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City Health Department To Relocate To Make Way For Casino

MGM Springfield

Another obstacle to the construction of the MGM Springfield casino has been removed.

The city of Springfield, following a search that took several months, has found a new location for the headquarters of the department of Health and Human Services, which is being evicted from a building that MGM plans to tear down to build an $800 million resort casino.

Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris said the public health office plans to move just a few blocks from 95 State St. into a building at 1145 Main St. that once housed a health clinic.

" It is a site that is uniquely set up for a heath and human services department and we are excited about our potential move," she said.

Officials looked at 11 potential locations for the health department’s administrative offices and clinic but rejected the other sites because of cost or other criteria.

"It was our goal to stay centrally located and on a bus line and we achieve that with this site," said Caulton-Harris.

The city plans to lease 10,500 square feet on the first and second floors of the Main St. building, which will give the health department room to grow, according to Caulton-Harris. 

The new lease is $38,000 higher than the current annual rent.

MGM spent more than $50 million to purchase 19 buildings and several parking lots in 14.5 acres in downtown Springfield for the casino project.  Tenants were to have moved out by March 1st.  The city’s health department was given several extensions and now plans to leave by June 1st.

" I think MGM is anxious to begin their process and we understand that," said Caulton-Harris.

The Western Regional Alcohol Correctional Center was in the same boat as the city’s health department – in the way of the casino project and facing difficulty finding a place to move.   Hampden County Sheriff Mike Ashe announced last week the substance abuse treatment program will move by May 8th to a former nursing home in Holyoke.

The Health and Human Services Committee of the Springfield City Council held a hearing Wednesday on the proposed move by the city health department.  Councilor Bud Williams, the committee chairman, said he was happy a site had been found.

" It was a transparent process, very open, open meetings, they toured all the sites. It is one of the better request for proposals I seen in several years," he said.

City councilor Melvin Edwards said he is anxious for MGM to start construction to boost the city's economy.

" I am desperate for these jobs and it begins with the construction jobs," he said.

MGM held a ceremonial groundbreaking a month ago, but is still waiting for the state and local permits needed to begin tearing down buildings.  The Massachusetts Historical Commission must sign off on several of the demolitions.

MGM in a press release Wednesday said it was “working around the clock to fulfill its responsibilities” on the casino project.

MGM filed a required status report, which the city made available on its website.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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