Half-demolished hospital is torn down

An old, half demolished hospital building in Pocatello, Idaho, will be fully torn down after almost a year, a report by Local News 8 says. Demolition resumed on the former Bannock Hospital the morning of May 23.

According to Shannon Shultz, the owner of Pocatello-based Construction Services, who is performing the demolition, the building should be demolished within the next two or three weeks. It was already abated for asbestos and other materials, and the utilities have been disconnected.

The metal from the building will be recycled, the report says, and the concrete and bricks will be crushed into gravel. Shultz says in the report that the company is trying to separate the materials to decrease the amounts going to landfill.

Demolition originally started on the hospital in summer 2016 but had to stop when T-Mobile cell towers were discovered on the roof. T-Mobile struck a deal to move the cell towers to a building on the Idaho State University campus in January.

Plans for the property are not yet clear, but Shultz told Local News 8 that the foundation will be left as is due to cost.

Bannock Hospital was built in 1950 and has been vacant since 2011, after the new Portneuf Medical Center was built nearby.