Trenton is one step closer to finally having the former Riverside Osteopathic Hospital building demolished following an agreement between the city and site owner Dr. Iqbal Nasir.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON — The city is one step closer to finally having the former Riverside Osteopathic Hospital building demolished following an agreement between the city and site owner Dr. Iqbal Nasir.
A special meeting was held Oct. 28 where the City Council unanimously agreed to the motion authorizing Mayor Steven Rzeppa to sign a global agreement between the city, and NABA Management Inc. and Nasir, its owner.
The agreement will be signed upon proof of the $1 million escrow deposit. Also, Acting City Administrator Dean Creech will be authorized to implement or execute Trenton’s responsibilities as outlined in the agreement, the motion said.
Prior to the motion approval to ratify an agreement, the City Council went into a closed session in order to discuss litigation.
The former Riverside Osteopathic Hospital on Truax Street and West Jefferson Avenue had a demolition order placed on the site by the city several years ago which was ligated by Nasir.
A court appointed receiver was then put in place to handle and oversee the work that needed to be done on the site, Rzeppa said.
He also said that Nasir’s position was that the building was safe and nothing was wrong with it, but the city had an alternative position to that.
“This is the agreement that is the culmination of that work with the receiver and these parties,” Rzeppa said. “What this means is within the next several days, by entering this agreement we will not be signing it until we receive a $1 million deposit from Dr. Nasir into an escrow account that is used specifically for demolition of the former Riverside Hospital site.”
By Dec. 31, the house on the hospital site must be demolished with the agreement that the entire hospital site is demolished and pad ready for development and cleared by Oct. 15, 2022.
“One of the benefits here is that this requires no money from the city,” Rzeppa said. “We’re merely required to assist him in seeking other funding from other entities which we will certainly be doing as part of the agreement. The city of Trenton taxpayers are not on the hook, we are not on any sort of monetary commitment for this project.”
If Nasir does not follow through with this agreement obligation and gets the money into escrow but does not demolish the property by those dates, that money will revert to the city to continue with demolition of the property, Rzeppa said.
Councilwoman Timber Baun-Crooks said the council, Creech, Rzeppa, and Former City Administrator Jim Wagner did a “great job” working on the hospital site for years.
“Bringing everybody to the table right now is so crucial to get this site demolished and get a development there,” she said. “That property is worth a lot of money and we’re hoping for some great things there. I mean everybody here deserves a lot of credit for what’s going on down there.”
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)