Massachusetts lawmakers are advancing a bill that would let the state take the unfinished Norwood Hospital site by eminent domain. The property owner sought up to $375 million from Mass General Brigham before talks collapsed, leaving 250,000 residents without nearby emergency care.
Massachusetts legislators are moving to place the unfinished Norwood Hospital property under state control through eminent domain, a step that would end six years of lost acute care access for roughly 250,000 residents south of Boston. Redrafted legislation cleared the House and received initial Senate approval, authorizing the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to take the 11 acre parcel and transfer it to the Department of Public Health, which could then convey it to a qualified nonprofit hospital operator.
Catastrophic flooding shuttered the original hospital in June 2020, and a replacement facility broke ground in November 2021 under then owner Steward Health Care. Construction stalled in 2024 when Steward stopped paying its contractor amid bankruptcy proceedings, leaving the partially built hospital in the hands of landlord Medical Properties Trust, an Alabama based real estate investment trust.
Acquisition talks between Mass General Brigham and MPT collapsed after the landlord’s asking price climbed from $250 million to $375 million. Local officials estimate the site is worth roughly $75 million as a hospital. A state task force convened by Gov. Maura Healey endorsed the eminent domain approach, noting that patients suffering major heart attacks in surrounding towns now face transfers to Boston because nearby hospitals cannot perform artery opening procedures. Norwood officials have said the town could pursue a taking under its own authority if state action fails, according to reporting by the State House News Service published by WBUR.