Old Normandy Hospital, adjacent to South Campus, is set to be demolished some time soon to make way for the expansion of UM-St. Louis campus.

A definite timeframe for the demolition has not yet been decided, but bidding will begin in the near future. Future plans call for the connection of the North and South Campus buildings.

The hospital was purchased in 2001 for $2.6 million, in accordance with the 1992 Master Plan.

"Essentially, the campuses were landlocked," said Bob Samples, director of marketing services. "So we ended up buying a lot of property, a lot of Catholic property like Normandy Hall, and [the] Provincial House.

"The connection included goals of purchasing as much land around the campuses as possible," Samples said. "Since then the campus has gained over 100 acres."

An outspoken desire from the community to keep the hospital as it was kept the University from acquiring the property in the early 1990s.

The hospital was originally closed in 1993. It was then purchased in 1995 by local doctors and a Texas based company, which ran the hospital as the Normandy Community Hospital from 1997 to 2000. The hospital closed its doors for good shortly thereafter.

UM-St. Louis' original plan for the hospital was to create a clinic for optometry and nursing students.

"The hospital's location on Natural Bridge would have opened the nursing and optometry services to the public," Samples said.

However, the state of the building is in severe disrepair, according to Samples. Problems include insulation issues, asbestos, and "hodge podge construction." Other safety problems that have persisted, even before UM-St. Louis acquired the Old Normandy hospital, include vagrants living in the building.

In October 2006, the office of Residential Life's annual "Haunted Hall" event was cancelled due to safety concerns.

"Residential Life's annual 'Haunted Hall' was held in an area of the hospital where asbestos was not present," Toby Shorts, student services coordinator, said.. "However this year, the student's general safety was a concern."

The demolition is estimated to cost approximately $2 million, and bids will be open to the public.

"Money is always an issue," said Sam Darandari, director of construction and planning.

The Zeta Tau Alpha sorority house will also be destroyed to empty six acres for construction.

The sorority members living in the house moved out earlier in the school year, after the national chapter suggested it might be easier to move before the demolition began.

The current plan for the area, which has not been set in stone, is to create a new athletic and recreation facility.

Ellen Witte, junior, music, has a different idea.

"We already have the Mark Twain Building," Witte said. "They should consolidate the fine arts buildings because it's a growing major, and we're all over the place when it comes to classes."

The demolition and construction is not expected to have any significant effect on South Campus traffic.

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