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 for the property at 378 Plantation St. The site currently consists of a 78,054-square-foot building with six stories.
The board is scheduled to hear the application Wednesday night, but items on the agenda are often held until a later meeting.
The application states 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 hospital is also proposing an approximately 14,556-square-foot addition to the building and will use the existing 88 parking spaces and two loading docks.
The application states that the project is subject to zoning protections made available by state law through the Dover Amendment due to the hospital's nonprofit, educational status.
The application cites a passage from the Dover Amendment stating that 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.
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
