COMING DOWN: The old hospital on Napier Hill will make way for new apartments and houses.

The run-down old hospital that dominates Napier Hill is to be pulled down, starting next week.

Todd Property Group will begin removing the buildings that have fallen into disrepair since the hospital closed in 1997.

Homes and apartments offering panoramic views over Hawke's Bay will be built in their place. The group has lodged consent applications to build eight houses in stage one of the development.

Most of the 17 buildings spread over 5 hectares would eventually come down, Todd Property Group managing director Evan Davies said.

Structural engineers were investigating the possibility of redeveloping the old maternity ward into apartments.

Mr Davies said people wanted to see the land, which had been vacant for more than 15 years, put to good use.

The group bought the land in 2011 as part of a government asset transfer that involved it selling land in Northland to the Department of Conservation.

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board took $5.1 million from the sale, which has boosted an upgrade of the region's mental health inpatient unit.