In more ways than one, Alma Street in London's Old North neighbourhood sits in the long shadow of St. Joseph's hospital's six-level parking garage.

The hospital owns eight houses on Alma, a residential street that runs north from St. James Street between Richmond and Wellington Streets. Alma St. comes to a dead end at the hospital's parking garage, which resembles a massive cinder block set down among the character homes of one of London's oldest neighbourhoods.

The hospital also owns four large houses on the east side of Richmond and a house and a vacant lot on the west side of Wellington.

Taken together, the group of hospital-owned properties form a large, almost perfect rectangle that stretches over an entire city block with its southern perimeter running just south of 41 Alma St.

Some of the houses are rented, others are vacant and in poor repair.

Last week, the hospital sent out an email, inviting residents to a meeting about its plans to demolish two vacant houses at the north end of Alma, closest to the parking garage (Nos. 48 and 50).

St. Joseph's Health Care intends to demolish these two vacant houses the hospital owns on Alma Street. St. Joe's owns a handful of properties on the residential street in Old North but says it has no immediate expansion plans. (Andrew Lupton/CBC)

The email says the hospital intends to take down the houses "due to the poor condition of these properties." The note also announces plans to relocate tenants from a hair salon that operates out of 854 to 862 Richmond St. A zoning change application that would allow the hair salon to operate at 862 Richmond has been filed with the city's planning department.

Other hospital-owned properties near the garage have come down over the years, including 40 Alma St. in 2008 and 855 Wellington St. in the mid-1990s.

Some residents who spoke to CBC News say they worry the moves by St. Joseph's are part of a possible expansion of the hospital, its aging parking garage, or both.

In a statement to CBC News, St. Joseph's says the hospital currently has no expansion plans and will be happy to answer any questions neighbours have about its properties at the meeting set for Wednesday, Feb. 12.

"St. Joseph's has made a commitment to our neighbours to keep them informed of any plans for our properties," the statement says.

'Our leases are precarious'

Tara Winter has rented 41 Alma St. from St. Joe's for the past 10 years. She says the hospital could ease a lot of anxiety by providing more details about their long-term plans.

"It would be nice to see a bit more transparency and clarity on the timeline that St. Joe's has, and on their approach of how to achieve their future plans for the properties that St. Joe's own's," she said.

"The tenants have always known that our leases are precarious, but I do think there is room for improvement on the communication coming from St. Joes. I think that a lack of that up to this point has definitely contributed to a sense of anxiety in the neighbourhood and hopefully the meeting on February 12 can work to remedy that."

One property that could pose a problem for any expansion is 849 Wellington St., a workman's cottage built in 1869 and owned by Scott Andrew Collyer.

The owner of this cottage at 849 Wellington St. says St. Joseph's Health Care is interested in acquiring his property. The hospital owns a number of other properties in a large block bordered by the parking garage to the north and Wellington Street and Richmond Street. (Andrew Lupton/CBC News)

Collyer says he understands his property is of interest to St. Joseph's Health Care and he's been watching with interest as hospital-owned properties around him have been acquired or taken down.

"We're assuming that they're doing this with some sort of purpose," said Collyer. "But we have no plans, no drawings, nothing that we've seen to actually reveal what it is that the hospital could be doing."

Collyer says he's aware that as a provincial entity, the hospital could turn to expropriation to acquire any properties they need.

"It's something that's certainly at the back of my mind," he said.

Collyer said the hospital has been a good neighbour to him, and he cuts the grass on the hospital's lot next to his house. He's hoping the goodwill will continue if it turns out the recent moves are part of a long-term expansion plan.

Councillor has heard concerns

Ward 6 Coun. Phil Squire said he's heard concerns from some residents about lands around the hospital.

He's happy to see St. Joe's is meeting with residents and says he hopes they'll share more details.

"We know that there's been an accumulation of land in the area by St. Joseph's so I think we really need to know what the plan is going forward, so I look forward to hearing that."

The meeting is set for Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Adams board room, zone A, level 2, room A2-041.