Patients of MGH Downtown Associates have until Dec. 18 to plan for the closure of the primary-care practice at 294 Washington Street. The Boston Globe reported that Mass General Brigham is ending the practice, which has served the neighborhood for more than two decades, and that developer Synergy plans to convert the building to apartments. The Globe estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 patients will be affected.
What patients and staff know
MGB told the Globe that it operates other nearby practices and that the closure is not a staff reduction. The system said the six clinicians and most other employees would be offered positions at other Massachusetts General Hospital-affiliated primary-care practices. The Globe reported that officials were meeting with clinicians about possible placements; it did not establish where each clinician or patient will ultimately go.
The closure removes a convenient downtown location for patients who work nearby, as well as a practice that has been at the address for at least 25 years, according to the Globe. MGB has pointed patients to other nearby practices, but the reported announcement does not specify a replacement clinic in Downtown Crossing or confirm that all patients can transfer to their current clinicians.
A clinic closure within a wider conversion effort
The city’s Office to Residential Conversion Program provides broader context for the building’s planned change of use, but does not by itself document the status or details of this particular project. The Boston Planning Department says the program is intended to help convert older office buildings to housing, stabilize the downtown office market and add homes in Downtown Boston. Its reported program figures were 22 applications across 27 buildings, proposing 1,517 homes, including 284 income-restricted units, according to the department’s program update.
A separate example shows the range of projects in the initiative, not a replacement for the Washington Street clinic: in May 2025, the city described a planned conversion at 16–18 Hawley Street, also known as 31 Milk Street, into 110 homes, including 22 income-restricted units, while keeping the ground-floor post office. That project is at a different address and does not establish the housing plans or timeline for 294 Washington Street, as the City of Boston Planning Department makes clear.
For MGH Downtown Associates’ patients, the immediate issue is more specific than the citywide housing goals: the practice is scheduled to close Dec. 18, while individual care arrangements remain unsettled in the available reporting. The Globe’s account of the closure and planned apartment conversion is the source for those site-specific details; the city’s program figures describe the broader policy, not this building’s approval or construction schedule.
