LYNN -All Care Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice wants to build an office building on a grassy piece of land between the commuter rail garage and Broad Street.
The move would take the 600-employee agency out of City Hall Square where its lease runs out in two years and relocate it onto one of Lynn’s main intersections. Plans at this stage call for building a four story building on the land.?The exposure would be fantastic for us. The space we have now is too small,” said All Care President and Chief Executive Officer Shawn Potter.The key to All Care’s move is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s plan to sell the 28,000 square foot parcel next to the bus drop-off and pick-up lane in front of the garage. The minimum required bid for the land is $925,000 and the winning bidder gets an option to lease 100 to 200 parking spaces in the garage.Potter said the parking lease is vital because the parcel does not have enough land to accommodate an office building and sufficient parking.?We’ll make a very strong bid. Right now we can’t build without parking,” he said.All Care has operated in Lynn for nearly a century and is one of Lynn’s five largest employers. Most of its workers live in the city and work as home health care, hospice and private duty nursing providers. In addition to its City Hall office, All Care leases space in the Century Bank building downtown and in Wakefield.MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the T needs to sell the land to raise more money.The sputtering economy is driving down state sales tax collections, a portion of which is dedicated to the MBTA and provides the agency with its single largest source of cash. Maintenance on the century-old system is constant – and expensive.About 30 cents of every dollar of new revenue, including fares, is funneled by the T into debt payments.?This is an attempt to raise non-fare revenue,” Pesaturo said.The MBTA will review bids for the land in May. Assuming All Care acquires the parcel, Potter hopes construction on the new building can begin early next year.All Care is not the only local health care agency planning a new building large enough to consolidate scattered offices. Lynn Community Health Care wants to build a four-story building on land next to its Union Street facility.The $24 million building would provide space for expanded clinical services and medical offices now spread across the city.
