T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY The Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce will cover the $90,000 cost of a phased assessment of redevelopment opportunities for the former downtown hospital building, which is now owned by the city of Marshalltown.

The Marshalltown city council agreed to move forward with a phased assessment of the former downtown hospital building, which will be paid for by the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce, less than a month after the city was awarded the title to the property in a 657A judgment.

City Administrator Carol Webb told the council the assessment would begin with a preliminary review of the building’s condition and potential options for the site before welcoming Chamber President/CEO John Hall forward to speak.

“Congratulations to you all for owning an old hospital property here in town,” he joked.

Hall said the proposal would be a partnership with the understanding that the city was already taking on major costs in acquiring the property and, in all likelihood, significant demolition in the future. He added that the Chamber has been in contact with the engineering and architecture firm ISG and looked for a company with expertise in working on older historic properties and navigating potential tax credits and redevelopment opportunities. In total, the four-phase assessment would cost an estimated $90,200.

“What we’ve got is a multi-phased contract with an engineering firm that not only analyzes the property but would actually take us to a full development proposal should there be any redevelopment potential for the property,” he said.

Hall asked the council for authorization to allow the firm onto the site, and he projected that within 10 weeks — which is “the most aggressive schedule” for getting a demolition in place — the first phase could be completed with a determination on whether a selective demolition could be utilized instead of a full demolition.

“Our plan is to really analyze for redevelopment potential. There’s some cool, unique pieces inside of especially the original building,” he said. “The last I was in it was March of 2025, so I don’t know the current condition of some of those pieces. (But) the original terrazzo tile floor is still in the original hospital building. I doubt that that is damaged in any significant way, and so if there’s any opportunity to reuse any components of this building, I think it’s worth taking at least a little bit of time to review.”

In response to a question from Councilor Sue Cahill, Hall said the assessment would not touch the old McFarland Clinic building, which UnityPoint still owns, or the old Primary Healthcare building, with a focus solely on the old hospital. Cahill also asked if the Chamber would still be on the hook for the full $90,000 if early assessments determined nothing was salvageable, and he clarified that he would return to the council after the initial assessment, which is expected to take about 10 weeks.

“The goal is, hopefully, to save the city dollars on it. You know, if it comes back that only one of those buildings is only structurally feasible, but it’s gonna take a whole bunch of shoring up in order to make it a redevelopment potential, it might not be worthy of consideration. It might just be cheaper overall to demo the entirety of the site and clear it,” Hall said. “We’re just really wanting to provide that analysis… especially with the original building, we’ll never build that again. That will never exist in the way that it does. So if there’s any potential to save it, I’d rather take a look at it and spend a few thousand dollars now to take a look at it and have a better assessment on it than just my eyes or anybody off the street’s eyes.”

Webb told Cahill that unless she is directed otherwise by the council, she will continue to explore options for demolition even as the study is unfolding. Councilor Greg Nichols expressed his support for the Chamber’s proposal as a parallel effort to the city’s work.

“I don’t feel incredibly blessed that we have this hospital, but we need to take care of it because it’s clearly a hazard at this point,” Nichols said.

Councilor Gary Thompson noted that the city’s only risk is the insurance it already has on the building unless, he joked, Hall decided to start stripping copper from it.

“I’m hopefully not going in the building until it’s redone,” Hall said.

A motion to proceed with the proposed path passed by a unanimous 7-0 tally. On June 10, Judge Christopher Polking awarded the city the title to the property, which previous owner CD Marshalltown LLC purchased from UnityPoint before it fell into extreme disrepair over the last several years.

Scott Covalt, the owner of CD Marshalltown, was given 20 days to appeal the ruling when it was issued, and as this edition of the T-R went to press, he had not yet done so.

Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.