Danvers Herald
By Bella Travaglini

Danvers - Crews will break ground this summer on a new $110 million health-care facility on Endicott Street, winning site plan approval Tuesday night from the Planning Board.

The new outpatient health care facility and medical office building was officially named the Mass General Hospital/North Shore Medical Center Ambulatory Care Center. The center will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with limited hours on Saturday. It will not have any overnight beds or emergency services.

The board set several conditions upon the approval to which the health care group has been amenable during negotiations. As part of those talks, Partners HealthCare, parent to Mass General Hospital and North Shore Medical Center, will continue to work with Town Manager Wayne Marquis to derive an annual payment amount to be made to the town in lieu of taxes. Non-profit groups, such as medical facilities, are tax exempt, and this sort of negotiated payment is not unusual.

"We're thrilled to have won approval tonight," said Robert Norton, president and CEO of North Shore Medical Center following the meeting. "It's what we've been saying all along. We have made the commitment to be a good neighbor to the town. This will be a great facility for the citizens of Danvers and for all citizens of the North Shore."

The sprawling ambulatory care facility consisting of a 122,000 square foot ambulatory care center and an 80,000 square foot medical office building will sit on the 49-acre site of the current Osram Sylvania Center at 100 Endicott St. Osram will continue to do business at this location, but its building will undergo a partial demolition in July, the first of a three-phase construction plan expected to take 18 months.

The new medical facility will also house a new Cancer Center overlooking the Waters River, which will have 24 infusion bays for patients receiving chemotherapy treatments with a view of a proposed healing garden. It will replace the Cancer Center now located at Centennial Drive in Peabody.

Traffic and safety on this stretch of Endicott Street has been of acute concern for residents. Therefore, the group donated $20,000 to upgrade pedestrian crosswalks directly in front of the facility and at the Water Street intersection. The money will also be used for continued review of a recent traffic study contracted by the town.

Engineers continue to work with Mass Highway in synchronizing traffic lights along Endicott Street to help keep traffic flowing. It was recently discovered that a link between signals at Hutchinson Drive and the Liberty Tree Mall does exist and will require some repairs to connect them.

The board requested that the pedestrian crossing at Hutchinson and Endicott Street have a countdown pedestrian timer to assist those crossing the busy street.

Those traveling from Route 128 will have a straight shot off the highway into the facility through a newly constructed entrance. As part of the agreement, all marketing materials for the health care center will encourage travel to the facility by way of routes 128 or 114.

The group also donated $245,000 to the town to be used for the upgrading of a new water line extending from Route 128 to Sylvan Street, which was due to be replaced. Engineers from the medical group contend the new facility is not driving that replacement since the facility will only increase water usage comparable to the demand of 18 homes.

Discussion about providing public access to a walkway wrapping the property along the river continued, although nothing was decided. The medical group agreed to pay for the design of such a walkway, which would consist of trails over 10 acres of property.

Taking special care of the historic Endicott Pear Tree is part of the agreement, and the medical group will continue to employ an arborist for that task. However, it remains unclear if the town will decide that it would like the group to allow for public access up to the tree on the rear of the property, citing safety concerns for the tree.

Expressing a desire to improve traffic and safety at the Water Street and Endicott Street intersections, the medical group also donated $65,000 for sidewalk improvements on Water Street.

The group donated an additional $10,000 to upgrade operations for the Council on Aging, which will provide shuttle service to the facility. MBTA bus service currently transporting shoppers to the Liberty Tree Mall will be extended to the facility.

The three-phase construction plan will get underway this July with the demolition of a portion of the Osram Sylvania building, engineers said. The second phase includes the construction of the ambulatory care facility and medical office building joined in the center by a glass atrium lobby. The third phase in the 18-month plan consists of site improvements.

"I'd say it will probably be more like 24 months," said Ron Baser, Planning Board member, choosing not to be overly optimistic.