Wu pens scathing letter to Carney Hospital owners demanding property be used for healthcare purposes

BOSTON — On Thursday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wrote a letter to the owners of Dorchester’s Carney Hospital expressing concern over the future of the property after Steward Health Care announced its closure.

Specifically, Wu demanded the property be used only for healthcare purposes or face retribution from her office.

“Our community is rightly concerned that your companies, not satisfied with the hundreds of millions in value already extracted from Steward hospitals, hope to capitalize on the closure of Carney Hospital by redeveloping the property,” the letter read. “I would like to be absolutely clear that my Administration will oppose any effort by ownership to rezone the property for uses other than the provision of health care. "

Wu’s letter states that Chairman, President, and CEO of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. Edward Aldag Jr. and Macquire Infrastructure Partners CEO Karl Kuchel, the owners of the property, have no legal right to develop the land beyond its multi-family residential zoning code.

“This zoning supports maintaining the site as a hospital/health care facility due to how difficult it would be to accomplish a financially feasible alternative use that is compliant with the existing zoning, which only allows for residential housing with maximum building heights of 3 stories or 35 feet and a maximum floor area ratio (the ratio of gross floor area of a structure to the total area of the lot) of 1.0,” the letter said.

In late July, Steward announced they will be closing both the Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer after failing to find buyers for the hospitals. The move, which was heavily criticized, comes amid heavy financial woes for the healthcare giant.

“The City has committed to cooperate fully in any state and federal investigation of illegal conduct by you and other entities involved in Steward’s collapse,” the letter read in closing. “In the meantime, we wish to clearly communicate that, as to the hospital property, my Administration is opposed to any proposals that would allow you to take further advantage of this community.”

The full letter is available below:

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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