FALL RIVER, MA-HealthFirst is taking a 78,000-square-foot industrial space and converting it to a community health center. The transformation at 387 Quarry St. will cost roughly $13 million, appraised at that cost in May 2010. The 3.64-acre lot is zoned BL-Local Business and is anticipated to deliver by December 2011.
HealthFirst is receiving an $11.5-million grant from the Facility Investment Program in response to a Health Resources and Services Administration competitive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 grant opportunity. This was part of the Health Center Program.
"They had this vision and they were aware of the grant money that was available, and they pursued this funding," explained Mary Ann Williams, project executive with Skanska USA Building. Skanska was named by HealthFirst to renovate the property. An interior renovation will coincide with a modernizing of the exterior of the structure. According to HealthFirst, it was a textile plant, as well as a Bradlee's. The property has been vacant for at least the last five years.
HealthFirst had been working to served Fall River from the same space for the last 39 years, as a walk-in facility and used the federal grant as an opportunity to relocate and expand. The advantages to a larger space are not simply academic, the facility will be able to double its exam rooms from 13 to 26 and quadruple its dental operations from 2 to 9. These expansions will allow the local healthcare facility to serve close to 6,000 more patients, per year, HealthFirst estimates.
As with everywhere else, another motivator for the city is jobs. Fall River suffers from unemployment in the mid-teens and the facility, once complete, boasts an additional 30 permanent jobs, plus the temporary construction that will come with the renovation. A former textile town, Fall River much like the rest of the US, has seen a decline in the textile industry over the last 20-30 years.
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