Overview
- Rep. John Rogers and Sen. Michael Rush filed HD 5528 to authorize DCAMM to take the Norwood Hospital property by eminent domain if ongoing negotiations do not produce a deal.
- Medical Properties Trust, which now owns the site, is in talks with prospective operators and recently restarted parking-garage construction, according to Suffolk Construction’s CEO.
- Norwood Hospital has been closed since a 2020 flood, reconstruction stalled in early 2024 over unpaid contractors, and Steward Health Care’s May 2024 bankruptcy led to the property’s transfer to MPT.
- The sponsors say the bill is intended to protect regional access to emergency and acute care, noting the state’s 2024 seizure of St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton as a precedent.
- Any reopening would require a new DPH license and significant rebuilding of staffing and patient volumes, and a 2025 law limiting sales of primary hospital campuses to outside investors constrains MPT’s options.