Sondra Hernandez Staff writer August 4, 2024

After major renovations this year and in 2023, Montgomery County’s hospital for 40 years will open later this month as the senior-living community Landmark 301. 

The historic building on Conroe’s First Street was redeveloped by Kansas-based Overland Property Group. Efficiency, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units are now available for lease with the first residents scheduled to move in later this month. 

“I’m delighted that the 1938 county hospital has been repurposed as senior apartments to continue its service to Conroe and Montgomery County,” said Larry Foerster, chairman of the Montgomery County Historical Commission. “The preservation of the old hospital helps restore the early legacy of what was the residential center of Conroe 100 years ago. We hope that others will see the value in preserving historic structures rather than demolishing them.”

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Senior-living apartments

The former hospital space has been converted into 47 senior-living units meant for those 55 and older that will take up the entirety of the building according to Overland Property Group Director of Development April Engstrom. 

The units feature a kitchen, living-room area, bedroom, bathroom, washer/dryer hookups and secure entrances. The efficiency space is roughly 573 square foot, the one-bedroom unit is approximately 700 square foot and the two-bedroom unit is around 1,000 square foot. A floor plan is available at the Landmark 301 website. 

Community amenities include a library, community room, fitness center and activity room. 

A grand opening with tours will take place at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 27 at 301 S. First Street. Engstrom said 10 units are pre-leased.

See the Landmark 301 website to fill out an availability form or call 346-595-9555 for leasing information. 

Building’s history as a hospital

Montgomery County Hospital, the first public hospital in the region, opened in 1938.

The 35-bed facility, located on First Street in Conroe, replaced the privately owned Mary Swain Sanitarium that provided health care during the 1920s and into the Depression era.

The hospital was expanded in 1953 to include more beds and again in 1967 when new patient wings, an x-ray center, labs and an emergency room were added. 

The 1970s brought a major change to medicine in Conroe with the opening of Doctor’s Hospital. The 104-bed hospital was attached to Dr. Deane Sadler’s clinic, and opened in 1971 across the street from Conroe High School.

The county hospital closed in the late 1970s and the hospital complex now known as HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe began to take shape on the city’s south side in the early 1980s. 

A long-vacant space 

After its closure, the building sat idle for some time due to the cost of remodeling and the removal of asbestos. In 2013, the nonprofit East Texas Dream Center purchased the old hospital for its headquarters to serve those in need in the community. 

The nonprofit operated there until May 2018 when an electrical fire shuttered the building and city officials deemed it unsafe to occupy. It was vacant from mid-2018 through its renovation in spring 2023. 

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New life for the building

In early 2021, Brett Johnson with Overland Property Group gave a presentation to the Conroe City Council laying out his plans to redevelop the property seeking affordable housing tax credits from the government to complete the project. The project did not get picked up for 2021, but $13.5 million in funding was cleared in 2022. 

She said the $13.5 million represents about 70% of the cost to complete the project. The other 30% is made up from a construction loan and a permanent loan similar to a mortgage. 

The property group has also revamped several structures into affordable living apartments including the Tabor Grand Hotel in Colorado, a historic structure in downtown Wichita Falls, Texas and the H.D. Lee Mercantile Lofts from the old Lee jeans company in Kansas. 

The group is also rehabbing historic buildings in Abilene, Texas and San Angelo, Texas currently. 

Construction began in April 2023.

Preserving some original features

The group also worked with the Texas Historical Commission and the structure has secured a place on the National Register of Historic Places earlier this year. Because of this designation, developers take care to retain some of the building’s original features. 

For example she said, the flooring must remain similar to that of the hospital’s floor so it would not be possible to use hardwood flooring in the apartments. The windows were also of concern. 

“You have to replace the windows with something that his historically accurate or replicate the ones the property was originally built with,” she said. 

Engstrom called this one of their most-involved rehabs due to environmental concerns with asbestos, mold, animal waste and lead-based paint. 

“It was in really rough shape,” she said of the building’s original condition. “There was a lot of water damage so of course there was a lot of mold. On historic buildings especially, the environmental review is a really big piece of the renovation. We put a lot of time and resources into environmental abatement on this one.” 

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