St. John’s Green

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) owns a large vacant lot in the neighborhood of Brighton Heights that was the former home of the St. John’s Hospital. As the URA is looking for a new plan for the space, they’ve asked a few partners to lend their expertise. Ecologists from Chatham University have done an ecological assessment of the site which will help to inform which uses make the most sense. GTECH has been working to gather input from Brighton Heights neighbors, and local design company, Origin4Design, is working alongside GTECH to put input from neighbors into a comprehensive design.

Spanning three acres, the lot contains a mix of healthy wooded areas, meadow, some invasive plants, and concrete foundations remaining from the St. Johns hospital buildings. While there are many ideas about what the space could be, neighbors are working to determine the use that best fits with the needs and interests of the neighborhood throughout the winter and spring. Luckily, there’s space for more than one idea at St. John’s Green.

After hosting input sessions on site and presenting to the Brighton Heights community at working meetings, we finalized a design concept for future greenspace use. In the winter of 2016, demolition took place on site to remove the remaining areas of asphalt . In the spring of 2016, the site was further cleared to improve visibility and site health. Next steps are undetermined as the community decides its preferred approach.