The Massachusetts Senate voted July 29 to authorize the commonwealth to seize the shuttered Norwood (Mass.) Hospital site through eminent domain, clearing the path for a new nonprofit operator to take over.
“The legislation, S.3231, would initiate a public process for the state to responsibly follow through where Steward failed and ensure that Norwood Hospital returns to operation,” according to a July 29 news release from the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “Under the bill, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance would be authorized to take the property by eminent domain for the purpose of ensuring public access to healthcare.”
The commonwealth would then transfer or lease the hospital site to a new operator. The bill is now back with the House for consideration.
The hospital, which was run by bankrupt Dallas-based Steward Health Care, closed in June 2020 after flooding forced an evacuation. Steward ended reconstruction efforts on Norwood Hospital in February 2024 amid contractor complaints of unpaid bills, then abandoned the hospital and four satellite facilities in October 2024.
Medical Properties Trust, Steward’s former landlord, owns the Norwood Hospital site. MPT ended talks with Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham in mid-June to take over the hospital after the company came back with an asking price that was 50% higher than the first.
In late June, a Massachusetts task force assembled by Gov. Maura Healey, urged the legislature to let the commonwealth take over the unfinished hospital by eminent domain and hand it over to a competent operator.
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