LOS ANGELES-Local non-profit homebuilder AMCAL has purchased the long-shuttered Linda Vista Hospital in East Los Angeles, and plans to convert the National Landmark-listed building into a $37-million complex of medical offices and senior housing.

Located in Boyle Heights near Hollenbeck Park, the hospital was originally built by the Santa Fe Railroad in the early 1900s, and served as a community hospital until the railroad shut the facility 20 years ago. Since that time, the hospital has been a popular film location for Dexter, the cable-TV series and several feature films.

At least two prior developers had contemplated rehabbing the old hospital as housing, only to see those plans defeated by the credit crunch and weak housing market.   

AMCAL plans to renovate the main hospital building and a former nurses’ residence. Construction is scheduled to begin on 24 units of senior housing in the former nursing building.

The second phase of the project is the construction of 74 rental units in the former hospital building and street-level medical offices. Construction on the remaining rentals is tentatively slated to start in fourth quarter 2012.

AMCAL officials could not be reached for further information.

In its present form, the Mission Revival Style hospital was built in 1924 on a design by architect Charles Whittlesey. In 1980, the railroad sold the 150-bed hospital to a managed healthcare company, which closed it a few years later.