A Warren city councilman wants to build a new neighborhood of single-family homes where Trumbull Memorial Hospital once treated patients, running a connector road straight through the former East Junior High property and across South Street onto the shuttered hospital campus. Councilman at-large Greg Thumm says the plan is still in very early stages, but he's pushing to get something on paper before the vacant hospital grounds become a full-blown eyesore.
As reported by WKBN, Thumm envisions a road running down the middle of the field where East Junior High once stood, crossing South Street into the former hospital property, with houses lined up on both sides. He's described the hospital site as the gateway to Warren's east side, and he's drawn a comparison to how the original Saint Joseph's Hospital development on Todd Avenue got its start, according to the station's report. Trumbull Memorial Hospital is not expected to reopen as a working hospital, the outlet notes, which is part of why Thumm says the city needs to start planning now rather than wait for the buildings to fall apart.
Why the Hospital Can't Just Reopen
The hospital's path to its current vacant state runs through years of corporate turnover. The Trumbull Regional Medical Center campus changed hands from Forum Health to Steward Health Care and then briefly to Insight Health System, before surrendering its state operating license amid serious life-safety code violations and a federal Medicare decertification, according to Chief Healthcare Executive. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had already terminated its provider agreement with the hospital in October 2025 over noncompliance with federal emergency care rules under EMTALA, cutting off a critical funding stream before the facility's license was pulled.
Insight Health System then surrendered its Ohio hospital operating license to state health officials in January 2026 after inspections turned up unaddressed building safety and heating code violations, according to Becker's Hospital Review. That surrender means the campus has no operating authorization or emergency care capability, and reopening would require a brand-new state licensing application along with extensive physical repairs. Hoodline previously reported on Insight's push to revive the Mahoning Valley hospitals it had taken over from Steward.
Who Actually Owns the Land
Thumm's proposal faces an immediate complication: the city doesn't own either piece of ground he's eyeing. The vacant East Junior High property belongs to the school board, while the former hospital property is owned by a private company, meaning any development would require coordination with both, as WKBN reported.
That private owner is Alabama-based real estate investment trust Medical Properties Trust, which served as landlord under both Steward Health Care and Insight Health System, according to the Tribune Chronicle. Warren Mayor Doug Franklin sent letters to the company in September raising urgent concerns about campus security, structural deterioration, and more than 30 police service calls to the vacant facility, the newspaper reported. Because the city doesn't own the real estate, it can't unilaterally rezone or redevelop the site without first reaching an agreement with the Alabama firm or a developer willing to coordinate with it.
A Costly Demolition Precedent Down the Road
Thumm's plan calls for demolishing all the buildings on the hospital property, but asbestos and remediation issues inside the multi-building complex make that an expensive proposition, per WKBN's reporting. Warren has been here before. The former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital sat empty for many years before Warren secured $5.9 million in combined state brownfield remediation and asbestos removal grants for its demolition. Demolition began in late 2022 and was completed in 2023, leaving the site as vacant seeded green space, the Tribune Chronicle reported.
That earlier project offers a local template for how costly and drawn-out hospital cleanups can be. Thumm's Tribune Chronicle piece presents his views on the Trumbull Memorial site. Thumm, for his part, favors single-family homes over an apartment complex or duplexes for whatever eventually gets built, according to WKBN.
A Region Still Reeling From Steward's Collapse
Trumbull Memorial's loss has left Mercy Health - St. Joseph Warren Hospital as the only operating acute care hospital within the city of Warren. In August 2024, Steward announced plans to begin closing its hospitals around September 20, Healthcare Dive reported. Steward Health Care had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2024 carrying $9 billion in total debt, initially putting nearly 1,000 health care workers across Trumbull Regional and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital at risk when no buyers emerged during the proceedings.
The closure's fallout has reached Washington and the courts, too. U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, and Rep. Michael Rulli formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate potential financial fraud and transparency violations tied to Steward's abrupt closure of its Trumbull County facilities, according to Congressman Dave Joyce's office.
Why Housing, and Why Now
Thumm's timing lines up with a broader push for workforce housing in Trumbull County. Regional leaders have flagged workforce housing as a top barrier. A surplus-land path involving the Western Reserve Port Authority and the Land Bank is also being considered.
For now, Thumm has stressed that his hospital-site proposal remains in its infancy, requiring substantial planning and money before any road or home could break ground, per WKBN's report. Coordinating with the school board over the junior high land and with Medical Properties Trust over the hospital property will likely determine whether the gateway to Warren's east side becomes new housing or continues sitting vacant.
