The buildings that once housed St. John’s Hospital in Salina will be coming down.

Salina’s Heritage Commission on Wednesday approved plans to demolish the buildings, saying restoring them would be too costly.

Salina Regional Health Center owns the buildings on the St. John’s campus, which has been vacant since 2010.

Jack Hinnenkamp, of Salina Regional Health Center, said it would cost between $1 million and $2 million to demolish the seven-building campus. He said redeveloping the buildings would cost more but didn’t provide any estimates.

St. John’s was started in 1914 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia and operated by the Wichita-based Sisters of St. Joseph until 1995.

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Associated Press Information from: The Salina Journal