PLANNED, BALANCED REDEVELOPMENT AT FORMER STATE MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITALS

Over the past two decades the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM), through its Office of Real Estate Management (OREM), has continually and successfully administered a major land planning, disposition and asset management initiative for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Department of Mental Health, along with other human service agencies, have been leaders in transforming their service delivery model from one of large institutionalized care to community-based individual care for their consumers. As a result, many of these vast campuses - some of which are listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places - have closed down, and the buildings have become severly deteriorated over time.

OREM’s ongoing challenge is to return these Commonwealth real assets to productive reuse in collaboration with the host communities and legislative delegation. This is being accomplished through sound regional land planning, economically viable reuse plans, competitive disposition processes and private-public partnerships. Each redevelopment plan needs to balance open space preservation with development aimed at reducing the Commonwealth’s affordable housing shortage, responding to market demand for commercial and retail space, and promoting economic development through construction activites and job creation.

Each redevelopments listed below are the results of DCAM’s extensive planning and negotiating efforts with the multiple stakeholders, including the host community groups, state and local officials, and private developers. Each balanced redevelopment consists of:

• Preserving the character of the site through a balanced combination of historic preservation, new construction, and open space
• Providing revenue for the communities and for the Commonwealth
• Providing revenue for the Commonwealth
• Providing an extensive array of community benefits

Each development site has preserved a significant portion of open space. As illustrated in the table below, of the five major hospital sites disposed to date, more than twice as much open space has been preserved than has been developed.