ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) – The Irene Byron Hospital has been a landmark on Lima Road since 1916.
But its many uses, including a hospital for tuberculosis patients and a nursing home, will become historic when the buildings are soon demolished and 70 acres of the site are put up for sale.
At Friday’s weekly meeting of Allen County commissioners, commissioners approved an expenditure of $31,000 to fence off proposed demolition areas on the 78-acre site. Gleave Construction, 532 E. Hawthorne St., was awarded the contract.
The project will require approximately 4,000 linear feet of 6 foot high security fencing placed around the former Byron and Kidder sites. The fences will not have barbed wire but will be tall enough to deter intruders, said Vance Hernandez, Allen County facilities maintenance manager.
Commissioner Richard Beck said the demolition date was not set.
“We are in the process of demolishing this site. We have cleaned up some of the asbestos that was there and our desire is really to present a clean site for sale,” he said.
On the site is a barn for the Allen County Highways Department, the Allen County Department of Environmental Management, and storage facilities.
“We are trying to figure out where exactly to draw the property line, but the vast majority of the facility will be sold once we demolish the buildings and prepare it into a clean site that can be put up for sale,” said Beck. .
According to documents filed with the county, Sturges Development is handling the eventual sale.
The Byron Wellness Community left the property about two years ago when it moved operations to Beacon Street and Lake Avenue, Beck said. The Allen County Sheriff’s Department work release program was housed there until it was forced to close two years ago.
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