A new community health and wellness center will be coming to Springfield.
MassMutual and Baystate Health announced Tuesday that the state-of-the-art facility will be built on about ten acres of land donated by the insurance giant on its campus in the city's Mason Square neighborhood.
“We're also going to be providing financing for the project, and also a $5 million grant from the MassMutual Foundation to help this all come together," said Crandall is MassMutual's President and CEO.
Crandall said the location will be easily accessible by public transportation and have ample free parking.
Baystate President and CEO Mark Keroack said the proposed 90,000 square foot facility, with a capacity to see up to 150,000 visits a year, will consolidate four existing clinics in the city that are crowded, aging and hard to keep up to date.
“We'll be seeking to begin a conversation with the community and with our providers to design features like our other health and wellness centers, with onsite lab, x-ray, pharmacy and space for specialty practices.”
Keroack said he also envisions adding community spaces to bring Baystate Health’s social service partners closer to the patients they serve.
Three of the four existing health centers that will transition into the new facility are located in a district represented by City Councilor Melvin Edwards.
He said some of his constituents, especially those who use public transportation or walk to their health centers, may feel inconvenienced. But, he added, given the new center's central location and access to bus routes, adjustment should be minimal.
"If you're used to going to a specific site and now they're saying you have to go somewhere else, I'm sure that's going to create a high degree of angst on some people's part," he said. "But on the other side of the coin, I'm sure this was a business decision and part of the calculus was, is it cheaper to manage three separate sites around the city or manage one?"
Construction on the $45-50 million project is expected to begin sometime in 2025 and be completed in 2027.
