(La Porte, IN) - The old La Porte Hospital building is a shell of its former self nearly three months after demolition started.

 

Mayor Tom Dermody was a bit stunned at the seven story structure looking sort-of like a skeleton but also excited about the future prospects of the site.

 

“You just always wondered what it would be without the hospital because I grew up with that hospital here.  Now, we’re going to have an opportunity to redevelop with the hospital something really neat for the future of La Porte,” he said.

 

It’s been close to three years since the downtown hospital along Lincolnway moved to the four story, 200,000 square foot Northwest Health facility a short distance away on State Street

 

Hospital and city officials have been working together on deciding how the use the site after completion of the demolition and clean-up. For the short term, the site owned by the hospital will become a grassy area for the public to enjoy. A decision on its long term use has not been made yet.

 

Dermody said his vision is for the site is a public gathering space for special events to further the new activities hosted in the downtown since he became mayor in 2020.

 

He also would like part of the grounds used for new housing.

 

“It’s a fresh start right downtown,” he said.

 

So far, no timetable has been set on when to begin long-term redevelopment of the property, with demolition on schedule to be finished before the end of the year.

 

Leigh Morris, a former president and chief executive officer of the hospital for more than 20-years, seemed more impacted by the teardown. Morris said he drove by the site early in the demolition, but hasn’t returned to avoid confronting emotions from a major chapter in his life vanishing from the landscape.

 

He called the building, which opened in 1972, a symbol of the community once served by two hospitals in aging facilities, both banding together for better medical care. Community members raised money to help finance construction of the former hospital originally overseen by a board of citizens.

 

Morris, who served one term as Mayor after his tenure at the hospital ended in the late 1990’s, accepts that nothing is forever, but asserts keeping an eye on the future.  

 

“Although I’m sad to see it go, I think we got to recognize that change is inevitable. Hopefully, the new hospital that we have is going to serve for another generation or two,” he said.

 

Whatever becomes of the site, Morris said he wants it to become something valuable for the city.

 

“I hope it’s developed in such a way that it adds to the vibrancy of downtown and makes it a more appealing place for people to want to be,” he said.