Hundreds of Bloomington residents say they want to see affordable housing on the IU Health Bloomington Hospital site once the city takes ownership of the property.
The city is purchasing the 24-acre plot and will take ownership of it in 2021 when IU Health opens a new hospital facility across town. City officials say they'll collect a lot of public input over the next few months or even years as they determine what to use the property for.
The 24-acre property is likely too large for any single project, so city officials expect to see a few different developments.
City officials say they don't plan to manage the property long-term; they plan to identify projects the city approves of and then find private developers to complete them, after buying or leasing the land from the city.
We asked our readers to tell us what they think in a survey and more than 600 people responded. Here's what they want to see on the property.
Housing
Respondents overwhelmingly want to see housing options built on the downtown site. About 400 people specified "affordable" or "low-cost" housing, and a few hundred said they want to see homeless housing options.
"The next project on this property needs to serve the community in the same way that a hospital does." - Juliet
City officials have been talking about ways to address the lack of affordable housing for years. Mayor John Hamilton made it one of his priorities while running for office. Hamilton also pushed for stricter regulation on private development downtown, which some say could give the city more leverage to encourage developers to include affordable housing in their projects.
Bloomington City Council is allocating $1 million for low-cost housing in the 2018 budget.
A general consensus among survey respondents is that people don't want to see more student housing options - high-end or otherwise.
"The only housing that has gone up in recent memory (and I was born here) is luxury student housing that none of us who pay taxes year round can afford to live in," says respondent Juliet. "Consider also housing for the homeless population or other transitional shelter. The next project on this property needs to serve the community in the same way that a hospital does."
Mental Health, Addiction & Homeless Services
Close to 200 respondents want to see homeless services, with many asking for a new homeless shelter or expanded service areas for the city's existing homeless service operations.
"Use the space so not just the wealthy benefit from it." - Kris Krumb
"Mental health issues skyrocket, the mental health industry has virtually no infrastructure for sharing knowledge, and Indiana has some of the poorest mental health treatment options of any state," says one respondent. "Make a bold move for Indiana, make them a trailblazer in mental health, take advantage of the ties between Bloomington and IU, and take advantage of the caring oasis Bloomington provides in otherwise barren state. Change Indiana for the better."
A few suggest using the space as a permanent location for Monroe County's syringe services program, operated by the Indiana Recovery Alliance. The program allows residents to exchange used needles for clean ones, and also offers addiction counseling, HIV and STD testing and more.
"Anything but..."
Residents were quick to point out what they DON'T want to see on the property: high-end housing used primarily by students.
"Anything but more luxury apartments and craft breweries!" Alexander Cookman says. "That is prime real estate for either creating a bulwark against gentrification or accelerating it beyond its already outrageous pace."
"Don't tear it down!"
The current plan is for IU Health to demolish the hospital building and give the city a "clean" site. Some other facilities, like the parking garage, may not be demolished.
"That building could be filled with offices, shops, etc." - Chris Woggoner
Many respondents say they want to see the city refurbish the hospital rather than tear it down. Some suggest converting the space into a VA hospital or another medical use. Others say the building could be converted into mixed-use housing and office space.
"I wouldn't ask for it to be knocked down as it seems like a huge waste of money and effort that was already put into a building," says Chris Waggoner. "If it weren't torn down that building could be filled with offices, shops, etc. I would try leasing pieces of it to individuals and see what they do with it, before razing."
But city officials say it's not feasible to re-purpose the building. They say it will be cheaper to demolish the hospital and start over.
