The new RWJBarnabas Health Red Bulls Performance Center at 103 Columbia Road in Morris Township includes an 88,400-square-foot main building, eight full-size outdoor soccer pitches and other cutting-edge facilities and amenities for the Major League Soccer club. — All images courtesy: Red Bull New York
I recall my surprise more than a decade ago when I learned that the New York Red Bulls trained in Whippany, a far cry from their home arena in the urban confines of Harrison. Yet it’s easy to see why — just ask the dozens of Fortune 500 companies that have their headquarters or major satellite offices in Morris County.
Ironically, it was the departure of one such company that gave the Red Bulls a chance to expand in the region. As you’ll read in this month’s cover story, the Major League Soccer club has brought new life to the former Honeywell International corporate campus in Morris Township, where it recently debuted an 80-acre training complex with an 88,400-square-foot main building, eight full-size outdoor soccer pitches and other cutting-edge amenities. The new RWJBarnabas Health Red Bulls Performance Center on Columbia Road was more than five years in the making — the culmination of diligent, wide-ranging outreach to win public support for the project — all in a bid to update the team’s facilities and help grow youth soccer. It’s also the product of good timing and the ability to secure a site that had been earmarked for residential development.
“This is where the future of this club will take shape,” Marc de Grandpré, Red Bull New York president and general manager, said during the April 22 First Whistle event. “We’re proud of what’s been built, but even more, we know what it requires of us now. This center raises the standard. Now we must live up to it every day we walk through these doors or step on these pitches.”
Our May edition also highlights the new Hackensack Meridian Health & Wellness Center in Woodbridge. The hospital system welcomed business leaders and public officials in late April to open the 240,000-square-foot facility at NJ Transit’s Metropark station, part of a project that has centralized primary and specialty care for patients who rely on mass transit and transformed the longtime site of a one-dimensional surface parking lot. That’s not to mention serving as Hackensack Meridian’s new headquarters, allowing it to consolidate corporate employees previously spread across several office buildings.
“From a health care perspective, 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 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.”
You can find those stories and more in our latest issue, including our coverage of two significant development projects. In Randolph, Woodmont Properties and Canoe Brook Development have unveiled 199 apartments and townhome-style rentals, providing an infusion of housing while highlighting the best of private- and public-sector cooperation. In Hoboken, The Taurasi Group is welcoming the first residents to a collection of loft-style condominiums, part of a landmark adaptive reuse project that will also have a distinctive indoor public atrium, complete with 50,000 square feet of vibrant, inviting retail and restaurant space.
Until next time, thanks for reading. Enjoy the issue!
Joshua Burd
Editor
josh@re-nj.com
