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Abandoned 'Manor' Nursing Home Hits Legal Snags for Teardown

Former Chesterfield Manor nursing home draws little but trouble, records show. Some claim it's haunted too.

Demolition of Chesterfield Manor, a former nursing home, is on hold while it undergoes asbestos abatement—a safe removal of the carcinogenic substance. Delays to teardown are also expected since attorneys moved the home's snarl of legal cases to a different county court.

The Manor property has sparked approximately 200 police reports since 2002.

Though the nursing home closed in 1998, Chesterfield Manor has seen its fair share of visitors over the years. 

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Police have been on the property at 14001 Olive Blvd. more than 200 times from February 2002 to May of 2011 according to police records. More than 80 of those calls were in response to trespassing on the property, which was rumored to be haunted.

(Read the earlier story about the haunting and fire.)

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The nursing home is now slated for demolition. In early June, Chesterfield City Council members voted unanimously to begin the administrative process of having the nursing home demolished, which could have cost the city an estimated $280,000. But the owners, Tom and Adele Daake, decided to demolish the building. The Daakes could not be reached for comment by their lawyer, Josh Shindler. 

City council members expressed concern that someone might be injured on the property, especially given its state of disrepair since a fire in August of 2010.

(See recent story about post-fire limbo.)

In recent years, illegal activity on the property has dropped. Calls to the property peaked in 2008—58 incidents were related to the address that year. In 2010, 41 calls were made. Chesterfield Police Lt. Steven Lewis said he didn’t know why there were more calls in 2008. 

Although trespassing was the most common violation pertaining to the property, it was followed by open doors in the building and suspicious vehicles being spotted in the area.

A website that listed the nursing home as haunted was taken down after its creator was prosecuted for trespassing on the property. After that incident, Lewis said, police cracked down on violators. Police patrolled the property regularly—42 police records have been for foot patrols. Officers were stationed in the area or extra officers were put on patrol in addition to those assigned. In 2008, foot patrols peaked at 30.

Lewis said officers were typically put on foot patrol during the evening, as a practical matter. Since February of 2002, most of the police calls occurred at night. 

Neighbors of the property have called the city off and on to complain. Sharon and Bill Muhs reported to police repeatedly over the years that the building was unsecured at times and was scaring their children. Sharon Muhs also told the city in 2005 that teenagers were breaking into the building during different times of the day. Muhs declined to comment on her past complaints.

Records from Chesterfield’s Department of Planning and Public Works detail violations of overgrown grass and portions of the building being left unsecured.

Brett Hardesty of Hardesty Homes said his company had a contract to purchase the property sometime in 2004 or 2005, but it was later invalidated because the property had gotten too expensive to develop and the economy had started to spiral downward.

Hardesty said during the time Hardesty Homes had the contract, the Daakes were still primarily responsible for structure upkeep. But Hardesty said they had an agreement with the Daakes that Hardesty Homes would take care of issues including keeping the grass cut down to code and keeping the building secured and boarded up.

Outside of that contract, the property was under the Daakes’ control. The city prosecuted the Daakes for code violations several times. But any legal action the city has tried to take has often been thwarted, City Attorney Rob Heggie told council members at a May 24 Planning and Public Works Committee meeting.

The Daake's attorney has moved cases to the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. That's allowed under Missouri court rules, Heggie said in a memo to City Administrator Michael Herring, but it causes delays and makes moving forward difficult.

While the cases languish in court, little to nothing has been done on the property, city officials said. 

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