The Plainsboro Township Committee unanimously approved an agreement that designates the University Medical Center as the redeveloper at the former FMC site and sets the completion date for the hospital component at December 31, 2013.##M:[more]##
The project consists of a medical center component, which includes a hospital/medical office portion, a continuing care retirement facility, a general officer research center, a skilled nursing facility, and a public park to be built by the hospital.
The Development Review Committee will meet on Wednesday, June 18, to continue review of the site plan, which will then move to the Planning Board in July. During the June 11 meeting, Mayor Peter Cantu pointed to the protection to township taxpayers the agreement provides, including the placement of the responsibility for the Council on Affordable Housing obligations generated by the project on the hospital.
The agreement also sorts out other relevant details regarding the redevelopment. The hospital will be obligated to build a public park, but the township has agreed to finance that portion of the project and then assess the costs back to the project to be paid by either the hospital or other developers involved. It is understood that other developers will be interacting with the hospital in terms of building the other components of the site. Those private companies will also have to abide by the terms set forth in the agreement, and would also have to make an application for payment in lieu of taxes.
“The analysis shows it would be a major benefit to the community from a long-term tax perspective,” Cantu said of the project, referring to a fiscal impact study that was presented last month.
Under the agreement, the first phase would consist of the medical hospital and office complex and the skilled nursing facility and the public park. The second phase consists of the general office research center and the continuing care retirement community.
