A plan to completely rebuild the Morris deCastro Clinic in downtown Cruz Bay moved a step closer to reality when it was narrowly approved by the St. Thomas-St. John Committee of the Historic Preservation Commission during an online meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The plan calls for the construction of a three-story building in place of the one-story structure that was built in 1953.
The deCastro Clinic, operated by the Department of Health, is located within the bounds of the Cruz Bay Historic District, so the Historic Preservation Commission’s approval of the plan was critical to the project’s further development.
At a townhall meeting on Aug. 2, members of the public spoke in favor of increasing the clinic’s services but questioned the expansion of the building in its present site – a congested location (near the ferry dock) which is also within the flood zone.
Two recent planning efforts (Plan Cruz Bay and the Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan) have led to recommendations that the deCastro Clinic be moved further inland. The proposed location is the site of the Julius E. Sprauve School which is slated to be rebuilt in Estate Catherineberg within five years.
At the August townhall meeting, Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion explained that funding for the clinic’s reconstruction was available now as part of the Rebuild USVI program and may not be available by the time the Sprauve School site becomes available.
During the discussion at the Historic Preservation meeting on Tuesday, committee member Kurt Marsh expressed his concerns about expanding the clinic at its present location and abstained from approving the plan during the committee’s vote.
Initially, committee member Enrique Rodriguez also abstained, but then he changed his vote to approve the plan. Members Bill Newbold and Akil Petersen also voted in favor of the plan.
Following the meeting, Sean Krigger, director of the State Historic Preservation Office, told the Source, “Based on my understanding of HPC rules and regulations, a vote of two in favor and two abstentions would have stopped the project moving forward.”
At the end of the vote, Encarnacion thanked the committee members for their support and said the architects will continue to take into account suggestions made at the townhall meeting. “We want to make sure what we do makes sense,” she said.
Five other projects – all on St. Thomas – were unanimously approved by Historic Preservation commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting.
Pash Daswani of DM Hospitality received approval for new signage at Wimmelskafts Gade 4, 5, the site of the old Daily News building. Sean Krigger thanked Daswani for painting the building and “for bringing new life to Back Street.”
Kirsten Kimmel received approval to demolish the interior of a building at Kongens Gade 8, the first phase of a project to rehabilitate two West Indian vernacular structures at the site.
The Department of Property and Procurement received approval to upgrade its building constructed in the 1930s in Sub Base (Bldg. 1, Tract 1, Est. Nisky 35-Rem).
Property and Procurement also got the go-ahead to rehabilitate the Franklin Building at Kronprindsens Gade 81 A, B, the former downtown site of Marianne’s.
The HPC also approved an application by First Bank to install a set of planters in front of its downtown location at Curacao Gade 11 A.
Commissioners congratulated Dean Adams, First Bank’s Caribbean operation manager, on the bank’s purchase of a historic building at the northern end of the block. Plans to restore that building will be forthcoming, Adams said.
