WEST POINT – After more than 30 years, the Henry Clay Retirement Community will close at the end of the year, leaving more than 20 residents in search of new homes.
The decision came after evaluations from the last few years by Methodist Senior Services, the faith-based nonprofit that operates the retirement community and other similar facilities, found the building was simply too expensive to continue operating long-term, according to a press release from Methodist Senior Services.
“When I say that many sleepless nights and tears and prayer were offered up (for this decision), I am not saying that lightly,” Renee Reid, director of communications for Methodist Senior Services, told The Dispatch. “I cannot tell you how much this agonizes this organization to make this decision, (but) honestly, at the end of the day … allowing (residents) to continue to live in a less-than-ideal situation that we could not maintain at the quality of standard that we have … was not good for them.”
The Henry Clay Retirement Community gave its 23 residents notice last week that the building will close Dec. 31. Over the next six months leading up to its closure date, Reid said staff with Methodist Senior Services are working with residents to find them other accommodations, whether it be with another retirement community, senior center or individual housing.
“Our goal is to help them find that new home,” Reid said. “We have a team that is dedicated to acquiring applications, to helping them fill those applications out, to helping them go and visit those new apartments and look at them (and seeing) if they qualify, helping them see if it’s a place that they would enjoy calling home, whether that’s with us or with another organization.”
The Henry Clay Retirement Community is one of three low-income housing tax credit programs in Clay County, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s resource locator. The low-income housing tax credit program, offered through HUD, provides credits to developers and operators of affordable rental housing in order to help with reduced rates to older adults with limited income.
In recent years, the historic building has become difficult to sustain long-term because of necessary renovations and costs, Reid said, though she could not provide a specific cost as “the board’s decision was not based on a single repair project or even a cumulative list of projects.”
“Ultimately our board determined that the resources needed to sustain the property at the level expected throughout the MSS system exceeded what our nonprofit ministry could responsibly invest,” Reid wrote in an email to The Dispatch.
What’s next for Henry Clay Hotel?
Lisa Klutts, director for the West Point-Clay County Growth Alliance, said she was disappointed to hear about the closure earlier this week. She said several residents in the retirement community are regulars at downtown events and spaces in West Point and were part of the “heart” of downtown.
“They are actually in (front of the) Prairie Arts Festival, so they get to be part of the festival just by sitting out front of where they live,” Klutts said. “So that’s the hard part for me right now. … I’ll miss (them).”
Beyond its social importance, Klutts and Virginia Ellis, archivist with the Bryan Public Library, agreed the retirement community’s building should be preserved and repurposed into something beneficial for West Point again because of its historical significance.
The hotel was originally built between 1929 and 1930 and served as one of the primary locations for travelers coming through the city for business on the rail lines, Ellis said.
“West Point back in the day, when (it) had all these trains coming through here and people needed a place to spend the night, (they stopped here),” Ellis said. “… It stopped, and you had to have a place to get off and go eat (and) spend the night (on) Commerce Street.”
The building over time became designated as one of the historic landmark buildings in the West Point Historic District and was renovated around 1995 before opening as the Henry Clay Retirement Community that same year.
Klutts said given the building’s historical significance to the city, she hopes to see it return to form as a hotel if it’s sold after its December closure.
Reid said Methodist Senior Services does hope to eventually sell the building but has not received any interest or offers yet. The nonprofit’s hope, she said, is for the building’s next owner to have an easier time securing grant funding to turn it into something benefiting West Point.
“It’s been with us for a while, (and) we love the city of West Point,” Reid said. “… We would love for that building to be placed in the hands of someone who can appropriately restore it and maintain it, and help create vitality in the heart of West Point. We are extremely sad that we are not that organization, … but we would love for somebody to get their hands on that building and do that.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
