Bon Secours said it would “endeavor to maintain the historic nature” of the school property as a part of its deal with the city. It planned to use the site at the corner of Patterson and Libbie avenues to expand St. Mary’s Hospital, the health system said at the time.

After the ink on the deal was dry, officials said Bon Secours would convert the building into a nursing school.

Last December, the health system announced that its initial plans were too expensive to carry out. Instead, the hospital system proposed tearing down the old school buildings, which were ill-fitted to house a modern medical facility, to make way for a medical office in its place.

The change of plans did not sit well with members of the then-incoming council, who expressed surprise and frustration.

Chris Hilbert, a swing vote on the council that approved the deal and now council president, called for the health system to return the property to the city. Razing the property would be “an insult to every man, woman and child in the city of Richmond,” the typically mild-mannered 3rd District representative said at the time.