Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Proposals for Howard Hall Adaptive Reuse Due August 23rd, Looks Alarmingly Pro Forma

Salem Health has had its RFP out for Howard Hall since the 10th of this month and they expect to close it on August 23rd.

It's all about parking
 (Howard Hall in lower left)
How hard, really, are they trying to find a use for it, trying to integrate it into their plans?  The timeline looks awfully compressed, and they expect to award a successful proposal on September 9th. 

In this context, an RFP with such compressed timelines could suggest a pro forma attempt to say, "Well, we tried. But we couldn't find a use for it, so I guess we'll have to knock it down. Shoot. We were hoping we wouldn't have to do that. Darn."

It will be interesting to see what is proposed, but good things take time sometimes.

(For more on Howard Hall and the Blind School Parcel, see notes tagged Blind School Redevelopment.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

At the September SCAN meeting, according to the meeting minutes, apparently the hospital indicated that

"No proposals received by hospital for adaptive use of Howard hall. Hospital following up to determine why they didn’t receive any proposals. They are contacting experts in adaptive reuse."

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

Thanks for the update! It will be interesting to learn "why they didn't receive any proposals."

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

The decision was posted and in part it says:

"HLC finds that the RFP conditions were unreasonable. Therefore, no responses or contacts from interested parties were received. HLC finds that there are prudent and feasible alternatives to rehabilitate Howard Hall in its present location...The [HLC} denies the application."

It will be interesting to see if the Hospital appeals.

But I have seen nothing to think that this wasn't a "pro-forma" RFP.

Hopefully the Hospital will do a serious one with a more generous schedule and realistic deadlines - and be prepared to bank the building for a bit.