic violence shelter who called it unsafe for employees and clients.

City officials are pressing local state lawmakers to find money in the upcoming capital budget for the $4 to $8 million needed for demolition, the paper said. Gov. Mike DeWine’s capital budget proposal is expected this year though DeWine hasn’t given a date.

If demolition funds are raised and possession of the building could be transferred from the state to Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, a local nonprofit community development corporation, the building could be demolished, said Matt Martin, the partnership’s executive director.