The Hampshire Cos. and Circle Squared Alternative Investments joined officials from Mountainside Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Health to unveil a new medical office building in Glen Ridge and Montclair. — Photo by Aaron Houston/Courtesy: The Hampshire Cos.
By Joshua Burd
A new medical office building has opened its doors in suburban Essex County, allowing for the expansion of services at the adjacent Mountainside Medical Center and cementing a new investment opportunity for the development team behind the project.
The developer, The Hampshire Cos., along with Circle Squared Alternative Investments, joined leaders from Hackensack Meridian Health on Thursday to unveil the three-story complex. Located at 1 Bay Ave. on the border of Glen Ridge and Montclair, the 45,735-square-foot facility provides modern, flexible spaces for a host of specialty groups affiliated with the hospital and its parent organization, allowing both to attract top doctors and practices.
In the process, the project has redeveloped the former site of the hospital’s nursing school.
“As I stand next to this completed building, we are honored to have had the opportunity to partner with Hackensack Meridian Health’s executive leadership team, the towns of Glen Ridge and Montclair, and the numerous project partners involved in bringing this visionary project to fruition,” said Jon F. Hanson, founder and chairman of The Hampshire Cos. “Through creating a home for a wide array of in-demand primary and specialty health care services, this project stands as a testament to the powerful impact that responsible, strategic commercial real estate investments can make in our local communities.”
Hanson and James E. Hanson, the firm’s CEO and president, were among those on hand from the Morristown-based development team. The latter recounted Hampshire’s deep experience with building medical office space and the company’s longstanding ties to Hackensack University Medical Center, the health care network’s flagship hospital.
He also noted the complexity of developing a property that straddles two municipalities, but said local officials on both sides provided much-needed support to the project. The building also represented a successful collaboration between a development team and a hospital network, which Jeff Sica of Circle Squared Alternative Investments highlighted in his own remarks.
“When we see a finished project like this, we realize that there’s going be a lot of lives saved, there’s going to be a lot of people helped,” said Sica, CEO and president, whose firm served as project investment adviser for the development. “There’s going to be a tremendous impact on this community, so we’re just thrilled to be a part of it.”
Hackensack Meridian Health operates Mountainside Medical Center under a joint venture with Ardent Health Services, a Nashville-based organization. Their new medical office building will house specialty groups such as obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, family medicine, urology, general surgery, cardiology and a host of others.
Those groups will benefit from a location that is easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway and Interstate 280, along with NJ Transit’s Bay Street and Walnut Street stations. The site also includes 229 parking spots and entrances on both Bay Avenue and Walnut Crescent.
“More and more health care is being delivered outside the four walls of the hospital,” said Robert C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. “And more projects like this one, more ambulatory care sites, are going to be what’s really needed to provide the best possible quality health care, giving patients the best access to care that they can possibly can … but also making health care more affordable.”
