UMass Memorial to convert former Beaumont nursing home to hospital to reduce ER congestion
WORCESTER — UMass Memorial Health plans to convert the former Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center on Plantation Street to a 72-bed hospital building.
According to documents available on the city's website, the hospital administration submitted an application with the Planning Board for a definitive site plan amendment for the property at 378 Plantation St. The site currently consists of a 78,054-square-foot building with six stories.
The initial definitive site plan was approved in November 2022.
The board heard the application for the amendment Wednesday and approved it.
The application states that UMass Memorial intends to convert the property into a hospital building with 72 new inpatient acute-care beds. The project is intended to improve access for high-acuity patients. In other words, the hospital system is looking to lessen emergency room congestion in the city.
UMass Memorial purchased 378 Plantation St. in 2021. In 2022, the Telegram & Gazette reported that the hospital system was planning renovations to improve emergency room access at 378 Plantation St., which is adjacent to UMass Memorial Health's University Campus.
The application states that the project is subject to zoning protections made available by state law through the Dover amendment, which exempts religious or nonprofit educational institutions from certain local zoning restrictions.
The application cites a passage from the amendment that states no zoning ordinance or bylaw shall regulate or restrict the use of land or structures for educational purposes on land owned or leased by a nonprofit educational corporation.
However, such land or structures can be reasonably regulated on matters such as bulk and size of structures, and determining factors such as yard sizes and lot area.
The hospital is also proposing an addition to the building and will use the existing 88 parking spaces and two loading docks. The approved amendment to the definitive site plan adds three additional stories of shelf space to the addition, which will have the addition matching the height of the existing building, Chris Andersen said on behalf of UMass Memorial Medical Center.
In the beginning, only the exteriors of the additional stories will be constructed with minor heat and sprinkler coverage, Andersen said.
While UMass Memorial would love to add more beds to the project, the Department of Public Health has not approved the addition of more beds to the project, Andersen said. Building the additional stories now would allow for more flexibility for adding bed in the future.
An abutter spoke online to express concerns that the additional three stories would impact his home's access to sunlight, and said UMass Memorial had failed to take into account the feelings of neighbors.
Planning Board Chair Albert LaValley said he sympathized with the abutters concerns, but UMass Memorial has a right to build on their property and the Planning Board has a narrow purview on reviewing site plans.
Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center was owned by Salmon Health and Retirement. The company has three remaining Beaumont nursing homes, in Westborough, Northborough and Natick.
In 2020, the Worcester nursing home was the subject of controversy when nursing home patients were moved out to make way for recovering COVID-19 patients at the start of the pandemic. Families of nursing home patients were frustrated by the announcement.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: UMass Memorial to convert former Beaumont nursing home to hospital
