What's next for old St. James Mercy Hospital? Efforts to repurpose vacant campus continue
The former St. James Mercy Hospital on Canisteo Street hasn’t changed much since early 2020, when the hospital departed its historic home and moved north to a brand new facility on Seneca Road.
Behind the scenes, though, city officials say “a lot of work is being done” to redevelop the vacant hospital campus, which covers a city block on Canisteo Street.
The property was acquired by Biotek LLC in October 2021 for $818,000, after Trinity Health put the campus up for auction. The developers hope to transform the former hospital into an assisted living facility. A proposal released a few months after the purchase called for over 200 beds for assisted living and 100 beds for a nursing care facility across the site’s 260,000 square feet.
While those plans have yet to get off the ground, Hornell Mayor John Buckley said the city has remained in contact with the owners and is encouraged by their pursuit of the project.
“It’s a large project. All-in, you’re probably talking upwards of $70 million,” said Buckley. “When you look at a project like that, it’s going to take some time to develop. Obviously there’s going to be a component where they’re going to need some external funding sources. I’m excited for it and doing everything we can to support that project.”
The sprawling hospital campus covers over 3.5 acres. Its 2024 tax assessment came in just under $3.3 million. Twenty additional parcels were included in the sale.
The property marks one of the few remaining tracts of land available for a large development in the heart of the city. It sits in a federal Opportunity Zone, which offers incentives for projects in disadvantaged areas.
Buckley noted a facility with several hundred beds would create a significant number of jobs and economic activity at the southern end of the city.
“This would be a huge project. You’re talking about an entire city block,” said Buckley. “It’s important to the city, but also to the neighborhood itself. Since St. James left and moved up north, it’s basically just an empty shell of a building with zero activity there. We have to keep an eye on that, and that’s where the maintenance comes into it.”
City codes expressed issues with maintenance of the grounds and the building in 2022, but Buckley said those concerns have largely been resolved with improved communication with property ownership.
“They’ve been working with us and trying to make sure everything is taken care of,” said Buckley. “We’ll keep communicating our needs and what we see on the ground.”
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The mayor described the project as a "waiting game" as ownership pursues funding.
St. James Mercy Hospital traces its Hornell roots back to 1890, when a Hornell priest, sick of giving the last rites to injured railroad workers, bought an old farmhouse for $5,000 and deeded it to a hospital corporation that he had formed with a Hornell physician.
Various additions to the property were built in 1931, 1950, 1968 and 1989, according to tax records.
This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Latest on effort to repurpose vacant Hornell St. James Hospital campus
