Future Of State Hospital Sites Still Undecided | Rutland and Westborough officials eye possibilities for the largely vacant tracts
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CREATIVE REUSE: A study of the possible reuses of the former Westborough State Hospital site is expected to be released this year.
There is a more than 800-acre, mostly undeveloped plot of land in the heart of MetroWest, within miles of Route 9 and Interstates 495 and 290 that has state, local and regional officials collectively scratching their heads, wondering what to do.
It has large historic brick edifices, sits on a natural lake and has hundreds of acres of open space for possible recreational use.
The problem: It’s a former state hospital that is sprinkled with dozens of run-down, empty buildings, many of which previously housed mentally ill patients and some that have been boarded up and unused for years. Part of the site also still houses a juvenile detention facility.
Just northwest of Worcester sits another multi-hundred acre parcel, this one the former site of Rutland State Hospital, a vacant former state-owned site waiting for the right developer to come along.
These former state hospital sites, of which there are dozens in the state, represent what amounts to an eyesore for state officials that remain in control of the rundown properties.
But they could also mean an enormous potential development opportunity for the right investor and builder.
So the question is: What do you do with old state hospital sites?
Local Control
Officials in Rutland believe they have the answer.
For almost two decades, residents in the small Central Massachusetts community have been attempting to reclaim control of the former Rutland Heights Hospital. Three years ago, the town approved a half-million dollar spending measure to buy the land from the state.
Now, local and state officials say that the handover of the property to local control could be imminent.
Once ownership is transferred, Rutland officials hope to build an access road to a local school to relieve traffic congestion and possibly construct some athletic fields for town use.
For Joe Becker, a member of the Rutland Board of Selectmen, gaining control of the land will also put the community in the driver’s seat with respect to soliciting a potential private developer to invest in the project.
“We’ve made a significant investment, so we’re pretty serious about getting this done,” he said.
Westborough has a similar story.
The last major remaining active uses of the property were transferred to Worcester State Hospital last year, leaving only a juvenile detention facility on the site. But with the property in such a prime location, Adam Ploetz, with the 495/MetroWest Partnership in Westborough, said he’s confident some use can be found for the site.
“These are great redevelopment opportunities,” Ploetz said. “Are all of them going to be great development opportunities? Probably not, but, for the most part we’re talking about huge chunks of land that are basically empty, waiting for development.”
State officials seem enthused to find an appropriate use for the Westborough site as well. The Division of Capital Assessment Management, or DCAM, is leading a 20-member study group comprised of local, regional and state officials exploring reuse options in Westborough. The state has hired commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle to study market demand for potential reuses and Sasaki Associates of Watertown to outline the best geographic areas for development at the site.
The legwork these advisors are doing is good news for potential developers, according to Vera Kolias, a principal planner for the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, who also sits on the Westborough State Hospital planning committee. The studies by Jones Lang LaSalle and Sasaki will likely provide a clear roadmap for a potential developer to know exactly what would work best at the site and where. The town of Westborough has also recently changed the zoning in the area to allow for mixed-use development on the site by-right, meaning it would not need approval from the local zoning board of appeals.
The flurry of activity has caught the eye of at least one developer.
Robert Moss lives in Westborough and has developed dozens of residential subdivisions throughout the MetroWest area during the last few decades. He lives within a few miles of the former Westborough State Hospital site and said he said he’s naturally curious about the site’s possible reuse.
“I certainly plan on taking a look at it,” he said. “I think the site should attract a lot of interest.”
The key for the area, he said, is to have more moderate income housing for sale or rent. But nowadays, he said, everything seems to revolve around mixed uses. Because the size of the project is so large, Moss said it would likely take a developer with deep pockets, or a series of developers to do a major project.
Tough Sell
Overall, Westborough and Rutland are two sites state officials with DCAM are hoping can be transitioned from state control and onto the tax rolls. Doing so may be easier said than done.
“Generally, a lot of these properties have a number of complexities, from their historical designation, to sometimes having been shuttered down over time and they may have deteriorated,” said Peter Norstrand, deputy commissioner for real estate for DCAM.
The historical designation, in some cases, can limit the reuse possibilities of certain buildings.
There is hope for these sites, as past redevelopment of state hospital sites has proven.
The main campus of the former Foxborough State Hospital, for example, is about 150 acres, about 95 of which were sold to Boston-based developer VinCo Properties in the early 2000s.
Working with two other real estate developers, a total of more than 200 residential units have been built on the property, along with a commercial shopping center and a municipally owned public safety building.
The key to developing the property, according to Foxborough Town Planner Marc Resnick, was diversifying the property’s use.
The residential units range from apartments, condominiums and town houses to single- and multi-family homes. That, Resnick said, has insulated the project somewhat from downturns in the housing market.
Avalon Bay Communities, a nationwide residential development company based in Virginia that recently constructed luxury apartments at Northborough Crossing, has redeveloped two former state hospital sites in Danvers and Lexington as well.
Scott Dale, a vice president for real estate with Avalon Bay, said the first challenge for redeveloping these sites is to get everyone on board. Not only do local officials have to sign off on any development plans, but state officials are involved as well.
Then, he said, it can be both a challenge and an opportunity to deal with the historic properties.
In Danvers, for example, the company kept one of the main buildings of the former hospital and turned it into residential apartments.
Rehabbing such run-down buildings is in many cases more expensive than starting from scratch, Dale said, but the payoff can be worth it. Those apartments have 11-foot high ceilings and seven-foot windows.
“They’re cool,” he said.
As for the future of the Westborough site, state officials continue meeting on the subject with the two advisory firms.
A final report relative to possible reuse is expected to be released sometime this year.
In Rutland, state officials said the final paperwork transitioning the land to local control should be complete in the coming months.
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