1515 Commonwealth Ave. Courtesy photo.
As Massachusetts braces for more COVID-19 cases, commercial developers are making properties available and architects are offering to identify suitable temporary hospital and testing sites.
The former Kindred Hospital at 1515 Commonwealth Ave. in Brighton and a Suffolk University dormitory will generate a combined 242 beds for homeless people, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Sunday. And a COVID-19 testing site for first responders opened over the weekend at the former Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston, where Boston-based HYM Investment Group is seeking approval for a 16.5 million-square-foot development.
“We hope that by increasing access to testing for the women and men that are on the front lines, we can assist these heroes in performing the critical work of helping to prevent and contain the spread of this virus,” HYM Managing Director Thomas O’Brien said in a statement.
Meanwhile, The Davis Cos. of Boston offered the former Kindred Hospital property as a 70-bed overflow site expected to open this week. The facility will be operated by the Boston Public Health Commission and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.
The Davis Cos. has proposed a 250-unit apartment and condo development on the property.
“Concerned that the crisis posed a significant challenge to the city’s hospital infrastructure, we began identifying assets we own that might be of service. This nearly 60,000 square foot former hospital facility was sitting idle as we prepared to redevelop the site and represented an opportunity to help,” Stephen Davis, managing director of development for The Davis Cos., said in a statement.
Suffolk University, for its part, is converting its Miller Hall dorm at 10 Somerset St. into a 172-bed temporary shelter which will be co-managed by the public health commission and Pine Street Inn.
The Massachusetts chapter of the American Institute of Architects offered to help state officials identify vacant or underutilized properties that are suitable for temporary hospitals and testing centers and assist with retrofitting the buildings.
While college dorms are suitable as temporary hospitals, spaces such as gymnasiums and even parking garages may have potential, Natasha Espada, president of the Boston Society of Architects, said Friday.
“We’re looking at creative ways of doing this,” Espada said.
