Future of St. Joseph Community Center still in flux, doctors offices to be boarded up

LORAIN — A former doctor's office associated with the former St. Joseph Hospital will be barricaded to avoid further damage after a Demolition Board of Appeals meeting Thursday. The 1919 Reid Ave. and 1859 Reid Ave. addresses — one building spanning two parcels — have nearly $500,000 in delinquent real estate taxes owed on the two parcels, according to the Lorain County auditor's website. The property, like the rest of the former Catholic Hospital and later community center, is owned by An Haoi Tran. Tran, of Florida, purchased 24 parcels of the former St. Joseph Community Center in early 2023 for $150,000 from Massachusetts-based A7 Development Corp. A7 Development Corp paid the same amount to South Short Development Corp. for the hulking Ward 2 property in 2020. A7 Development Corp. started demolishing the hospital in 2021 and the city halted work in March of that year after demolition company Earth Exchange Inc. failed to pull permits for all the buildings it had torn down. Since then, the skeletal remains of the hospital's parking garage, and the rubble left behind by the demolition have remained on the site, surrounded by a chain-link fence. The Reid Avenue properties discussed at Thursday's meeting have been vacant for years, but were not part of the initial demolition of the old hospital. Still, they are an eyesore, building inspector Andy Arocho said, with broken windows, overgrowth and other damage. He said the property was boarded up, but an inspection on Wednesday found multiple points of entry and signs of homeless individuals staying in the vacant building. Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion said the city is aware of, and actively working on, mitigating conditions at the Reid Avenue site and the neighboring former hospital complex. He said there are "ongoing discussions" happening about the future of the parcels that cannot be disclosed publicly yet, but hoped to give more information in the coming weeks. Members of the Demolition Board of Appeals unanimously authorized the city to board up the building while the city continues its discussions about the property's future. Mary Springowski, D-at Large, noted the property has been a longstanding sore spot for City Council. She said residents are concerned about children and teens going into the abandoned doctor's offices and getting hurt. Similarly, Victoria Kempton, D-Ward 2, urged the board to do whatever it can "in the most expedient way" to move St. Joseph Community Center forward. St. Joseph Hospital closed in 1997. The property sat vacant for several years before becoming home to St. Joseph Community Center, which shuttered in the early 2010s. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.