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this is unprecedented,” said Robert
C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack
Meridian Health. “It’s historic
because
nowhere in the
country has
a health and
wellness center
like the one
that’s behind me
today … been
established
Robert C. Garrett
at a major
transportation hub. It’s going to give
patients and families and providers
unprecedented access to care, and
we’re really, really thrilled about
that.”
Garrett noted that HMH is also
saving roughly 100,000 square
feet of corporate office space, and
he credited Jose Lozano, HMH
executive vice president and chief
growth officer, as the visionary and
driving force behind the project. So
did Onyx Equities’ John Saraceno,
who noted that some of the country’s
best-known health care systems
have broken ground on transit-
oriented medical facilities. The
fact that the Metropark building is
open first — just 30 months after
starting construction — is “the kind
of thing I think we’ve expected from
Hackensack over the last 30 years
under Bob’s leadership, that we just
do things differently and the hospital
does things differently to get it
done.”
The milestone also comes three
and a half years after the DOR team
was designated as the developer
for the former parking lot, he said,
calling it “quite a feat” by Terminal
Construction Corp. given the
complexity of building at a train
station. That required coordination
across a host of public agencies
™ 23
Hackensack Meridian Health executives joined public officials on April 29 to mark the opening of the system’s new 240,000-square-
foot medical and corporate office building at the Metropark train station in Woodbridge.
and stakeholder groups, including
NJ Transit, the state Economic
Development Authority and the
governor’s office, along with local
officials led by Woodbridge Mayor
John McCormac and Middlesex
County Commissioner Director
Ronald G. Rios. Not to mention those
on the private side, including a JLL
brokerage team led by Dan Loughlin
and Ron Simoncini, as well as the
Murphy Schiller & Wilkes LLP team
of Chris Murphy and Brendan Pytka,
who secured a 10-year, $114 million
Aspire tax credit award for a project
that will also include 235 apartments
and retail space across the street.
Saraceno also praised NJ Transit
for having “the capacity and the
commitment to do something this
big, even when I think there were
a lot of people
who thought
it could not be
done.” That
provides a
blueprint for
its new push
to monetize its
vast real estate
holdings.
“To those that say it can’t be done,
it can be done,” said Saraceno,
who co-founded and leads Onyx
alongside Jonathan Schultz. “It is
done unbelievably well, and this is a
template for what’s to come for both
Hackensack and the state of New
Jersey.”
Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who was on hand
for the grand opening ceremony,
was quick to echo those comments
after highlighting the importance of
providing “one-stop shopping that is
so great for getting better results and
better health care to people.”
“(We) have so much land that is
already built upon but underutilized,”
Sherrill said. “So
repurposing it
for the way we
need to use it
going forward is
exactly how our
state’s going to
move forward
in a way that’s
Gov. Mikie Sherrill
going to provide
a great quality of life to all of our
residents, but also deliver on those
key businesses, homes and jobs that I
want to deliver.”
NJ Transit will play a leading role in
that effort as it executes on its new
LAND Plan, short for Leveraging
our Assets for Non-farebox Dollars.
Kolluri said as much on April 29,
noting that “here we are at the
beginning stages of a journey” where
the agency intends to monetize
or build on 800 acres of property
in the state. That’s projected to
raise $60 million a year for NJ
Transit, reducing the need for fare
increases and generating billions in
economic value for the state and for
municipalities.
“It is symbolic that we are just a
week removed from welcoming 300+
real estate executives and developers
to an open house offering sites
for development,” Kolluri said in
separate written remarks. “Anchored
by our Metropark Train Station,
this project serves as a model for
what’s possible under public-private
partnerships that benefit everyone
from the local through the state
John Saraceno
level.” RE