By Matthew K. Roy
Salem News
Staff Writer

DANVERS - A new 207,000-square-foot medical center planned for Endicott Street last night earned the unanimous support of the Planning Board.

Massachusetts General Hospital and North Shore Medical Center expect to begin construction of their $110 ambulatory care center and medical office building in July.

The first step will be demolishing about 143,000 square feet of Osram Sylvania's headquarters. Construction is expected to last 18 months.

The ambulatory care center and medical office building will be linked by a shared, glass-enclosed atrium. The buildings will be open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and for limited hours on Saturday.

The medical office building will house 50 doctors and practitioners. The ambulatory care center will have space for 25 specialists who will perform day surgeries and provide radiology, diagnostic cardiology and laboratory services.

It will also be the new site of the cancer treatment center that is now in Peabody.

The project was before the Planning Board for four meetings. It won approval with only mild neighborhood opposition. No one from the public spoke last night when given the opportunity.

But, through negotiations with the town's planning department and the board, the developer agreed to multiple measures to mitigate the building's effect on the surrounding neighborhood. Massachusetts General Hospital and North Shore Medical Center will be spending an estimated $2 million on improvements, said Nancy McCann, the lawyer representing the hospitals.

The developer's monetary contributions include $245,000 to replace a section of the town's water line on Endicott Street, $65,000 to upgrade sidewalks along Water Street and a $10,000 donation to the Danvers Council on Aging.

MGH/NSMC agreed to provide an easement over their property to allow for public access to 10,000 acres along the Waters River and at the board's request, will have an engineer design a trail throughout the property.

The developer will synchronize traffic lights on Endicott Street to help the flow of traffic and direct patients to use Route 128 or Route 114 in directions to the site in all of its marketing materials.

And MGH/NSMC will pay for an arborist to care for the Endicott Pear Tree, which is on their property. Historians believe the 375-year-old tree was planted by John Endicott, the first governor of Massachusetts, making it the oldest living documented fruit tree in North America.

Though downsizing, Osram Sylvania will continue to lease the portion of its building not slated for demolition. The entire complex is now about 272,000 square feet.

Medical center by the numbers:

$110 million - estimated project cost

122,500 - square feet in the ambulatory care center

84,500 - square feet in the medical office building

50 - doctors/practitioners in the office building

25 - specialists in the ambulatory care center

250 - employees at the center

655 - parking spaces