BID Lays Foundation for Growth
When the Planning Board approved the plan for valet parking on Oak Street, the local hospital signaled that their plans for the property are potentially much larger.
Oak Street is about to undergo a bit of a transformation. The stretch immediately adjacent to the tracks at 14 & 20 Oak Street will be reconfigured to become a valet parking lot for the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham. Parking has been a major concern for the organization as their services have expanded over the years, and the move is being made to alleviate some of those pressures.
However, that relief will likely only be temporary as the hospital charts the path for further growth. They tipped their hand to the Board on August 25th, when president John Fogarty spelled out their intention to utilize their land holdings from Oak Street to Chestnut Place. Citing their contributions to the community both as an employer and charitable benefactor, he showcased the increased demand over the past 10 years.
“It has become an incredibly high growth hospital.” Fogarty explained. “The post-pandemic world and the (movement) of care from urban areas and from Boston and the community, partly because our ability to bring top notch physicians to the community, partly because of the closure of Norwood Hospital several years ago, have put BID Needham into very, very high growth.”
While no specific plans have been drawn up for the property, five areas have been targeted for their growth efforts, including surgery, Women’s Health, Primary Care, Digestive Health and Behavioral Health.
“We do not envision an in-patient psychiatric program at Needham. We don’t have capacity for that. But particularly given the explosion of psychiatric and behavioral health since the pandemic, we feel that we need some out-patient programming to support our providers in the community and our emergency room.”
Fogarty acknowledged that this was a long term plan. In addition to extending the town’s Medical Overlay District, several concessions would have to be made on setbacks, height, floor/Area Ratio, parking and more in order to make the expansion a reality. The hospital plans on making the first steps toward their ultimate goal in time for the 2027 Special Town meeting.
“There is a lot of excitement in the hospital and within our system, among our clinicians for the project. We just have some heavy lifting to do, to put the specific spaces together. We’re meeting on a weekly basis to bring some more definition to that.”
The full presentation to the Planning Board is available on the Needham Channel website.
