McLean
Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts,
is the largest psychiatric teaching facility of Harvard Medical
School, an affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital and a member
of Partners HealthCare System.
McLean's facilities occupy about 50 acres of
its 240-acre site,
which was selected for McLean by the distinguished landscape architect,
Frederick Law Olmsted. The Keefe Company managed McLean's successful
effort to win approval of a master plan to rezone the property.
The
Reuse Master Plan developed by The Keefe Company sets aside 140
acres, or 90% of currently undeveloped land on the site, as permanently
protected open space. The open space will connect with the Massachusetts
Audubon Society's Habitat
Wildlife Sanctuary and with the state's
Beaver Brook
and Rock Meadow reservations. The McLean open space is a critical
link in the Western
Greenway, a six-mile corridor from Belmont to Waltham.
In
addition to continued use by McLean of its current facilities,
the reuse plan permits 1.2 million square feet of development
with a value of $300 million, including 121
residential units, a 482-unit senior housing complex to be
developed by the American Retirement
Corporation, and a 150,000 square foot research and development
office building. The plan also assures the preservation of historic
properties owned by the hospital.
The reuse plan approved by Belmont voters met
the town's priorities as outlined
by the McLean Task Force. The Belmont Citizen-Herald and the Boston
Globe both endorsed the plan, which was approved by Belmont voters
by a 70% to 30% margin in July 1999.
As part of the reuse plan, McLean and the Town
of Belmont agreed on an historic preservation plan that called
for the McLean campus to be nominated for the National Register
of Historic Places. The nomination,
submitted by the Belmont Historic Commission and approved by the
Massachusetts Historic Commission, is awaiting consideration by
the National Park Service .

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