Editor’s Note: This is the No. 5 top news story of 2018 as voted on by Tribune Chronicle newsroom staff.

On Dec. 19, Mercy Health put its much-debated move of St. Joseph Warren Hopsital on indefinite hold, citing the economic uncertainty of the upcoming General Motors Complex plant idling in Lordstown as a reason to re-evaluate the proposed expansion.

According to Mercy spokesman Jonathan Fauive, no further decisions have been made since last week’s announcement.

“We’re always looking for ways to expand,” Fauive said. “But right now we need to figure out what is right for a project of this size.”

In an application submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the primary purpose of a 103-acre building site proposed by Eastwood North LLC was for a $250 million Mercy Health hospital.

In a letter of interest from Mercy Health included in the EPA proposal, former Mercy Health-Youngstown CEO Donald Kline stated, “The consultants and Mercy Health leadership team agreed that a new hospital facility was the best use of capital in order to support the strategic growth … in Trumbull County.”

At the time of the proposal, discussions between Mercy Health and the Cafaro Co., parent of Eastwood North, had been ongoing for almost two years.

However, the building site, Enterprise Park, which lies north of the Eastwood Mall and includes 16 acres of wetlands, fell under heavy debate in early December when residents and environmental scientists raised concerns about building so close to Mosquito Creek.

Others criticized Mercy for not having a clear plan in place for St. Joseph Warren Hospital on Eastland Avenue, which residents feared could fall in to disuse like the previous St. Joseph Hospital building on Todd Avenue.

On Dec. 10, Mercy Health said the size and scope of the project prevented them from making a final decision on the proposed move.

A week later, Mercy Health issued a statement to its employees that said the decision to build the new hospital was being put on hold because of the unpredictable state of the economy following the late November announcement that the Lordstown GM plant would be placed on “unallocated” status come March 2019.

“With this economic uncertainty, it has been decided that an indefinite hold be placed on the possibility of a new facility at Enterprise Park, including one in size and scope of a new hospital,” reads the statement, which is jointly attributed to current Mercy Health CEO John Luellen and Kline.

Despite this, spokesman Joe Bell said the Cafaro Co. has no intention of withdrawing the EPA application.

“The state of the economy will become much clearer in the coming months,” Bell said.

He described Enterprise Park as highly flexible but expressed optimism that the project would proceed as planned.

Back in October 2017, the same project site was pitched to global online retailer Amazon as a possible location for its second headquarters. The site quickly fell out of the running, despite the Cafaro’s offer sell the property to Amazon for $1 and to provide the company with $20 million in seed money to begin development.

In a October 2017 interview, Bell said, “Whether it’s Amazon or any other company or developer, it has always been the plan to see that property developed.”

Mercy Health continues to support the Enterprise Park site, though it no longer seems committed to it. Mercy has also said regardless of the form of its expansion, St. Joe’s Eastland will remain a part of its strategic growth plan.

In other hospital news this year, Northside Regional Medical Center, Youngstown’s oldest area hospital, closed on Sept. 20 after years of patient decline. The closure was attributed to underutilization and affected at least 388 Steward Health Care employees who worked at the hospital.

In August, U.S. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Howland, looked to Veterans Affairs to possibly fill the medical facility. He penned a letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie suggesting the agency, through private-public parternships, could use the facility to help veterans living in the tri-county area.

Several months later, it is unclear whether anything will come of the letter.

“These things unfortunately take time, and Congressman Ryan is continuing to explore any and all options to utilize Northside Hospital to its fullest extent,” Michael Zetts, communications director for Ryan, said last week.