Jaclyn Figg
Staff Writer
The Old Bannock Hospital, constructed in 1950, has run out of time here in Pocatello. The red brick part of the hospital will be demolished this year.
“It opens up an opportunity for somebody to come in and build apartments, build office space, or build something,” said Brian Blad, mayor of Pocatello. “Often it’s better to tear something down and build new than it is to renovate something that’s old.”
While the entire complex stood vacant for five years, only the upper portion will be demolished. The lower portion will remain and serve as a Veterans Affiars clinic.
“We’re going to demolish the old hospital this year and we’re going to put the land back in what we call a developable state,” said Shaun Menchaca President and CEO of Portneuf Health Trust.
All of the building will be removed and pit-run gravel will be placed from the east end to the west end, leaving utilities still there. The land will be ready for development in the future.
It cost quite a bit to keep the building up for these past years; in order to avoid further deterioration the building ran heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.
“That hospital is deteriorating, it’s been empty for about five years,” said Menchaca. “The building is old. It’s just become really unusable and we don’t want that to bide on the city.”
The building was on the market five years and looked into by potential buyers such as ISU, but it wasn’t suited and would have needed many renovations.
To get the building to a functional level for ISU, the cost wasn’t feasible according to Stuart Summers, associate vice president of the ISU Office of Marketing and Communications.
“When the building first became available, ISU was interested in possibly pursuing it, but after doing some assessment and evaluation of the building’s status, we realized the building was not in good enough shape to do anything valuable with,” Summers said.
There have been discussions in the past and there will continue to be discussions in the future about the available land and how it relates to ISU according to Summers.
“We are exploring all options and opportunities,” Summers said. “Obviously we want to grow this campus in a strategic approach and we want to make sure we are doing what’s best in the interest of everybody in the campus community.”
There are 13 acres of land across from the Portneuf Medical Center on Hospital Way that ISU currently owns.
It is worth about the same amount of money as the land the old hospital currently stands on according to Menchaca.
In regards to a possible land swap, Menchaca said, “We’ve talked about it although there are no real negotiations under way, it just makes sense to me, this is pretty valuable property to the university and its already developable.”
Menchaca thinks it is a good opportunity for the university but they must make their own decisions.
He added, “I hope that would be something that would make sense to both parties.”
Promoting the health science mission of the state of Idaho and serving the community to the best of their ability has always been a focus for ISU according to Summers.
In regards to a future medical school, the plans of how to do this involve not just ISU or local government but all levels of state government.
“Moving forward with plans for a medical school involves a lot of people across the state,” Summers said. “Having the health mission, that is always a top priority for us, the health sciences is always going to be a top priority and figuring out how we can serve the residents of Idaho.”
Plans for the land are still underway and perhaps will be for a long time, but ISU has showed interest and only time will tell what the plans are.
As far as the old building goes, it has lived out it’s life and the ISU as well as Pocatello community will be saying their goodbyes once and for all.
“Anytime you have a structure that’s kind of an icon in the community, you hate to see it go away, but I am interested and excited to see what they replace it with,” Blad said. “Ultimately when someone comes in and purchases those grounds they will have an idea of what they’re going to do and that will bring employment opportunity.”
