Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara is urging residents to demand Mercyhealth make sure it sells its shuttered hospital on Rockton Avenue to an individual or organization with the financial resources and ability to properly redevelop the property.
Mercyhealth closed its Rockton Avenue hospital in July after a years long erosion of services at the location. Officials said the health system was looking for a buyer to potentially redevelop the property for social services or senior living.
“I wanted to make the community aware that I have recently heard of a potential transaction, though nothing has been confirmed,” McNamara said in a statement. “What I’ve heard, however, raises serious concerns. The prospective transaction appears to put the property in the hands of an individual/organization that lacks both a proven track record of successful projects and the financial capacity and wherewithal to bring a redevelopment to fruition.”
Mercyhealth CEO Javon Bea released a statement in response that ignored most of McNamara’s concerns and accused the mayor of racial bias. Bea said Mercyhealth intended to donate the property to Rockford “to use for community benefit.” An offer he says McNamara declined more than once.
“The mayor felt the city was not capable of taking on the project. Following that, we extended the same opportunity to more than 50 healthcare facilities, schools and local non-profits,” Bea said. “None accepted the donation of the facility and over 30 acres of land.”
Bea said a Black entrepreneur, who was not identified, has stepped forward to claim the property.
“The mayor has chosen not to support the effort but instead to undermine it,” Bea said. “This is more than just shortsighted — it reflects a racially biased double standard. Questioning an individual’s potential for success before they are even given a fair opportunity sends a clear message: city leadership is more comfortable dictating failure than fostering success, particularly on the west side of Rockford.”
The fate of the west side hospital facility has been years in the making. Mercyhealth quickly reduced or transferred out services since it opened its estimated $505 million Javon Bea Hospital — Riverside by the tollway in Rockford.
Officials in 2020 announced that Mercyhealth was cutting emergency room services from the Rockton Avenue hospital and moving them to Riverside. Its prized pediatric intensive care unit was in June 2020 first moved to the Riverside campus and then permanently closed. Mercyhealth then in September 2020 won approval from from the Illinois Health Facilities & Review Board to close a 20-bed inpatient mental health unit at its Rockton Avenue hospital.
“This summer marked the ultimate end of Mercyhealth’s ‘one hospital, two campuses’ catch phrase, which was little more than empty words,” McNamara said in his statement. “In reality, the opening of the second hospital ensured the N. Rockton Avenue building would close. Through a purposeful multi-year effort, the hospital leadership removed all services from the west side. This has left the N. Rockton Avenue hospital building vacant and hospital officials seeking to dispose of the property.”
McNamara said he supports repurposing the hospital in a way that benefits the community. He said Rockford “cannot allow hospital leadership to walk away and leave our community with an empty building.”
He said Rockford and the west side deserves better.
“Dumping the property to an individual or organization without the resources, plan or capacity to follow through would almost certainly leave the building vacant, creating another source of blight on the west side,” McNamara said.
McNamara urged residents to reach out to members of the Mercyhealth Board of Directors and tell them not to sell the property unless it is to a new owner who “has the money, the experience, a detailed plan and a legal/financial commitment to complete the project.”
Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on X @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford mayor objects to Mercyhealth plan to donate shuttered hospital building
Reporting by Jeff Kolkey, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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