Staff Report
Published May 28, 2010

With the sale of the 180-acre Bull Street property, how the Babcock building, the former mental hospital, should be used will be a topic of debate in the coming months.

In this week’s Daily Report’s informal poll, the results of what to do with the building were mixed. Receiving the most votes, 28.6%, was an option to turn the building into a medical office complex. Turning the building into condos received 19% as did using the building as a museum.

However, 16.7% said there is not good use for the dilapidated building, and it should be razed.

One respondent disagreed saying, “Considering parts of the buildings on the property are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it shouldn't be razed.”

Turning the building into affordable apartment housing only garnered 2.4%, while “other” received 14.3%.

A couple of those responses were to turn it into an indoors farmers market and to move City Hall into the building.