Hospital Conversion Anchors 93-Acre, Mixed-Use Chestnut Green

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FOXBOROUGH, MA-The long-planned redevelopment of the former Foxborough State Hospital is under way. Locally based VinCo Properties Inc. acquired the 93-acre site at auction from the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management in February for $5.2 million. The firm plans to develop Chestnut Green, a master-planned community containing 203 residences, 100,000 sf of office space and 55,000 sf of retail.

Development of the residential component includes a partnership with Abrams Group LLC, also based here, which is converting the existing, 100-year-old main facility on the campus into 70 residential condos. Jeffrey Brooks, an Abrams partner, tells GlobeSt.com the units will range from about 750 sf to 1,600 sf, and selling prices will begin in the mid-$200,000s and reach to the low- to mid- $400,000s. “The Chestnut Green master plan calls for 30 active adult residences,” he says, “and 15 of those will be in this main building.”

Two losing bidders in the property auction–locally based Intoccia Construction Co. and North Easton-based Douglas A. King Builders Inc.– acquired a portion of the site from VinCo and have begun construction of the community’s 60 townhouses and 73 single-family homes, which will include an aggregate of 30 units for people age 55 and older. According to published reports, the single-family houses will sell for between the $400,000s and $1 million.

VinCo is developing the office and retail space. Calls to Vince O’Neill, owner of VinCo, and VinCo’s Chestnut Green project manager were not returned by deadline. Foxborough’s State Hospital Re-Use Planning Committee initially developed a re-use plan for the facility in 2003. It donated 50 acres of the approximately 150-acre site to the town for recreational purposes. The hospital has been vacant since the 1970s and the committee has worked to implement a plan that would restore, rather than raze some of its buildings.