The property owners of the former Carney Hospital site in Dorchester have tapped prominent local developer Tom O’Brien to lay out a plan for the site’s future.
O’Brien’s firm, HYM Investment Group, will co-manage the planning process, the developer confirmed in a Tuesday statement. Carney, one of several hospitals operated by Steward Health Care, closed its doors last year after having served the community since the Civil War era.
“We recognize the important role the Carney Hospital has played in the Dorchester community, and we see the future of this site as an opportunity to create something that is once again meaningful for the neighborhood,” O’Brien said in the statement.
Founded in 1863, Carney Hospital was part of the Caritas Christi system, a chain of Catholic hospitals operated by the Archdiocese of Boston, before being acquired by Steward in 2010. Serving a diverse population of patients, the hospital’s closure only worsened what some advocates have called a “healthcare desert” in low-income areas of Boston.
HYM will work with My City at Peace, a local community advocacy group, to devise a framework for the property.
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“Together, HYM and MyCAP welcome conversations with all who care about the site’s future and look forward to presenting a plan that includes a healthcare component and reflects the needs of Dorchester.”
MyCAP, the community advocacy group cofounded by the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday. Property owners Apollo Global Management declined to comment.
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HYM, which O’Brien founded, has undertaken several high-profile development projects in recent years, including the mixed-use Boston Landing campus in Allston/Brighton and the former Suffolk Downs race track in East Boston and Revere.
It has also partnered with MyCAP for P3Roxbury, a $1.5 billion development on Tremont Street which envisions 466 housing units, most of them classed as affordable, and approximately 700,000 square feet of life sciences space.
Earlier this year, O’Brien, the city’s top planner under former Mayor Tom Menino and one of its best-known developers, weighed a bid to run against incumbent mayor Michelle Wu. He ultimately reversed course and decided against challenging Wu, who went on to soundly defeat her opponent, Josh Kraft, in the September preliminary election.
O’Brien’s involvement in the Carney redevelopment was previously covered by the Dorchester Reporter.
The 12.7 acre site is owned by Apollo Global Management, the private equity giant that acquired the land and hospital buildings from Steward’s landlords, Medical Properties Trust and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. The complex real estate structure contributed to Steward’s financial spiral, as the for-profit healthcare firm buckled under millions of dollars in rent payments.
Carney was one of two Massachusetts hospitals to shutter as part of Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy proceedings, along with Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer. Though Steward managed to sell off six of its eight hospitals in the state, including St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton (now operated by Boston Medical Center), it said there were no qualified bids to keep Carney or Nashoba Valley running.
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The site is zoned for multi-family residential use, which limits what developments might replace the Carney complex. Mayor Michelle Wu has said she is opposed to rezoning the site for non-healthcare related purposes.
A report issued by the Carney Working Group in April also recommended the site continue to provide some sort of healthcare service.
Any new healthcare service would need to ensure “a path to long-term financial sustainability,” the report said, potentially through specialty services with higher revenue margins.
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.