LYNN — The emergency room and intensive care units at the former Union Hospital have been demolished as the property prepares to be turned into senior housing.
This section of the hospital is the first to be demolished, developer David Solimine Jr. said.
The majority of the hospital will be demolished in accordance with the plan for the property that includes 150, one- and two-bedroom housing apartments for seniors — ages 62 and over — with a focus on affordability and preference for current Lynn residents.
Solimine said demolition started at a section of the hospital that doesn’t have any asbestos in it.
The other areas of the building that remain still need to be tested for asbestos and, if it is found, will be treated accordingly.
“It’s fairly highly regulated, how (asbestos) has to be removed, and that’s why it’s kind of slow and methodical,” Solimine said.
Solimine said some of the coating on the building’s foundation and between the bricks may or may not have asbestos in them, so as those areas are opened up, testing has to be done.
“So far, everything is going as expected and moving along,” Solimine said.
The entire building, on the 5.5 acres of land, is scheduled to be completely demolished by the end of September.
The building will be knocked down piece by piece, as material and reinforcement rods are sought through.
The most efficient way to demolish a building, Solimine said, is to separate the trash from any recyclable metals, as well as the concrete, which can be crushed and reused.
“There’s a whole series of things that need to happen, it’s not just tearing it down and trucking it away,” Solimine said. “Part of what we’re trying to do is to do it in a slow, methodical way to minimize any kind of dust.”
In order to do so, the site is affixed with fire hoses to keep the dust watered down and incapable of spreading into the neighborhood.
Following the demolition and cleanup of the former hospital, the plans for the senior apartments will need to be approved by the city’s Zoning and Board of Appeals, which will be discussed during a meeting in a couple of weeks.
Solimine partnered with 2 Life Communities of Brighton to manage the property, so once the zoning committee approves the project, 2 Life Communities will work on finalizing plans as well as securing the financing.
With an affordable housing aspect at play, Solimine said the financing for the project is complicated and will take some time to line up. He is estimating that construction on the new buildings is about two years away.
The south part of the Union Hospital building that is not being torn down — because it is relatively new and can be repurposed — will be allocated for medical and social support services for incoming senior residents, provided by Element Care‘s PACE program.
“Rehab and construction on that building will start late this year, with that building being completed and ready for their use in the spring of next year,” Solimine said.
Additionally, Union Hospital’s back parking lot will be turned into 26 single-family, age-restricted homes; construction for that will begin around the end of the year.
Solimine said that after they are through the permitting process for this part of the project, they will probably start with site work for the 9.5 acres behind the former hospital. He added that they are predicting to begin building the homes next spring.
More details on this project can be found online at https://union2021.org.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected].
