House Razing

 Another house has been razed near Memorial Hospital, this time at the corner of Pecan and Poplar.  Eventually I expect SIH will buy up the entire area between Poplar and University, demolish the remaining houses and expand the hospital complex further north. Hospitals, Universities and Churches tend not to care much about the historical aspects of the areas in which they want to expand.

Heartland Women's Healthcare

 Heartland Women's Healthcare announced on social media today that, as of  January 31, 2025, the organization will no longer have privileges at  SIH Memorial Hospital. Heartland will still provide care at other local hospitals and their own offices but not at Memorial. 

From what I can tell, this was a decision by SIH and not Heartland, as the press release says Heartland has been working to maintain privileges there.

Preservation Commission

 Next meeting of the Preservation Commission is at 5:30 on Feb 12 at Hickory Lodge on West Sycamore. Looks like the only topic on the agenda is discussion about the creation of a Northwest Historic District. Not sure how that would play out given the amount of property SIH has purchased in the West Oak area and the willingness with which the organization is willing to raze the houses in the area. There are at least 2 blocks of empty property where houses stood 2-3 years ago.

Of course, on the flip side the owners of those houses had let them deteriorate over the years, to the point were it was likely cheaper to demolish them than to bring them up to code.

SIH

 Given the number of house demolishions along West Oak and South Almond, I would expect SIH to build upon those properties sometime in the next year or so. 

All of the houses, save one, along West Oak between Poplar and University have been demolished, including the reportedly haunted "Rain House" and the one time but extensively renovated home of Gen John H. Logan. In addition, all of the houses along West Oak between Poplar and Almond and the houses on N. Almond between Main and Oak are gone. I had not realized how much demonlition had taken place in the area until I happened to bike through there this week. Just a lot of empty lots, which I expect SIH will expand its campus onto within the next couple of years which, since SIH is a not for profit, means more property taken off the tax rolls.

Memorial Hospital

 SIH is requesting a rezoning of properties on West Oak and N. Almond, including the old Regions Bank parking lot, from residential to professional/administrative. I would guess that the  rezoning is a precursor to pulling down the properties and expanding the Memorial Hospital campus.

John A Logan House

 House on West Oak once owned by General John A Logan will be town down by SIH to expand its campus. Universities, hospitals and churches are notorious for not worrying about the historic significant of properties they own when they need to expand. I expect all of the properties along West Oak across from Memorial Hospital to be torn down over the next few years as SIH continues to expand.

Uncompensated Healthcare

 Attended the Mayor's State of the City Address this afternoon (more on that later) but one thing that struck me was that SIUC and SIH are the two largest employers in the region and SIH has spent about $132 million for uncompensated healthcare since the beginning of the epidemic

SIUC Medicne SIH Groundbreaking

Good turnout for the groundbreaking for the new SIUC/SIH complex going in on West Oak. I estimated 150 to 200 people there. I imagine that eventually SIH will want to acquire the entire block, pull down the houses there and replace them with either additional medical facilities or rental properties for doctors and staff working at the hospital, or short term rentals for families of patients at the hospital.

Unfortunately, hospitals and universities, because of their focus on the most modern technology and facilities, tend to not consider the effect of their activities on the surrounding neighborhoods. Ergo, most are located on the outskirts of communities or in areas where they can expand without disrupting the surrounding residences.