A proposed 90,000-square-foot facility will house at least four local health centers’ worth of services in the heart of the city, according to officials with Baystate Health and MassMutual.
Plans for the new, state-of-the-art community health center were unveiled at Springfield City Hall.
Both of the companies’ CEOs were on hand to share details of the proposal, which involves MassMutual donating some 10 acres of land worth $5 million from its Springfield campus.
As laid out by Baystate Health President and CEO Dr. Mark Keroack, the facility will go up off of Wilbraham Road and Alden Street and bring several centers and their services together in one place.
“The planned center will bring together the adult and pediatric practices at our High Street Health Center, the practices that are Mason Square Health Center, and the Wesson Women’s Clinic, which together see over 125,000 visits per year,” he said.
Keroack added that design plans have not yet been finalized.
A news release says the facilities mentioned are “limited in size and scope with many infrastructure challenges that require significant upgrading and capital investment to allow for growth and expansion of services.”
MassMutual CEO, Chairman and President Roger Crandall said the collaboration is a natural fit for the life insurance company.
Referencing its long history in the city dating back 173 years, he said that as MassMutual has grown into a multi-billion-dollar insurance company and one of the largest in the country, advances in technology have left it with a number of unused buildings, including land on its Springfield campus.
“As time moves on, things change - we had buildings filled with paper on State Street and, guess what, we're not using that much paper anymore,” Crandall said. “So, we've had these empty buildings - we've been thinking ‘what do we do with the buildings - we've got a hundred acres, and we, frankly, don't need all the hundred acres,’ and when the opportunity came to work with Baystate to build the new community health center, it seems like a natural [fit].”
Crandall added that MassMutual will also be providing financing for the project, as well as a $5 million grant from the MassMutual Foundation.
Existing buildings on the property are expected to be cleared in the near future, with construction on the facility expected to start in 2025 and wrap up in 2027. Expected costs are said to be $45-$50 million.
Around $3 million for the project will come from the state and city, according to Springfield State Senator Adam Gomez.
The Democrat said he and other legislators had been able to secure $2 million, while another million came by way of municipal government and city hall.
“I want to emphasize this is not about closing services or reducing services,” he said. “It is about bringing services together to a new robust, centralized health center and wellness hub where we can provide more services and improve access.
Keroack says the health center will have ample parking, in addition to being on a PVTA bus route.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno emphasized the need for community health centers in general, especially in a spot as central as the one in Mason Square.
“It's just overwhelming the needs that we have, especially in urban centers across America. and to have this state-of-the-art, wellness center being put up - very accessible in the State Street corridor - which is going to enable probably maybe 20,000 more patients to be looked at, is going to be so helpful,” Sarno said.
Sarno also commended former mayor and current Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st district. He noted that when it came to the city’s contribution, American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA funds from the federal government were key.
The news release described how as plans move forward, the pre-existing community health centers will remain open and fully functional until “their services can be transitioned to the new health center.”
