Old Mercy Hospital, a decrepit, looted eyesore accessible to vandals and four-legged vermin

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It’s hard to imagine that the decrepit old Mercy Hospital in District III is salvageable as an office building or a public facility. Much of its mechanical, electrical, and plumbing fixtures — those which have not been looted —  are 60- years old. The bricks and mortar may hold up, but its inner workings have aged and been subjected to the industry of looters who tore open interior walls to get to copper plumbing and electrical wiring.

I’m not certain what the condition of the abandoned, vandalized structure says about Chendo Carranco’s value for a property he has owned for 17 years, but it speaks succinctly about the regard he has for the residents of the surrounding neighborhood for whom the eyesore is part of their daily vista — a vista of negligence and nuisance, unfettered overgrowths of weeds, fences that do not keep out trespassers, and the gaping broken windows that offer harborage to rats, feral cats, birds, and vermin.

That Mr. Carranco is unable or unwilling to maintain his property speaks volumes about his lack of civic pride and his blatant violation of City ordinances.

That the City has let the problem go on for a good part of two decades signals other priorities and an unwillingness to hold the property owner accountable.

Over the last two decades, public entities, including Webb County, Laredo Community College, and the federal government, have contemplated the purchase of the hospital facility and its eight-block campus bordered by Logan, Garfield, Hendricks, and Galveston streets.

When the hospital’s original owners, the Sisters of Mercy of St. Louis, offered it to the County for $7 million in 1997, the then-40-year-old structure had all its windows and doors in place, the utilities were on, copper wire and plumbing were still in the walls, and the structure had a semblance of value and re-use.

Then-Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez Jr. ordered an acquisition study conducted by Calderon/Solis Associates. The study yielded estimates for renovation, overhead and debt service, and potential lease rates. Renovation costs in 1997 were estimated to be in the realm of $3 million “for minimal or moderate renovation in most areas, extensive remodeling to convert functionally obsolete areas into leasable spaces” — in total a project that would run about $10 million, including the $7 million purchase price.

The study noted gross square footage of 305,240 and divided the property into leasable and non-leasable areas. The leasable areas were about 180,000 square feet. The non-leasable areas included surgery suites, delivery rooms, and x-ray rooms that would require demolition or high dollar re-configuration costs. Also considered un-leasable were the common areas like corridors, lobby areas, foyers, elevators, and stairs.

According to the 1997 study, the building’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems were characterized as “being in fairly good condition,” but also indicated that older components and subsystems “showed deterioration due to corrosion, damage, normal aging, and disrepair.”

In 1999 Mercy Hospital administrator Mark Stauder wrote Judge Martinez to advise him that the price on the old hospital had dropped to $1.5 million and that the offer was good for 60 days.

A Mercy Regional Medical Center Counter-Offer Committee was appointed by the Commissioners Court to review the possible transaction.

The committee voted against the purchase, citing:

  • The building would be over 40-years-old at possession.
  • The $1.8 million renovation costs to replace major equipment.
  • Over 50% of major electrical and mechanical subsystems were over 40-years-old (wiring, ducts, etc.) and could not be replaced.
  • Parking was marginal; additional parking would require re-zoning.
  • Only 30% of office suites were 3,000 square feet. There was a demand for larger suites.
  • The trend was for businesses to lease offices to the northeast along McPherson.
  • The then-current inventory of new office spaces was higher than the demand.

Fast forward 19 years to the blighted site today that is as accessible to vandals as to four-legged vermin, an ugly monument for how to make neighborhood property values plummet.

In 2017, the hilltop hospital, once considered a marvel by 1950s medical standards, has accrued two more decades of the owner’s neglect, deterioration, and vandalism, and now bears a 60-year date stamp for diminishing viability and use.

An ad hoc citizens committee was appointed by City Council members whose districts are in proximity to the hospital. Those appointees and the Council members who appointed them are Margarita Araiza (District III, Alex Perez); Louis LaVaude (District IV, Albert Torres); Cristobal Rodriguez (District VIII, Roberto BallI); and Frank Saldaña (Mayor Pete Saenz). The liaison between the committee and the City is John Porter, director of the Environmental Services Department.

The committee has yet to convene, but some of the members attended a May 17 town hall meeting at Ryan Elementary School to discuss the fate of the hospital. The meeting bore little fruit, but perhaps future meetings will.

Council member Alex Perez said he hopes that in the year-and-a-half left in his term that a solution will be found for what to do with the hospital property.

According to Perez, the only recent viable potential buyer is a private contractor who would operate a detention facility for undocumented individuals who await deportation. “That didn’t sit well with the neighborhood residents,” Perez said.

The Council member said that a Neighborhood Master Plan that incorporates the Mercy property and surrounding empty medical office buildings in its scope would include input from District III residents.

