The 520,000-square-foot Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick is slated to open at Somerset and Division streets in summer 2025 under a $750 million project spearheaded by the New Brunswick Development Corp. — Courtesy: Devco
By Joshua Burd
A critical feature of the new Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick is now in place — even with more than a year to go before the highly touted facility opens its doors.
Construction crews recently powered up the central utility plant for what will be the 12-story, 520,000-square-foot cancer hospital at Somerset and Division streets. That means the project is now generating its own electricity, heat and air conditioning, providing a glimpse of the redundancy that will support the center’s life-saving treatment and research.
The New Brunswick Development Corp., which is spearheading the $750 million project on behalf of RWJBarnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute, recently marked the milestone with a video of crews flipping an oversized light switch.
“The utility plant will provide a resilient and efficient source of energy to operate the Morris Cancer Center,” the video’s narrator says. “It will provide not one but two backup systems to ensure there is always power being provided to the building.”
Slated for completion in summer 2025, the facility is taking shape across from the existing Rutgers Cancer Institute and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. According to RWJBarnabas, the new pavilion will house inpatient, outpatient and ancillary services, as well as state-of-the-art laboratories where research faculty can provide hands-on educational opportunities for students and enable physician-scientists to translate scientific findings directly to patients.
The facility will also enable ease of access for imaging and other diagnostic tests, treatment and follow-up exams all in one space. It will also be New Jersey’s first freestanding cancer hospital, thanks in large part to the role of developer Jack Morris, who chairs the RWJBarnabas board of trustees and whose gift spurred the facility’s development.
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