A historic building in Nevada City that's been empty for nearly 20 years could soon see a new beginning.
Once California's second-oldest hospital and then a county health center, the old Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) building has been abandoned for nearly two decades. Now, community members are pushing to give it a new life.
"As it stands, it's really not serving the community and that's really what we're hoping to change," said Jonathan Collier with advocacy group HEW Renew.
The HEW building sits less than a mile from downtown Nevada City. Empty and overgrown, it's been abandoned since 2006 after a shooting a few years earlier that left two people dead.
"It did attract a lot of vandals, a lot of squatters," Collier said. "Fire is one of the big concerns we have."
Collier noted