Fall Opening For Gardner Assisted Living Complex
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CREATIVE REUSE: The former Heywood-Wakefield furniture factory is expected to be reborn as an assisted living facility this fall.
The Heywood-Wakefield furniture factory in Gardner closed in 1979, but this fall, some of the former employees may be returning — this time to make a home in the old brick mill.
A part of the factory complex is now being remodeled into a 78-unit affordable assisted living facility called Heywood Wakefield Commons.
City officials had been trying to get the project moving for more than a decade, in part because assembling the funding has been a challenge. The project’s total cost is about $24 million, according to Matthew Wally, executive director of Worcester Community Housing Resources, which is developing the facility. That includes $15 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, plus additional support from the state, he said.
Leveraged Support
Wally said a project like this one has to be highly dependent on government funding in part because redeveloping an industrial property in a city center takes more work than building from scratch.
“Many times the redevelopment of such an old mill building is cost prohibitive,” he said.
Wally said Gov. Deval Patrick and U.S. Rep. John Olver have been particularly supportive of the redevelopment. In fact, the project fits in with enough government priorities that it’s gotten help from a wide variety of state sources, including MassHousing Affordable Housing Trust Fund money, a MassDevelopment bond and low-income housing and historic preservation tax credits.
Heywood Wakefield Commons is actually the third stage in the redevelopment of the factory. Already, some of the old mill buildings contain apartments and others have been turned into office space.
The new assisted living facility is being managed by the Grantham Group, which runs the Christopher House skilled nursing facility in Worcester and four Christopher Heights assisted living communities in Worcester, Webster, Marlborough and Attleboro.
Executive Director Tom McMullen said the facility consists of 76 studio apartments and two two-bedroom units, all with kitchenettes, private bathrooms and emergency call systems. Residents can get help with daily tasks, medication reminders and safety checks, as well as meals, laundry and activities.
McMullen said he expects to employ about 44 people, including health aides, nurses, housekeepers, administrators and dietary and activity staff.
The facility should draw residents from a radius of about 25 miles, McMullen said. The Grantham Group has just started reaching out to potential residents, but he said he’s already gotten some inquiries, including from people who once worked at the furniture factory.
“It’s an aging society, and these needs are only going to grow,” he said.
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