WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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The City of Bloomington has held a Hospital Reuse Committee since 2015. Over the years this group has worked with the city on the redevelopment of the current IU Health Bloomington Hospital. This group is made up of about 30 community members who have been recently joined by the architecture and urban planning firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, or SOM, whom the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission approved to create a master plan for the site. Community members both on the committee or not are benign given the opportunity for community involvement with SOM’s design process.
The City purchased the 24-acre site from IU Health for 2 point 8 million dollars in 2018. As part of the purchase agreement, the Hospital is required to remediate the site, meaning any environmental or public health safety concerts on the site must test clean before the land is developed. At This time the city hired the Urban Land Institute, a national consulting firm, according to a WTIU article. After consulting with residents in the area, the Urban Land Institute concluded that the community would like to see residential space. The city decided to use this land to develop affordable housing to help meet community goals for affordable housing, sustainability and equity. However, Bloomington Deputy Mayor Mick Renneisen said only a portion of the property would be developed into affordable living.
Development doesn’t have to be just structural or industrial. Portions of the land could be used for housing and similar purposes, but other portions could also be made into greenspace, such as pedestrian paths or gathering space. Rennisen said public spaces could play off of the existing public spaces surrounding the area.
Bloomington City residents are invited to actively participate in the redevelopment of the current Hospital site planning process. The process is projected to unfold over one year. Community interaction will take place through a website that will be published on June 1st. Renneisen said the website is still currently under design, but he described the general concept. He said a focus group has been put together consisting of some members from the 2018 Urban Land Institute process, stakeholders, and a few additional members. This focus group will assist SOM with the initial starting point of drafting conceptual plans. He said, as the plans develop, the community will be able to interact and make suggestions.
Renneisen said community members could also leave emails or call representatives form the planning firm. However, the website, email, or calls isn’t the only way to get involved. On June 16th at 6 o’clock a virtual zoom meeting will be held to communicate ideas with the development team. Renneisen said a notice would be sent out to all residents who pay Bloomington Utilities, asking them how they would prefer to see community involvement. But how will SOM make sure that all of the community’s voices are heard? Rennisen said they have a group specialized to public engagement.
The potential of development, from affordable homes to greenspace with public art, lies in the hands of the community. Those whose voices are heard are the voices that will determine the outcome for the IU health Bloomington Hospital site.
One thing the city has come to decide is that they will keep the parking garage on the hospital site, however, the fate of the historical Kohr building has yet to be determined. During the redevelopment process the city must come to terms on what to do with the building. For the history of the building we turn to Kade Young.
Over two years ago, the Urban Land Institute partnered with the City of Bloomington to offer suggestions on land use planning and development for the new hospital site. The partnership consisted of a panel discussing during the week of April 8th-April 13th in 2018.
Urban Land Institute, or ULI, was tasked with a number of questions from the city. Among them were “will the parking garage and the administration building benefit the future of the site? Should either or both of these structures be kept for re-use?” Now, the city already announced it will keep the parking garage, but the Kohr Administration Building is still up-in-the-air.
According to ULI’s panel report, the panel did research on the city and region, site visits and interviews with more than 100 community members.
The ULI Advisory Services Panel Report recommended “demolish the Kohr Administration Building to free up the site for the new development while enabling connectivity”.
The Kohr Administration Building was named after former Bloomington Hospital president Roland Kohr. It is reportedly the oldest existing building on the property.
In 2018, when news first broke that the city would acquire the hospital site — Mary Catherine Carmichael, Director of Public Engagement for the city, told the Indiana Daily Student that the building is not recognized as a local landmark. However, she said the property does have some historical value.
According to a Historic Preservation Commission meeting in June of last year, there was talk of developing guidelines for historical preservation for the Kohr building.
In the commission meeting packet, it read, “Chris Sturbaum noted that he asked Conor Herterich to start developing guidelines for historical designation for the Kohr building for the old hospital building. If they wait, there could be issues for historical designation in the future” .
The commission meeting packet went on to say there are issues with the Kohr building itself. It said upon demolition of the hospital, the Kohr building will have no utilities connections as they were operated through the old hospital building.
I reached out to Conor Herterich about the future of the Roland Kohr Administration Building. Herterich said he needs clearance from his boss before going on the record to the media about the city’s future plans for the Kohr building.
He said it is a sensitive issue with the city. The city has yet to release any plans on whether they will demolish the historic site or preserve it. However, Herterich said he would go on the record about the historical background of the building. Here is that interview.
