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Statesville eyesore to be torn down using tax money

By Tina Terry, wsoctv.com
By Tina Terry, wsoctv.com

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A run-down asbestos-filled hospital that has irritated neighbors for years will finally be torn down.

The owner of the foreclosed Davis Hospital in Statesville owed thousands of dollars in back taxes.

County leaders were working with him to clean up the site and tear it down.

Eyewitness News reporter Tina Terry learned that others have stepped in to do the job.

Tearing down the hospital will cost at least $800,000, which is more than the property is worth.
Some leaders are disappointed that the community is left to pay the bill.

Iredell County leaders said previous owner Fred Godley was asked to demolish it.

The county would then buy the property and give it to Mitchell Community College to build a new health sciences building.

Godley started the demolition last year but stopped due to asbestos issues. The county loaned him $30,000 to get the project back on track.

“At the end of the day, it may have been too much for him and his company to handle,” Iredell County Commissioner Gene Houpe said.

County leaders foreclosed on the property this year and sold it to the college for $46,000.

The college will start taking bids from companies next week to tear down the dangerous building.

Mitchell Community College officials anticipate that the demolition could cost about $800,000.

Leaders said Godley lost any profit from the property, but they said he never paid back the $30,000 loan, or more than $45,000 in back taxes owed on the property. From 2011 to 2015 there were 1,400 deaths due to underride wrecks.

New testing shows the Angelwing guard could stop some of those deaths.

Jimmy Davis drives big rigs and likes the idea of more safety devices.

"All protection is great,” Davis said. “If something is going to improve it, I think it will be great. You know save a life.”

The American Truckers Association said the guards can cause cracks in the trucks frames and add weight.

Jacqueline Ciokajlo works for a trucking company.

"It could make jobs take longer, a lot longer and if you have a pretty long trip, that could be significant," she said.

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