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 (Left:  Winn Watch Hand factory, courtesy of the Winchester Archival Center)

Winchester Hospital, whose presence on Highland Avenue dates back to 1917, has established a new health-care site at 620 Washington St. with the aim of dedicating the Highland Avenue facility to emergency and inpatient care and moving outpatient facilities to the new site.  The hospital is now operating an oncology center at 620 Washington St and is proposing to build an ambulatory-care center there.  The property contains about 11 acres.  The two-acre section south of the Aberjona River is to become conservation land.  The remaining nine acres is to have the oncology center, an ambulatory care center, and a parking garage.  The plan also includes a section of the future tri-community bikeway.

For about 200 years, the site was an industrial one.  In the late 18th century, the Richardson family built a grist mill and then a saw mill there.  The saw mill later became a mahogany mill. In 1872, Bardwell Goodell and James Winn moved their watch-hand manufacturing business to Winchester and built a small factory on the site of the old Richardson mills.  After 1896, it was solely the factory of J. H. Winn and family.

The business adapted with changing times to also produce pointers for speedometers, gauges, compasses, and other machines. Over time the company diversified and manufactured other products. In 1968, the Winn Company became a division of the McCord Corporation, a Detroit-based supplier of the auto industry and diversified further, becoming a major supplier to the automotive industry. Through 1969, Winn’s original 1900 brick building was enlarged several times to accommodate the changes.  In 1987, the business became a subsidiary of Textron Inc. but eventually closed. In 1994 it was purchased by the International Family Church which sold the site to Winchester Hospital in February 2005.

The hospital’s plans for the site evolved since the time of the purchase. At Spring 2005 Town Meeting, the parcel was rezoned SCI, conditioned on a hospital agreement not to use Section 6.24 of the Zoning Bylaw which permits open-ended development.  The Planning Board and hospital formed a working committee and hired a consultant to develop a new overlay district that would accommodate both hospital use and commercial space that would generate income for the town. By 2006, the hospital had a phased development plan.

Phase 1 included conversion of the former Winn Watch Hand factory building into a new oncology center.  In April 2006, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special permit/site plan review for the rehab plus the construction of an addition for linear accelerators.

In 2007, the hospital revealed plans for the other phases. As finally amended, Phase 2 includes construction of a new 95,000 square foot ambulatory care building and a parking garage, plus demolition of part of the factory building. Also included are a new stormwater drainage system, compensatory flood storage, a section of the tri-community bikeway, a healing garden, driveways, and other landscaping.  Phase 3 includes an expansion of the garage and filling in the space between it and the oncology building.

Since the hospital could not build beyond Phase 1 under the current zoning, it worked with the Planning Board and consultants on a new Health Services Overlay District, approved by a Special Town Meeting in spring 2007.  The bylaw requires Planning Board approval of the area comprehensive plan and special permit/site plan review by the Zoning Board of Appeals.  It is also subject to an order of conditions from the Conservation Commission, a development agreement with the Board of Selectmen, and state permitting.

The Planning Board approved the area comprehensive plan for Phase 2 in May 2008.  The ZBA opened its hearing in July, 2008. 

Pursuant to a residents’ petition, the hospital officially designated the property as a Public Involvement Site in August 2008.  It established a local information repository at the Winchester Public Library.