A proposal to redevelop the former Carney Hospital campus in Lower Mills will formally enter Boston’s development review process this week, according to project proponents Tom O’Brien and Rev. Jeffrey Brown, who briefed The Reporter on their efforts on Tuesday.
The $450 million plan, which was to be filed as a Letter of Intent with Boston’s Planning Department later in the week, remains largely unchanged from what we’ve reported in recent months and comes after months of community outreach and consultation.
“We’ve been pretty clear with people since, I would say the holidays, at least, that the program here is health care first,” O’Brien said.
The concept calls for a large complex— approximately 350,000 square feet — devoted to healthcare uses, along with a 100,000-square-foot institutional or classroom building, 300 units of family housing, and 200 units of senior housing
The filing will officially trigger the city’s Article 80 review process for the hospital property, which closed in August 2024.
The Carney’s abrupt closure after more than seven decades of service in Dorchester sparked widespread concern about the loss of emergency and medical services in this part of Boston. O’Brien— of HYM Investments and Brown, who runs My City At Peace, were retained last fall by property owners Apollo Global Management to devise a redevelopment proposal for the 12-acre site.
“In total, we’ve probably done 35 or 37 community meetings,” O’Brien said of their engagement process, which included several abutters meetings and, more recently, briefings with elected officials and Boston Planning Department staff.
O’Brien, who led the city’s planning department 25 years ago under then-Mayor Tom Menino, thinks the review process should be fairly straightforward. The site is already zoned for multifamily housing and has historically been used for healthcare purposes.
“For 75 years, it’s been the home of a hospital,” he said. “Everybody expects that there will be a healthcare use there.”
While no specific healthcare operator has been selected, O’Brien and Brown say discussions have occurred with several major hospital systems, including Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Boston Medical Center, and Brown University Health, a Rhode Island operator that has plans to expand into Massachusetts.
“Some are pretty interested,” O’Brien said, framing the process as a competitive one.
A rendering shows the layout of the proposed re-developed Carney campus and open space plans. Image courtesy HYM Investments/My City at Peace/CBT Architects
The proposal also emphasizes reconnecting the former hospital grounds with Dorchester Park, which borders the rear of the property. O’Brien said the current fence and wall separating the hospital property from the park are in poor condition and look ugly.
“The hospital has not been a good neighbor to the park,” he said. “So the idea, I think, is to, through this development, become better stewards of the park.”
Nothing is final, but O’Brien and Brown have openly discussed expanding public access, improving open space on the Carney site, and possible amenities such as a café, restaurant, or even restrooms serving park users.
“We want to try to bring some of that back so that they can see this space as their own space, a Dorchester space,” Rev. Brown said.
O’Brien said the project’s success will depend on continued cooperation among residents, elected officials, and developers.
“This is going to require a team effort of everybody altogether to make this work,” he said.