Perez said that the plan, which goes out for RFQs next week could cost as much as $45,000, a cost his district will share with District IV Council member Albert Torres.

“The plan should reflect what the neighborhood wants so that we try to find an investor acceptable to them. That’s the thinking that goes with that. We would need the owner’s consent and cooperation,” he said.

Perez, who confirmed he had not been inside the building recently, said the hospital was built to withstand hurricanes. He said the interior was “not in good shape,” and that interior walls had been torn out to steal copper plumbing and wiring. “It’s a scary place,” he said.

He said there are several possibilities for the future of the Mercy Hospital campus.

“What we hear the most is that the neighborhood wants a park — tear it down and build a park. A second possibility is to tear it down and leave a blank canvas for an investor who might want to build condos, apartments, stores, and shops, and leave room for parkland. The third option is to help find an investor who would rehab it, but the $30 to $60 million for rehabilitation doesn’t fit into anyone’s business model,” he said.

Olivia Varela, executive director of the Laredo Development Foundation, echoed Perez’s sentiments.

“We feel something needs to be done about it. The LDF has not taken a position on it because it is a private property. We would certainly recommend and suggest bringing the issue of the condition of the building to some sort of resolution because it is blighted and a danger to the neighborhood. We would welcome a project we could send out to investors. It has to make sense for the neighborhood and it has to make sense economically for the investor, something that looks sustainable and  increases the tax base rather than a project that increases maintenance and operation expenses for the city. Nothing viable will happen without a solid financial plan that gives investors a return,” Varela said.

Perez wouldn’t comment on whether or not Carranco had made good faith efforts over the last 17 years to sell the property. He said that the property had been offered to the City at a price between $4 million and $7 million. A Webb CAD listing for Laredo Lomas Property lists the hospital’s value for 2017 at $594,840. Laredo Lomas Property has 16 additional valuations for properties that border the hospital on Garfield, Logan, Guerrero, Galveston, Tilden and Garfield, Hendricks and Mier, Tilden, and Garfield and Hendricks that add up to another $895,620.  The two figures add up to $1,490,460.

Perez said that the building’s deteriorated state on a high hill makes it visible to all Laredo. “We have been very complacent about its appearance and its nuisance status over the years, and what it says about us. It’s not right, and what has gotten us to this point has to change. We can’t change the past, but from here on out, we have to hold Mr. Carranco accountable. The voices of those who want a change are getting louder and cannot be ignored by City government or the owner. This affects hundreds of families,” he continued.

He said that City violations against Carranco “are stacking up” and that he has been advised to mow the high grass, secure the property, and do something about the broken windows.

Perez said the City is acting as a catalyst, a facilitator to make the right thing happen.

“We will do whatever makes economic sense and quality of life sense for the neighborhood,” he continued, adding that if tearing down the building were a first option, something would have to be worked out with the owner and funding would have to be found for demolition and haul away.

Perez expects to host a Town Hall meeting in about eight weeks.

Interim City Manager Horacio de Leon Jr. said the City is involved in the intended future use of the old building by a prospective buyer as it affects the quality of life of the neighborhood residents.

“We are there in the name of economic development and re-development to help incentivize the sale of the property to an interested buyer. We would like for there to be a project that benefits neighboring property owners. The City can re-incentivize development through the Neighborhood Empowerment Zone,” he said.

He clarified that the City has no intention of buying Mercy Hospital.

“Speaking from a budget perspective, the City could not make an outright purchase, and there are probably not enough members of the Council who would vote for such a purchase,” he stressed, adding that in its current state, the degraded hospital campus has “created stagnant, declining property values.”

5 thoughts on “Old Mercy Hospital, a decrepit, looted eyesore accessible to vandals and four-legged vermin

  1. Good write up Meg.

    It deserves to be be torn down and the campus turned into a park. It has the best views in Laredo.

  2. Great story Meg, particularly that of the original offers, which I was not aware of. Thx.

  3. Thank you Meg for the informative article and I would like to add that repurposing this campus into a federal detention facility would also speak volumes about Laredo and its values. A federal immigrant detention center at the location would serve as a resounding, near city wide viewable, symbol of a very unpopular “your not welcome here” anti-immigrant message. The facts show that we need more schools and hospitals, not more politicians and prisons, public or private.

    The most logical repurposing and redevelopment potential of this building, even if not the most affordable, should be to demand that our elected officials actually show some REAL sensitivity and tenacity for making today , an investment that should have been made many decades ago by Webb County and Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez, through the creation of a federally and locally funded City/County public hospital district and lobbying for a medical school.

    Back then they could have made the right choice by allocating the initially low cost investment toward repurposing this private hospital facility into a public/teaching hospital in anticipation of the creation of a local medical school, both of which Laredo still lacks almost two decades later.

