Oasis at Dodge Park, Worcester Alzheimer’s Care coming to Odd Fellows Site
Worcester planners clear way for rest home at Odd Fellows site
By Nick Kotsopoulos, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER The developer who wants to build an 82-unit, state-of-the-art rest home on the 4.6-acre property where the Odd Fellows Home sits has obtained all necessary land-use approvals from the city.
[custom_frame_right]
[/custom_frame_right] The Planning Board unanimously approved the site plans Wednesday night for the rest home to be built at 102 Randolph Road. The Conservation Commission gave the developer the green light Monday night.
Earlier this month, the Zoning Board of Appeals granted a special permit to allow a nursing/rest home use in a residence-general zoning district.
The rest home, to be called Oasis at Dodge Park, will consist of two buildings, each with 41 beds.
The facility will also serve those diagnosed with memory impairment, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, according to Todd Rodman, a lawyer representing KMRN Investment LLC, the developer and owner of the property.
To make way for the rest home, the long vacant 3 1/2-story Odd Fellows Home, which has fallen into disrepair, will be taken down.
Even though the Odd Fellows Home building is on the National Register of Historic Places, nothing can be done to block its razing because the one-year demolition delay previously imposed by the Historical Commission has run out.
Planning Board member Stephen Rolle praised the site plan developed for the new rest home, but added he was sad to see it come at the expense of a landmark building.
“This is kind of a sad day for the city,” Mr. Rolle said. “This is an iconic building and I’m sad to see it go. This is a good site plan and I applaud its proposed use; I just wish it could have been built somewhere else.”
Ben Herlinger, one of the project’s principals, said he, too, is sad that the Odd Fellows Home will have to be razed. But he said the state Department of Public Health never would have given a permit to allow a rest home in the 19th-century building because there were issues with the building.
The developer looked into preserving the building’s five-story clock tower, but it was determined that would have been physically impossible.
Mr. Rodman said the rest home will be built in two phases. Each phase will consist of the construction of a 30,000-square-foot building that will have 41 units.
He said the $15 million project will create 78 full-time jobs when completed and fully operating.
The principals who will operate the nursing home also operate the Dodge Park Rest Home at 101 Randolph Road. Together, they have more than 50 years of experience in health care.
To assist the developer in financing the project, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien has asked the City Council to designate the property as a Site Specific Economic Opportunity Area and as a Certified Project.
Such a designation enables the city to offer the developer a tax-increment financing deal, known as a TIF.
Under the deal recommended by the city manager, the developer would save $1.9 million in property taxes over the 12 years of the TIF. Upon completion of the two phases of the project, the city would receive an estimated $3.2 million in property taxes.
Under the TIF, if both phases are completed, the city would realize an estimated $487,114 in tax revenues annually from the property.
In comparison, the property generated $19,213 in property taxes last fiscal year.
The proposed TIF has yet to be taken up by the City Council.
