Massachusetts lawmakers have shared plans to file emergency legislation authorizing the state to seize the closed Norwood (Mass.) Hospital property through eminent domain, should negotiations to reopen it prove unsuccessful.
Norwood Hospital has been closed since June 2020 when it was evacuated due to flooding.
The hospital and its four satellite facilities were abandoned by bankrupt Dallas-based Steward Health Care in October 2024 after the health system paused reconstruction efforts on the facility in February 2024 due to contractors’ claims that they had not received pay.
Steward’s landlord, Medical Properties Trust, has been working with “prospective hospital operators to facilitate the sale of the Norwood property, complete construction and open a new hospital,” according to a Jan. 12 joint Facebook statement from Massachusetts state Sen. Mike Rush and state Rep. John Rogers, both Democrats.
“In the event that these negotiations do not result in a favorable outcome, today, we are filing a House bill to authorize and direct the Commonwealth to acquire the Norwood property through eminent domain in order to secure a qualified hospital operator,” the statement said. “This action will be taken to protect the safety, health and welfare of the people and the surrounding region, who all vitally rely upon access to local hospital care within this major region.”
