Fernald Building To Be Turned Into Veteran Housing

WALTHAM, MA — A building at the city-owned former Walter E. Fernald Development Center is set to become affordable housing for veterans.

"It will probably be a couple of years, we need to go through the whole process, out out for RFP, the study, apply for grants, but yes, it's happening," said City Councilor Cathyann Harris who sits on the Fernald Use Committee.

On March 22, the committee voted to transfer the care, custody and control of the Marquardt Building, a former nursing center on the property, to the city's veteran's department to work with the mayor's office on turning the building into affordable housing for veterans.

The city will now draw up a request for proposals for an architecture company to survey the building and make recommendations on studio-style apartments there. The City Council's Fernald Use Committee members also want the MBTA to add a stop nearby on the 73 bus line.

The state kept the Marquardt Building after the city bought the property in 2014 and was used until about 2017, according to city council members.

"There is a need statewide for veterans housing," Director of Veterans Services Michael Russo told the committee. He also said there was grant money specifically for developing affordable housing for veterans available for the city to use.

Although it's unclear how many veterans in the city are in search of housing, Russo said he gets calls regularly about opportunities in Waltham from vets.

The committee also approved transferring care and custody and control of three cottages on Trapelo: The Trapelo, the Cardinal and the Baldwin to the housing department for use of three to four units of affordable housing.

"Housing is such a big issue in the city," said Harris. "This is such a huge opportunity for us to begin to get a plan moving to have ... permanent activity out there."

The committee is still waiting on a report from the building inspector about the structural integrity of Marquardt and Tarbell buildings.

In March 2017, Ward 3 and 4 councilors submitted a proposal to reuse the buildings on the main roadway for veterans housing, recreation, arts a library and a museum. That went to city council in April, where it was tabled. Mayor Jeannette McCarthy presented her master plan for Fernald in November that year, but little was done. Then last year, as protests surfaced that the city had dropped the ball on preserving the property, councilors offered new proposals, and the mayor said she was going to present an updated vision. According to the city, the only version available on the city website is her 2017 vision.

On Nov. 2, 2020, the mayor gave a brief presentation about the history of the city's purchase of the property in 2014, and what had been done to the site to date. At that meeting she focused on plans to relocate the city's CPW department on the lower half of the property, according to minutes from that meeting. On March 8, this year, the mayor gave an update on her master plan to the committee.

The boarded-up, graffiti-covered administration building from what was once called the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center still stands on the property.

The state-run center opened in the late 1800s. But by the 1950s, relatives of patients and staff began a reform campaign. In the early 1970s, after decades of abuse and neglect of the children sent there, a judge ordered reform and treatment changed dramatically at the center, which then offered services for adults diagnosed with mentally disabilities.

It closed for good in 2014. The city then bought the property in 2014 for $3.7 million, most of which using Community Preservation funds.

Disability advocates have protested the city's decision to allow the light show in 2020 and that it allowed the buildings to fall into disrepair before creating a museum or memorial on the property.

Previously:

• Vandals Cause Fuel Oil Leak On Fernald Property... 2019
• Fernald Fire Was Arson, $5K Reward: State ... 2020
• Waltham Eyes Moving Public Works To Fernald Property ...