A historic and sprawling Spanish-mission-style building that functioned as a working hospital in Montana until the 1940s is on the market for just $10.
But if that seems too good to be true, it is.
The old hospital building, featuring three floors and over 16,000 square feet, may be for sale — but the land it sits on is not.
The buyer would need to move the medical facility off the property and relocate it somewhere else, according to its real estate listing.
That’s only a drop in the bucket of the estimated price tag that would come with relocating and restoring a 113-year-old building of that size.
Restoration costs alone have been priced at around $8 million, according to the Missoula Current.
The Old Post Hospital was built on Fort Missoula in 1911 and served as a hospital until it was decommissioned in 1947.
Doctors and nurses treated patients suffering from the 1918 Spanish Flu, children inflicted with polio during the epidemic, and Japanese, German and Italian immigrants during World War II when it served as the main hospital for the “Alien Detention Camp.”
After it was decommissioned, the building was converted into medical offices that were open until 2015.
The current owner of the hospital had proposed a development plan that it claimed would fund its restoration — but the plan was shot down by the Missoula Historic Preservation Commission, the local publication reported.
The developer, FAE-Wolf, filed permits to build 16 townhouses on private property adjacent to the hospital building and planned to use revenue generated from the homes to fund its restoration.
But the commission denied the permits over the proposed development’s sight lines, opinions on open space and beliefs that the townhouses would reduce the “prominence of the historic building,” the Current reported.
FAE-Wolf appealed the decision with the Missoula City Council — claiming it was rooted in bias, but the council denied his appeal on a 7-4 vote, according to the outlet.
Now, unless an interested buyer comes forward, the property owners said they will file new permits — this time for the hospital’s demolition.
“It is with a heavy heart that FAE-Wolf has been forced to prepare an application for a demolition permit with the City of Missoula to remove the Old Post Hospital,” the project developer said in a statement, according to the local news publication.
“Now after 5 years and spending over $750,000 managing the property, paying taxes and fees to try and get our proposal approved, we have no choice but to move forward with the removal or demolition of the hospital.”
