Developers Pursue Senior Housing at Muzi Ford
November 9, 2026
• The site of the former car dealership and car wash has sat vacant for years, with previous plans for a multi-purpose complex abandoned.
In 2022, the future of 557 Highland Ave. appeared promising. The Bulfinch Companies, the developer who owns the property, had proposed a 480,000 square foot life sciences campus with an additional 10,000 square ft. of retail. But four years later, with a special permit in hand, no one is biting.
The once-booming life sciences industry in Massachusetts “has essentially wound down,” Bulfinch President Robert Schlager told the Planning Board Wednesday. Finding a tenant for a possible corporate headquarters also isn’t panning out, he added, possibly due to increased company consolidation spurred by advances in artificial intelligence.
Bulfinch now seeks to build up to 480 units in a residential “life plan” community, exclusive to seniors, along with 80 memory care beds. Doing so would require amending the zoning bylaw, which Bulfinch aims to pursue at the May Town Meeting, Schlager said.
“We think that’s the highest and best use. We think that will remain for the foreseeable future,” Schlager said at the meeting. “We see that as really a viable alternative to develop in a very professional, coherent, attractive gateway entrance to the Town of Needham.”
In its current iteration, the project would total 629,000 square ft. of senior housing divided across five separate buildings, as well as 600 underground parking spaces and 100 at-grade spaces, two pickleball courts, a walking trail, a swimming pool and restaurants. Amenities would be exclusive to facility members. The buildings vary from three stories to six stories high, based on current design renderings.
The entire site is about 10 acres in size and is in close proximity to the Route 95 off-ramp.
Since Muzi Ford was demolished in 2022, Bulfinch has thrown several ideas at the wall, hoping one would stick. Other potential uses included market-rate housing, a hotel and retail space, all of which the developers reasoned would not work, either financially or due to neighborhood pushback.
In June 2025, Bulfinch pitched a mixed-use development that combined a medical office building, retail, multi-family and 55+ housing units and a hotel all on the same site. Concerns about traffic and parking brought Bulfinch back to the drawing board.
Planning Board members appeared receptive to the current plans.
“It’s certainly something that’s very much in need, not just in our community in Needham but Massachusetts and around the country,” member Eric Greenberg said. “So, I think there’s going to be a lot of demand, and it looks like a very nice community.”
Greenberg asked about the broader community’s use of the amenity space, though Schlager said senior housing operators claim shared use can “make the residents feel somewhat unsafe.”
“I think we can devise a way so that the residents and the community is segregated from the jogging trail, walking trails and pickleball courts so that there’s something for everyone as part of this project,” Schlager said. “And that’s a commitment I will make to you.”
While the design includes a village green, courtyards and fitness trail, member Artie Crocker made note of the building’s footprint.
“I would like to see a little bit more open space, that’s my preference,” Crocker said, “but in principle, I’m in favor of what you’re looking to do as far as some relief.”
Needham is home to other senior living facilities, including neighboring Wingate Living, which just added 61 new units, making its total 203. North Hill, a retirement community off Central Avenue near Olin College, also seeks to expand its footprint to nearly 500 units. The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on that project at its Nov. 17 meeting.
Bulfinch plans to submit draft zoning for “Highland Senior Living” to the Planning Board by late November or early December and then hold community meetings in December. The Planning Board would likely hold a public hearing in February and March.
After several failed attempts at development at the site, Chair Justin McCullen said he looks forward to seeing something built.
“I’m excited to see the potentiality of the site, and seeing it’s been just a blight on Needham Heights,” McCullen said. “I’m excited to see what can happen.”
