“There is a lot of hope and anticipation on the 4th Ward about this,”Ald. William Donnell, 4th Ward, said.
Copley Hospital operated at the site from the late 1800s until 1994, when it moved to its new campus — now the Rush-Copley Medical Center — on Ogden Avenue.
Since the hospital left, the old hospital site, which is actually nine buildings built during different years, has been owned by several different people and groups and has been the subject of several redevelopment plans — all of which fell apart.
The building has deteriorated and has become an eyesore for the neighborhood.
Pat Kelsey, an engineer with WBK Engineering, has done two studies of the property for the city during the past several years. He told aldermen the buildings have “significant water damage” that only gets worse over time.
He said his company’s estimate has been at least $10 million to tear the buildings down but about $5.5 million of that is abatement of the asbestos at the site.
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