St. Ignatius in limbo

Status of the former St. Ignatius Hospital building in Colfax remains on hold after a pending sale stalled out in December, according to Valoree Gregory, Colfax unified executive director.

The potential buyer reportedly hit a snag with the cost of doing an environmental assessment on the building. At that time, Gregory said she was working with building owner Anthony Girges and the potential buyer to see if the required environmental study could be completed so the building sale could go through.

“The sale is still on hold,” Gregory said last week.

Gregory reported other potential buyers have expressed interest to Girges, but nothing has advanced beyond that point.

“We're just kind of waiting, kind of seeing what he (Girges) does,” said Gregory.

In the meantime, Gregory continues to check on the building that has brought national headlines to Colfax with its haunted hospital hunts.

“We just keep checking on it to make sure it's still safe,” she said. “It's still there!”

Gregory noted someone attempted to break into the building, and she plans to continue to check on the building which so far has not sustained additional damage from snow or snow melt.

Gregory told the Gazette last Thursday she has taken a couple of photographers into the building recently, and more TV interest has been expressed in it since TLC aired its episode of Paranormal Lockdown Jan. 6.

“A couple more TV shows have called and asked if they can come in during the spring, and I just keep telling them we're on hold,” she said.

Gregory commented it will be nice to know what the fate of the building will be.

“Then we would know what we can tell people,” she said.

Haunted hospital tours would likely continue in the event the hospital building remains unsold.

The first haunted hospital tours were in October of 2015, and tours since then have generated thousands of dollars for the Colfax Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Association and Colfax Arts Council.