LYNN — North Shore Medical Center has changed contractors for the redevelopment of its Union Hospital campus, which closed its acute care services last fall.
After the emergency room closed last fall, all services, save an urgent care facility, were moved to Salem Hospital. The urgent care facility, which had been housed in the old ER, will be moved to a new medical building covering only a quarter of the 20-acre lot. The rest of the land will be sold now to David J. Solimine Jr. for redevelopment, pending approval by the City of Lynn.
NSMC last fall selected a proposal for the property that was submitted by the Lynnfield-based Procopio Companies. After a thorough diligence process and extensive conversations with the city about housing density, coupled with delays related to COVID-19, that proposal is no longer feasible for the medical center, NSMC spokeswoman Laura Fleming said.
The proposal submitted by Solimine involves implementing zoning changes and is guided by the study conducted by the city and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) in 2018 to determine the most appropriate reuse for the Union Hospital property.
Solimine said he will explore the reuse of the existing hospital buildings, if possible, and focus on senior housing, including at least 15 percent reserved for qualifying lower-income seniors. He said he will continue to seek input from the city and community and incorporate that feedback into his proposal.
Solimine is the son of Lynn funeral director and philanthropist David J. Solimine Sr. He and his family have a long history of supporting NSMC Union Hospital and led fundraising efforts to renovate its former emergency department years ago.
“As a neighbor and friend to Union Hospital, I am eager to play a role in its next chapter,” says Solimine. “I look forward to working with my neighbors and city officials to redevelop the hospital property in a way that brings jobs to the area, tax revenue to the city, and much-needed housing without impacting our school system.”
Solimine’s proposal, which had been submitted as part of the initial bidding phase last summer, was selected as an alternative and will enable the medical center to close the sale and vacate the property by Oct. 1, Fleming said. NSMC plans to open the medical village by the end of summer.
Michael Procopio of Procopio Companies said that because of his original plan, coupled with delays made necessary due to COVID-19 restrictions, “it became readily apparent that the project was unworkable as we had proposed it.
“We had zoning contingencies that, with COVID, were not going to work for us,” he said. “There’s no bitterness about this at all. I couldn’t speak more highly about Partners or the process.”
A city-led planning process addressing the reuse of Union was completed in 2018 and included local residents, Lynn city officials, social service agencies, community groups, health advocates and NSMC. Through a series of public forums and interviews, participants reviewed redevelopment options and selected senior housing as the one most in line with local preferences and needs.
One of the benefits of the new medical building, Fleming saId, is increased space for the North Shore Physicians Group (NSPG), and more laboratory space as well.
North Shore Medical Center includes Salem Hospital, the Union campus in Lynn, MassGeneral for Children in Salem and the NSPG.
