A decision on whether a historic Missoula hospital can be demolished will take center stage at Missoula City Council chambers during a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning.
At the meeting set for 11 a.m., council will hear arguments surrounding the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission’s decision to deny the owners of the Old Post Hospital a demolition permit to remove the hospital in the Fort Missoula Historic District.
After the commission originally denied the demolition permit in March, arguing the owners of the land neglected the property, the landowners, FAE-Wolf, filed an appeal.
The Missoula City Council will act as a quasi-judicial land board and vote to either uphold the commission’s decision or allow for the demolition permit to move forward.
The council could also add conditions to the demolition permit’s approval or hold the decision altogether to gather more information.
An initial hearing was proposed for July, but an administrative error led to a delay in the process.
The future of the hospital has been at the center of a debate for years between the private owners and historical conservation activists.
FAE-Wolf’s original development plans for the property, first presented in 2023, would have built townhomes and commercial building adjacent to the Old Post Hospital, using the revenue to repair the aging structure.
The building is 113 years old and has sat vacant for decades. The owners of the land estimate it would cost $9 million to completely repair the structure, making the rehabilitation economically unfeasible without the revenue from townhomes and commercial development.
That development proposal was nixed by the Historic Preservation Commission in 2023. In 2024, the Missoula City Council largely upheld the decision to stop residential development in the district.
The Old Post Hospital owners then announced a plan to demolish the hospital, arguing the cost to repair the structure would not be economically feasible.
For the hearing on Wednesday, the owners of the Old Post Hospital will have one hour to make a presentation, followed by a one-hour response from the City of Missoula and a final 10-minute rebuttal from the property owners.
Public comment will also be taken during the meeting. Residents can also send in written comments by email to PostHospitalDEmoPermit@ci.missoula.mt.us or by mail to City Clerk, 435 Ryman Street, Missoula, Montana, 59802.
The Old Post Hospital was built in 1911 and was used by the U.S. Army before it was sold as surplus in 1947. The building traded hands several times before the current owners purchased the lot in 2019.
Griffen Smith is the local government reporter for the Missoulian.
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