PEABODY — The city has not abandoned a plan to build an assisted-living facility near the senior center on Central Street, Mayor Michael Bonfanti said.
But, more than five years after the mayor proposed the project, it remains in limbo because the owner of the land picked to locate the building has been hard to pinpoint.
"We can't proceed on a property with a clouded title," Bonfanti said.
A steering committee was formed to explore what was first imagined in 2004 as a building that would house 60 to 80 apartments. By 2006, the city was soliciting consultants to help develop the center and, in his 2008 inaugural address, Bonfanti touted construction of a scaled-down 40-to-50-unit center as one of his administration's goals.
"Our seniors have earned the right and deserve to live out their lives in dignity," he said. "I will continue to advocate for, and with your help build, this essential facility."
In the years since that statement, however, momentum for the project has waned. In his inaugural remarks delivered in January, Bonfanti did not include an assisted-living center on a to-do list for his fifth term.
"It is one of many priorities," Bonfanti said recently. His immediate focus is on successfully weathering the economic downturn, advancing flood mitigation improvements and revitalizing the downtown.
The facility was proposed to be built with state and federal funds, and staffed and run by a nonprofit agency.
"We definitely feel that there's a need," Bonfanti said.
About 20 percent of Peabody's residents are 60 or older. The fastest-growing segment of the city's population is in the over-75-year-old category, which has increased about 59 percent in the past five years, the mayor wrote in his 2008 inaugural address.
The site under consideration is over an acre, with frontage on Tremont Street. The land backs up to the senior center property on Central Street.
Assistant City Solicitor Brian Barrett researched the property's title. He traced it back to a single owner who died in 1910, leaving the property to three heirs. Over the years, ownership splintered again and again as family members passed on and additional heirs inherited a stake.
Today, more than 50 people could have a claim to the property, Barrett said. The circumstance would make it hard for the city to purchase the property.
"You can't enter into a contract with someone you don't know," he said. He believes the only way the city could acquire the property would be by eminent domain. In that case, Peabody would set aside money to compensate those who might have a stake.
"We're looking at the legal ramifications," Bonfanti said.
If the city decides to go forward on the site, whenever that may be, the mayor said that the state and federal governments would still be there with funding.
"That's one thing I'm confident about," he said. "There is a need and the government has committed to addressing that need."
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