Rosebud Gets Federal Grant to Help Dismantle Old Hospital

By Dan Genz, Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas

May 14–The city of Rosebud won a $200,000 cleanup grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to demolish the abandoned Halbert Hospital and use the space to build low-income housing.

Asbestos and lead paint contaminated the three-building complex at 311 N. Military St. that has been closed for more than a decade. City leaders say the facility now poses a health risk.

Graffiti, broken and boarded windows, a collapsing roof and damaged interior walls have combined with the contaminants to make the site “an eyesore and even a health hazard,” Rosebud Mayor Kenneth Hensel said.

The city will be responsible for at least $40,000 of the $240,000 destruction costs, but it can use city services and employee hours toward that expense.

Transforming town The money comes from nearly $70 million this year in Brownfields grants, used to transform environmental problem areas into community assets, EPA Regional Administrator Richard Greene said in a statement.

Once the project is completed, Brownfields project director Bill Rhotenberry said the asbestos will not endanger future residents of the Rosebud site.

Agency officials view the project as a chance to increase the town’s tax base and property values in a Falls County community 35 miles southeast of Waco that has seen minimal new housing growth in decades.

Just two homes were built there during the 1990s, Hensel said, but new businesses on Main Street and three houses built in the last year are sparking hopes for a turnaround.

“We’re trying real hard to rejuvenate our town and get it back on its feet,” Hensel said. “We’re trying to bring some life back to town.” Rosebud’s population of 1,638 makes it the smallest Texas city to fetch a a Brownfields grant this year, dwarfed by Dallas, Laredo and even Pearsall.

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