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A former state hospital along the banks of the Charles River has the potential to be redeveloped into anything from a mixed-use commercial property to an equestrian outpost.
The agency charged with the management and disposition of state-owned properties is currently deciding the price it will propose to charge the town of Medfield for about 130 acres of open and developed land on the campus of the former Medfield State Hospital.
The former hospital, officially shuttered in 2003, sits on a hill overlooking the river and the surrounding area, where much of the land is rural and wooded. The small town is quiet, with a population of about 13,000 – except, of course, when Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese rolled an entourage into town to film their haunting “Shutter Island” in the former insane asylum.
But for the most part, residents say, even with the cameras rolling and star sightings occurring in local establishments, things pretty much went on as normal in this usually quiet town.
Unclean Asset
Yet, among the bucolic setting, the buildings of the old hospital near the intersection of Route 27, Hospital Road and the Charles River are crumbling, some abandoned for as long as 40 years. The campus, opened in 1896, was self-sufficient in many ways, and since the period’s mental health professionals believed hard work in a farm setting would help patients, the property had its own crops and farm animals tended by those suffering from mental illnesses. There was an onsite power plant, along with a three-acre landfill where, for most of the hospital’s lifespan, any and all the waste produced on the grounds was dumped.
This was not just ordinary waste. It included farm debris and animal bones, as well as incinerator ash and asbestos. At the time, the most logical place to hide the garbage and toxic chemicals was in the land with the least value – the nearby wetlands along the banks of the Charles, said Margaret Stolfa, an environmental attorney with the firm Bernkopf Goodman who worked closely with the state to determine the cleanup effort for the site.
Stolfa entered the process after the Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), formerly known as DCAM, decided it would leave the landfill largely in place and cap it with a donut-like cover in the center so rainwater would flow through and the agency wouldn’t need to manage runoff.
However, the wetlands are a flood storage area. When there’s an abundance of rain, the wetlands act as a sponge to absorb that water, often reducing or eliminating flooding. Yet, if the wetland is filled, as is the area near the hospital, the sponge is already at capacity, and that water, mixed with the materials in the landfill, has to go somewhere. So the town objected to DCAMM’s plan, along with the Charles River Watershed Association. After appeals, Stolfa was brought in to mediate between the town and DCAMM.
So, the town worked with the state for a better resolution. Now, the state is committed to cleaning up the landfill, which includes the largest wetlands restoration project ever undertaken by the state along the Charles River, according to Stolfa. It will also remediate an old oil spill in the river that has gone long overlooked. Along with the cleanup, there is a plan to create a new canoe launch onsite and to reconnect the Bay Circuit Trail, which was broken up because of the old power plant.
“The Commonwealth and the [town] of Medfield have worked to devise a remediation plan for the former Medfield State Hospital area that will create a thrilling asset for both the town and the commonwealth,” DCAMM Commissioner Carole Cornelison wrote in a prepared statement.
‘Everything’s On The Table’
The state is now looking at ways to divest itself of the property. A portion of the land that is currently open space, more than a hundred acres, will be turned over to the Department of Conservation and Recreation for public use along the river and in the open fields.
Yet there’s about 100 acres of land that has already been developed and still contains more than 20 of the old hospital’s facilities, many in disrepair. One route under consideration is selling the land to the town at what the state believes is a reduced price, said Stephen Nolan, head of Medfield’s hospital advisory committee. Then the town could potentially sell the property, or a portion of it, to a real estate firm for redevelopment into likely some sort of mix of commercial uses. If that were the case, the state would want to share in a percent of the profits. Ideas run the gamut from affordable housing, retail space or a retirement community.
But the town’s own parks and recreation agency has expressed an interest in turning the area into sports playing fields. And the nearby Norfolk Hunt Club could want to convert part of the grounds for equestrian uses.
All of those ideas, and for now they are just ideas, would need to take cost into consideration. It would cost somewhere in the ballpark of $5 million to $7 million to demolish all the existing buildings, Nolan said.
Everything’s on the table,” Nolan offered. “The big question is what’s feasible.”
