Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio closed the sale of the former Hilty Home property recently.
David Trinko | The Lima News
PANDORA — The board of Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio completed the sale of the Hilty Home building at 304 Hilty Drive, Pandora.
The Village of Pandora purchased the building, then turned around and sold it to EZ Properties.
The sale includes the 60,000-square-foot former Hilty Memorial Home building and two adjacent parcels of land donated to the village by the board, taking up 8.2 acres, according to a news release and records from the Putnam County Auditor’s Office. The property was valued at $2.4 million by the auditor’s office in 2022.
EZ Properties leased out a portion of the building to Hilty Faithful Foundation Childcare and Preschool. Expansion of the childcare space and program is in progress under the continued direction of Amanda Dettrow.
EZ Properties is renovating and developing the building and finding new businesses to locate in the remaining areas of the building.
Hilty Home’s skilled nursing and assisted living services closed at the end of 2022 due to “ongoing financial, census and workforce challenges exacerbated by the pandemic.”
Childcare continued at the Hilty Preschool and Childcare Center and almost closed at the end of January this year when the board couldn’t find a purchaser for the building and the childcare operation. Then, after parents were unable to find alternative childcare options, the Pandora Village Council collaborated with businessmen Zachary Buckland and Evan Schroeder to purchase the operation as Hilty’s Faithful Foundations Preschool and Childcare.
Hilty Home also made the news in 2018 after a 76-year-old resident stayed outside for eight hours in temperatures below zero before dying of hypothermia.
Hilty Memorial Home opened in 1979 and was sold to Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio in 2012. It was named after retired teacher Margaret Hilty, who donated her estate to the Missionary Church Est Central Conference District to establish a nursing home.
“We have been committed to honoring Margaret Hilty’s generous legacy and her intention to serve the people of Pandora and Putnam County,” said Mennonnite Home Communities of Ohio board chair Elizabeth Kelly, in a press release. “Sometimes we must bring closure to something so that new life has an opportunity to emerge. Already, new and good things are happening. Our board remains deeply grateful to the many people who made this transaction possible and wish the village and new tenants well in their future endeavors.”
