Malden Advocate | Oct 4, 2019 | by Barbara Taormina

A plan to redevelop the Malden Hospital site has been a long time coming, but this week's presentation at the Beebe School Auditorium proved it was worth the wait. A small crowd turned out Wednesday night for the first public presentation of a commu­nity-focused redevelopment plan that's been in the works for the past year thanks to a partnership between the Friends of Fellsmere Heights and Boston Architectural College's Gateway Initiative Pro­gram.

BAC faculty advisor and architect Rashmi Ramaswamy worked with a team of students to produce a plan based on ideas and aspirations of the Friends, their supporters and Malden and Medford residents who had con­cerns about a proposal for a large private residential development and those who felt the hospital site is a community resource that is meant for a higher use.

Malden Hospital owners MelroseWakefield Healthcare, a subsidiary of Tufts-Wellforce formerly known as Hallmark Health, notified Malden Mayor Gary Christenson and Medford Mayor Stephanie Muccini Burke by letters dated September 5, 2019 from CEO Sue Sandberg:

“that we have concluded our relationship with the Fellsmere Housing Group and will no longer be pursuing their proposal for the site, as we have seen and heard neighbors’ concerns around density and traffic.”

Our Malden and Medford community is very diverse, with most of Malden and parts of Medford designated as Environmental Justice areas having some combination of minority, income, and English isolation. To embrace our diversity, we wanted to ensure that everyone in our community had an opportunity to participate in a community-based plan for the former Malden Hospital property.