Overview
- Rep. John Rogers and Sen. Michael Rush filed a bill (HD 5528) authorizing the state’s Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to take the Norwood Hospital property by eminent domain if talks fail.
- Medical Properties Trust, which now owns the site, is in discussions with prospective operators to sell the property and complete construction, though the company did not comment Monday.
- Norwood Hospital, a 215-bed facility, has been closed since a 2020 flood; reconstruction halted in February 2024, Steward filed for bankruptcy in May 2024, and the property was transferred to MPT later that year.
- State officials previously used forced acquisition at St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton in 2024, later settling for $66 million, and that campus is now operated by Boston Medical Center.
- Any reopening would require new state licensing, completion of interior buildout, and rebuilding a workforce and patient base, with a governor-led task force courting potential health system partners.