    This lack of foresight and vision for the real needs of Laredo continue to plague our community and although federally funded agencies such as Gateway Community Clinic and the City Of Laredo Health Department provide some measure of healthcare, they are quite clearly a severely underfunded “stop gap” solution that doesn’t come close to filling the real need for affordable and public access to comprehensive healthcare services.

    The real facts and figures currently all point to a very real lack of political care and concern to addressing a public and affordable access to healthcare epidemic within our community and the very real socioeconomic dilema that many people within our community face in trying to find substantive, effective and affordable access to wellness and comprehensive healthcare options in our limited local, and mostly private, healthcare system.

    This building should remain what it was originally purposed and designed and that is as a hospital; and, anything less means that as a community, we continue allowing the historically poor political decisions of politicians past to continue perturbing and prevailing into the future, to continue the political and economic hot potato “status quo” being best evidenced by a potential continued lack of foresight and sensibility for the public healthcare needs of our community, district 3 and especially for the old Mercy Hospital neighborhood district.

    Any use of public dollars to abate and condemn this facility with any intent for later using additional federal dollars to construct a federal detention facility would only be another all LEVEL government tax dollar freebie and Boondoggle, while also adding additional insult to injury for an already negatively impacted and blighted historically significant part of our heritage and community.

    Our community deserves the investment of our own taxpayer dollars to be allocated into desperately needed public hospital/healthcare infrastructure; and frankly, if they have the money to build an arena, cold storage facilities and a empty baseball stadium for the ultimate benefit of a few wealthy land owners/developers and industry , than they should have the money and political gumption to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable members of our community and the deficient public healthcare aspect of our local community.

    Best regards.

  4. Thank you Meg for this very informative and introspective article, and I would also like to add my thoughts that repurposing this campus into a federal detention facility would also speak volumes about Laredo and its values. A federal immigrant detention center at the location would serve as a resounding, near city wide viewable, symbol of a very unpopular “your not welcome here” anti-immigrant message. The facts show that we need more schools and hospitals, not more politicians and prisons, public or private.

    The most logical repurposing and redevelopment potential of this building, even if not the most affordable, should be to demand that our elected officials actually show some REAL sensitivity and tenacity for making today , an investment that should have been made many decades ago by Webb County and Webb County Judge Mercurio Martinez, through the creation of a federally and locally funded City/County public hospital district and lobbying for a medical school.

    Back then they could have made the right choice by allocating the initially low cost investment toward repurposing this private hospital facility into a public/teaching hospital in anticipation of the creation of a local medical school, both of which Laredo still lacks almost two decades later.

    This lack of foresight and vision for the real needs of Laredo continue to plague our community and although federally funded agencies such as Gateway Community Clinic and the City Of Laredo Health Department provide some measure of healthcare, they are quite clearly a severely underfunded “stop gap” solution that doesn’t come close to filling the real need for affordable and public access to comprehensive healthcare services.

    The real facts and figures currently all point to a very real lack of political care and concern to addressing a public and affordable access to healthcare epidemic within our community and the very real socioeconomic dilema that many people within our community face in trying to find substantive, effective and affordable access to wellness and comprehensive healthcare options in our limited local, and mostly private, healthcare system.

    This building should remain what it was originally purposed and designed and that is as a hospital; and, anything less means that as a community, we continue allowing the historically poor political decisions of politicians past to continue perturbing and prevailing into the future, to continue the political and economic hot potato “status quo” being best evidenced by a potential continued lack of foresight and sensibility for the public healthcare needs of our community, district 3 and especially for the old Mercy Hospital neighborhood district.

    Any use of public dollars to abate and condemn this facility with any intent for later using additional federal dollars to construct a federal detention facility would only be another all LEVEL government tax dollar freebie and Boondoggle, while also adding additional insult to injury for an already negatively impacted and blighted historically significant part of our heritage and community.

    Our community deserves the investment of our own taxpayer dollars to be allocated into desperately needed public hospital/healthcare infrastructure; and frankly, if they have the money to build an arena, cold storage facilities and a empty baseball stadium for the ultimate benefit of a few wealthy land owners/developers and industry , than they should have the money and political gumption to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable members of our community and the deficient public healthcare aspect of our local community.

    Best regards.

  5. I always appreciate your thorough coverage. Thank you, Meg. I hadn’t realized some of the missed opportunities from the past. It really is a sad turn in the history of one of Laredo’s most visible, historic and central buildings. For it to still be referred to as “Mercy Hospital” drags the good name of the Sisters of Mercy who are not responsible for what truly is demolition by neglect. Let’s hope there is a buyer or other solution and that our city tax dollars aren’t used to bail out owners who should have been more responsible these last two decades.