By Erin Tiernan — Erin@concordbridge.org
Emerson Health has sold off a chunk of its unused property in an $18 million deal with the non-profit that operates the Newbury Court senior living community.
The sale to New England Deaconess Associations will not affect hospital operations, Emerson Health President and CEO Christine Schuster told The Concord Bridge Thursday, saying there are “no plans” to sell the medical facility or the land on which it sits.
Hospital leadership initially said the money from the land deal would go toward “a new and expanded emergency department” on the current hospital campus at 133 Old Road to 9 Acre Corner.
Emerson Health spokeswoman Jacqueline Clancy later clarified, “Emerson will put the money towards reinvesting in our existing facilities, and expanding our services to meet the needs of our patients and community.”
The pending emergency department project is part of a multi-year campus transformation plan that Clancy said the hospital “will fund through philanthropy.”
“The plan will move the existing [emergency department] to the front of the hospital and expand our patient capacity,” Schuster said in a statement to The Bridge. “Fundraising is underway for this exciting campus expansion, and we look forward to sharing more information about our plans soon.”
Emerson has been buying up properties since the 1970s, when the expansion of the main campus appeared imminent. The seven parcels included in the deal with Deaconess — three on Old Marlboro Road and four on ORNAC — are all residential lots bordering the hospital grounds.
Deaconess CEO Chris Sintros called the purchase a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to expand.
“Our hope is to grow the Newbury Court community,” he said. “We’ve had the same footprint here for over 110 years, and we see this as an opportunity to make use of this neighboring property for future development.”
The 12-acre parcel sits across the street from Newbury Court, where Deaconess currently hosts 340 residents in “various stages of living.” That includes independent and assisted living as well as memory-support care, Sintros said.
With the purchase now complete, he said, “a detailed planning process will begin immediately.”
A growing list
The announcement is just the latest potential development opportunity being eyed on Concord’s growing list, which includes the just-closed MCI-Concord prison, the Peabody school building, and the Superfund site at 2229 Main Street.
While there are no specific plans for the future of these sites, housing is a focal point. Massachusetts is in the throes of a severe housing shortage that has sent rents and home prices soaring to among the nation’s highest.
Concord has become an outlier even on that list: The median single-family home sale price in town hit $1.6 million in July — more than double the statewide median of $650,000, according to industry data from The Warren Group.
The Emerson land sale, brokered by real estate and investment firm JLL, came at the end of a nationwide search.
Emerson’s CEO said keeping the community needs in mind ultimately helped seal the deal.
“Access to affordable housing is a pressing need, especially for senior citizens,” Schuster said, calling senior housing the “best possible use for this land.”
“Elder housing is extremely limited,” she said, “and the location of this property near Newbury Court’s campus and Emerson Hospital is ideal.”
This story has been updated.
