The expected sale of the old Katy Hospital and adjacent property fell through.
The Parsons Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals was to address a possible zoning change on the property at 412 Katy on Jan. 21. However, the planners heard that Labette Health asked to have the request removed from the agenda. The prospective owner decided against the purchase, planners heard.
The hospital, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was first opened in 1922 to serve Katy Railroad employees and their families.
The hospital closed in April 1985, although the Katy Clinic connected to the hospital in 1967 continued to operate through 2009.
The future of the hospital property, which also includes a residence, has been discussed for decades and Labette Health has spent thousands of dollars over that time repairing or maintaining the facilities, according to Sun archives.
The general discussion has mainly been about converting the building or buildings into apartments or housing of some kind.
CRH Properties based in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, was going to buy the property for $50,548. The company asked to rezone the property from single family residential to multi family residential district.
Labette County owns the property.
Gary Hogsett, Labette Health Foundation executive director, said the purchaser decided against the sale at the last minute. He said he didn’t have any indication that the purchase might return to the table.
This puts the hospital property back on the market.
In other matters from that meeting, the zoning board approved a zoning change from residential to heavy commercial district for property at 2700 Frisco, formerly Standard Oil Co.’s bulk station. The new owner, Renno Padelford of Longmont, Colorado, wants to operate an auto restoration business at the site. The board also approved a conditional use permit to allow Padelford to install mini storage units on the property. He planned on keeping the two-story brick structure at this time.
