RWJBarnabas Health is set to build a new 252-bed, 777,720-square-foot health care center in Tinton Falls as part of the system’s 36-acre Vogel Medical Campus at the historic Fort Monmouth property. — Rendering courtesy: RWJBarnabas
By Joshua Burd
Plans to build a new $1.5 billion hospital at the historic Fort Monmouth property are moving ahead with the help of a $400 million tax credit award under the state’s Aspire program.
RWJBarnabas Health, the owner of Monmouth Medical Center, secured approvals for the subsidy during the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s monthly board meeting on Thursday. The vote marks another key step in a high-profile project to build the 777,720-square-foot health care center in Fort Monmouth’s Tinton Falls section, allowing the hospital to relocate 252 acute care beds from its current facility in Long Branch, as part of the sweeping new Vogel Medical Campus that’s taking shape at the property.
Construction is slated to begin as soon as March and take seven years to complete, EDA staff told board members before a vote on the Aspire award. The approval includes two six-month extensions that are allowed under the law, which typically requires similar projects to be completed within six years of an agreement with the EDA.
In recent months, hospital executives have said the new acute care facility will be critical to the future of health care in and around Monmouth County.
“RWJBarnabas Health is building a health care model for the future right here in Monmouth County,” Eric Carney, CEO and president of Monmouth Medical Center and Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, said in October after the New Jersey Department of Health cleared a new certificate of need for the system. “Our bold vision includes new and improved facilities designed to meet the evolving needs of our community, driven by the expertise of our providers and feedback from our patients.”
Located five miles from the existing Monmouth Medical Center, the new hospital would provide medical and surgical, obstetrical, neonatal, pediatric, intensive and coronary care and pediatric intensive care services, as well as associated surface parking, internal roadways, pedestrian walkways, stormwater infrastructure improvement, and landscaped open spaces, according to the EDA. Directly addressing patient feedback, the new facility will also allow for greater family involvement, privacy and improved comfort that creates a more healing environment.
The 36-acre Vogel Medical Campus, one of many projects that are reshaping the 1,100-acre former Army base, will also include a new 150,000-square-foot cancer center that is under construction. RWJBarnabas, meantime, has committed to upgrading and maintaining the existing Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch to ensure the continuation of essential services in the area.
The EDA has noted with past approvals that Aspire, which was created by the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020, is a place-based economic development program to support mixed-use, transit-oriented development with tax credits to commercial and residential projects that have financing gaps. As a performance-based program, projects must certify that all commitments established at time of approval have been met before receiving their first disbursement of tax credits.
