The Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center has opened in downtown New Brunswick, following a $1 billion project that has brought top-tier patient care and cutting-edge research labs under one roof. — Courtesy: RWJBarnabas Health
We often talk about health care as a driver of commercial real estate leasing and construction activity in New Jersey, one that becomes increasingly important as our population ages. That trend seems to take on added significance in New Brunswick, a place that for decades has leaned on its hospitals and academic medical institutions to spur economic development.
As you’ll read in this month’s cover story, the city is marking its latest and perhaps most monumental investment in health care with the opening of the 12-story, 520,000-square-foot Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center. Executives with RWJBarnabas Health, the Rutgers Cancer Institute and other key stakeholders unveiled the facility in mid-May, hailing the arrival of New Jersey’s first freestanding cancer hospital and one of only 13 in the country, part of a $1 billion project that has brought top-tier patient care and cutting-edge research labs under one roof.
It’s also the centerpiece of a broader investment in RWJBarnabas Health’s physical footprint. The Morris Cancer Center, made possible by the philanthropy of one of the state’s most prominent real estate families, is part of a $1.5 billion program by the hospital system and its partners that also includes new facilities in Livingston and Tinton Falls, ensuring that cancer patients and their families don’t have to leave the state for treatment. And it’s the latest and clearest example of the increasingly vital role of ground-up development in New Jersey’s health care sector, one that’s poised to continue as hospitals race to stay competitive.
Elsewhere in this edition, we highlight how Morristown has become a focal point as blue-chip companies make major real estate investments to help fortify and energize their workforces. That was on full display in late May as Sanofi opened its new $130 million, 260,000-square-foot office building at SJP Properties’ M Station campus. The health care giant’s nearly 2,000 employees in the town will join those from Deloitte LLP and Valley Bank, which also occupy new ground-up buildings, and local officials expect there’s more to come as other corporations set their sights on the acclaimed downtown.
Our June issue also includes our coverage of NAIOP New Jersey’s 38th annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala, where esteemed developer Jeff Milanaik received the Charles Klatskin Lifetime Achievement Award. He was among five individual and company honorees at the May 15 event, where the chapter also revealed its coveted Deal of the Year awards in five categories, making for another memorable night at the must-attend industry gathering.
You can find those stories and more in the latest edition of Real Estate NJ, as we move beyond a busy spring conference season that didn’t disappoint. As I often say, we’re lucky to have an industry that has remained vibrant, active and engaged despite the daily uncertainties around the economy and government policy, so here’s hoping for more of the same as we gear up for the second half of the year. We’ll continue to cover it all in these pages and online at RE-NJ.com.
Until next time, thanks for reading. Enjoy the issue!
Joshua Burd
Editor
