Massachusetts Committee Weighs Eminent Domain Seizure of Closed Norwood Hospital

BOSTON — February 12, 2026 — Massachusetts lawmakers heard a sweeping push to seize the closed Norwood Hospital by eminent domain at a February 12 hearing of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. House Chair Antonio F. D. Cabral presided over hours of testimony on House Bill 5047, which would authorize the Commonwealth to take the hospital property from Medical Properties Trust, a Birmingham, Alabama-based real estate investment trust that has held the partially constructed site since the facility was destroyed by a 500-year flood in June 2020. Bill sponsors Representative John Rogers, State Senator Mike Rush, and U.S. Representative Steve Lynch argued the taking would follow the state's 2025 acquisition of St. Elizabeth Medical Center for $66 million, with Norwood's 8.4-acre, 25-percent-complete shell likely valued considerably lower. Norwood Town Manager and Hospital Task Force Chair Tony Mazzucco told the committee the bill asks for no state money — only the authority to force the transaction, with an operator bearing acquisition and construction costs. State data presented by retired Cape Cod Health Care CFO Mike Connors showed ambulance transport times within 30 minutes across the hospital's 10-town service area dropped from 52 percent to 29 percent since closure, and fell from 68 percent to 11 percent in Walpole alone. Senate Chair Nick Collins declared the legislation "a no brainer" with his "full support."