A nursing home in Boston’s North End won’t close after all.
Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, which was planning to close the facility and relocate services to a location in Brighton, said Friday that it will instead be sold to Marquis Health Services, a subsidiary of Brick, N.J.-based Tryko Partners LLC. Marquis plans to renovate the aging building and maintain skilled nursing services there.
The nursing home opened in 1983 and has been run by Spaulding for the past 16 years. When Spaulding said last year that it wanted to close the facility, community members protested. Public officials, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh, joined an effort to keep a nursing home in the neighborhood.
“We weren’t sure, quite frankly, whether there would be someone wanting to operate a nursing home in the North End, but at the urging of Mayor Walsh and the other elected officials we agreed to spend some time just looking to nursing home operators that might be interested,’’ Spaulding president David Storto said. “We heard the community’s concerns, we took the time to see if we could find a solution to meet their expectations. . . . We were able to do that.’’
Spaulding is owned by Partners HealthCare, the state’s largest health care provider. The company still plans to close a nursing home in West Roxbury and consolidate the services from that site and the North End to a building in Brighton, which it purchased last summer. The move will help cut costs by as much as $8 million a year, Storto said.
Patients at the Spaulding Nursing and Therapy Center in the North End will have the option of staying there after the facility changes ownership or moving to Spaulding’s Brighton location.
North End residents, who had feared the nursing home would be replaced by high-end condos or other development, were relieved by the announcement.
“I am glad it will stay on for all our seniors in the neighborhood and throughout downtown Boston,’’ said Philip Frattaroli, 34, whose grandfather lived in the North End nursing home for eight months until his death in October. “A lot of people here don’t have cars here. . . . If it had moved, it would have involved taking a bus and a train for us. It is important for all of downtown to have this facility so close.’’
Immediately after Spaulding announced its plans last year, residents objected. They brought their concerns to legislators and the mayor.
“We were very vocal and very angry about the [initial] decision,’’ said State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, a Democrat who represents the neighborhood. But eventually, he added, “we stopped bickering about the issue and tried to find the right solution.’’
Spaulding plans to sign an agreement next week to sell the building to Marquis. But Spaulding will continue to manage the facility until at least the fall. The company needs state approval to leave the site and relocate to Brighton.
Marquis operates 16 nursing facilities, including nine in Massachusetts. It plans to spend at least $4 million to renovate the North End facility, staging the work so that long-term residents are not disrupted.
“We anticipate that our approach — focused on hands-on, quality care — will be well received by our residents and their families,’’ Marquis chief executive Norman Rokeach said in a statement.
Priyanka Dayal McCluskey can be reached at priyanka. mccluskey@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @priyanka_dayal. Kay Lazar can be reached at kay.lazar@globe.com.Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar.
