A historic building in Nevada City that’s been empty for nearly 20 years could soon see a new beginning.
Once California’s second-oldest hospital and then a county health center, the old Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) building has been abandoned for nearly two decades. Now, community members are pushing to give it a new life.
“As it stands, it’s really not serving the community and that’s really what we’re hoping to change,” said Jonathan Collier with advocacy group HEW Renew.
The HEW building sits less than a mile from downtown Nevada City. Empty and overgrown, it’s been abandoned since 2006 after a shooting a few years earlier that left two people dead.
“It did attract a lot of vandals, a lot of squatters,” Collier said. “Fire is one of the big concerns we have.”
Collier noted that before a caretaker was hired, the 37,000-square-foot building was broken into roughly four times a month. Now, some community members and the building’s private owner are advocating for its third chance.
One office has already been revamped. The rest, for now, is waiting to be gutted and reconstructed.
Originally a hospital, community advocates say the building’s shell is still good, so there’s no need to spend potentially millions of dollars on demolition.
“Nevada City is really a historic town,” Collier said. “It’s a big part of its ethos and its vision and mission, so historic preservation is just a really important part of Nevada City.”
A community-inspired design process is underway. HEW Renew wants your input about the building’s future.
“Obviously, housing comes to the forefront. That’s first and foremost, but there are a lot of innovative ideas, especially because we’re not set in the use of this building,” Collier said.
Collier added that there’s no shortage of ideas, from a space for local youth to another wellness center to a mixed-use hub. But before anything takes shape, he said that hearing from neighbors is key.
While there has been some pushback, the project is still in its first phase.
“A lot of this community conversation would happen after a permit has actually been applied for, so we’re actually moving that to the front of the conversation, so we want to include the community from the beginning,” he said.
HEW Renew’s next phase is expected to unfold early next year and include more public input. They hope to have a preliminary proposal done six months from now.