Owner Of Boston's North End Nursing Home Responds To Community Protests, Scraps Plans To Close Facility & Boot Elderly Residents; Announces Sale Of Aging Building To Another Operator To Pour At Least $4 Million In Staged Renovations, Keeping Everyone In Place

In Boston, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports:

• A nursing home in Boston’s North End won’t close after all.
  
  Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, which was planning to close the facility and relocate services to a location in Brighton, said Friday that it will instead be sold to Marquis Health Services, a subsidiary of Brick, N.J.-based Tryko Partners LLC. Marquis plans to renovate the aging building and maintain skilled nursing services there.
  
  The nursing home opened in 1983 and has been run by Spaulding for the past 16 years. When Spaulding said last year that it wanted to close the facility, community members protested. Public officials, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh, joined an effort to keep a nursing home in the neighborhood.
  
  “We weren’t sure, quite frankly, whether there would be someone wanting to operate a nursing home in the North End, but at the urging of Mayor Walsh and the other elected officials we agreed to spend some time just looking to nursing home operators that might be interested,” Spaulding president David Storto said. “We heard the community’s concerns, we took the time to see if we could find a solution to meet their expectations. . . . We were able to do that.”
  
  ***
  North End residents, who had feared the nursing home would be replaced by high-end condos or other development, were relieved by the announcement.
  
  “I am glad it will stay on for all our seniors in the neighborhood and throughout downtown Boston,” said Philip Frattaroli, 34, whose grandfather lived in the North End nursing home for eight months until his death in October. “A lot of people here don’t have cars here. . . . If it had moved, it would have involved taking a bus and a train for us. It is important for all of downtown to have this facility so close.”
  
  Immediately after Spaulding announced its plans last year, residents objected. They brought their concerns to legislators and the mayor.
  
  ***
  Marquis operates 16 nursing facilities, including nine in Massachusetts. It plans to spend at least $4 million to renovate the North End facility, staging the work so that long-term residents are not disrupted.

For the story, see Spaulding’s North End nursing home to remain open.