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Clarinda struggles to fill 128-year-old former hospital

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February 5th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

CLARINDA, Iowa (AP) – The 128-year-old former mental health institute in the small southwest Iowa city of Clarinda isn’t your typical real estate opportunity, and so far no one is rushing to move in. More than seven months after the state closed the Clarinda Mental Health Institute, much of the sprawling building remains empty, including entire floors that haven’t been used in decades. With its gothic architecture set amid lawns and tree-lined paths, the former institute is impressive, but it’s also a site that Iowa’s governor labeled as outdated and inefficient.

Community members have been working to find occupants for the former hospital but the process hasn’t proved to be an easy one as unclaimed inventory piles up and a historic part of the town remains largely empty.

(9-a.m. News)