Reprinted from Arlington’s 2022-2029 Open Space and Recreation Plan
After Symmes Hospital closed in 1999, Arlington voters approved a debt exclusion in 2001 to allow the Town to acquire the entire 18-acre property off Summer Street in order to be able to control its development. After a lengthy public process and delays associated with the 2008 recession, a new owner began construction in the spring of 2012. By 2014 the developer, Arlington 360 LLC, had completed a 164-unit apartment complex and 12 townhouse condominiums. Arlington 360 LLC sold a two-acre portion of the Symmes site halfway up the hill to Shelter/Brightview Arlington for a 90-unit assisted living facility.
The most prominent open space features of the development are two parks and about six acres of woods and buffer zones. The half-acre Hattie Symmes Park at the top of the hill has commanding views of Arlington and Boston to the east. Named for the daughter of Stephen Symmes who founded the hospital, the park features pathways, benches, and extensive landscaping. A second hillside park of almost two acres abuts the upper boundary of the Symmes Woods. It is designed for passive recreation with views of the Boston skyline through the trees. Named for Nora A. Brown, the long-time head of the nurses’ facility at the hospital, it contains pervious pathways, mowed strips within an open meadow area, and landscaped beds, as well as some benches and picnic tables.
Both parks are owned and maintained by Arlington 360 LLC but are open to the public under the same rules and regulations as for other town parks. The Symmes Woods covers the relatively flat area between Summer Street and the assisted living facility.
Management of the parks and woods is governed by a plan agreed to by the developers, the Arlington Redevelopment Board, the Arlington Land Trust, and the Conservation Commission. The parks and woodlands are protected by a conservation restriction and Public Access Easement held by the Arlington Land Trust and Conservation Commission. The conservation restriction, which offers permanent legal protection for the land, was signed off by the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and by the Town of Arlington in 2014. Small property markers designate the conservation restriction boundaries.
- Size: 8.7 acres of the total 18-acre site
- Managing Agency/Owner: Arlington 360 LLC
- Current Use: Conservation/Passive recreation
