Princeton Healthcare System President and CEO Barry Rabner hopped into the backhoe with a smile and scooped up the first pieces of earth at the location of the University Medical Center of Princeton during a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction at the new state-of-the-art hospital that officials say will also create an economic boom for Plainsboro and the region.##M:[more]##
The hospital, which will serve as a replacement of the current facility in downtown Princeton, is being built on a 160-acre tract off Route 1, between Scudders Mill Road and the Millstone River, formerly owned by FMC Corporation. Upon opening, the $441.7 million hospital will consist of approximately 636,”000 square feet, 243 private patient rooms, emergency services, operating suites and a variety of ambulatory services and laboratories. Subsequent development would provide an additional 324,”000 square feet to be used for more than 100 additional private patient rooms and expanded hospital services and physician offices. The healthcare campus also includes a continuing care retirement facility, a general office research center, a skilled nursing facility, and a 32-acre public park to be built by the hospital.
Princeton Healthcare System’s plans for the new acute care hospital, designed by RMJM Hillier, based in West Windsor, and Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, which has offices in New York, received unanimous approval from the Plainsboro Planning Board on July 7. Since then, construction crews had been carrying on with demolition of some of FMC’s former buildings through the end of September.
Speaking October 3 to hundreds of invited guests, Rabner said he could not have been more excited for the beginning of construction and the prospects the new hospital will hold for its patients. During a visit to the site a few days earlier in preparation for the event, he examined the buildings that had been demolished, the cabling that has already been set in place, the temporary roads that had been created, and the piles of rubble from the demolition, Rabner compared his excitement to his wife’s amazement at giving birth to one of their daughters. “It’s a hospital! There’s going to really be a hospital here!”
Patient rooms at the new hospital will feature one bed each, and will be designed in a way to reduce stress, enhance privacy, and facilitate the reduction of errors and infections. The rooms, complete with wireless Internet access and dedicated ventilation and temperature control, will also feature space for family members to stay, so that they do not have to spend their time in the waiting rooms. The hospital will also feature bigger operating rooms, more equipment, and better information technology, officials explained in a video aired during the groundbreaking.
The new building will also incorporate the latest in green building principles, including the use of natural light and a ventilation system that provides 100 percent natural air.
Hospital officials emphasized the new hospital and all of its innovative features were designed specifically with patients in mind. “The thought that we would have to compromise on a feature we thought was important is awful,” Rabner stated in the video.
“In every detail, this building will feature the latest innovations in health care and medical technology, making UMCPP one of the nation’s top hospitals for clinical outcomes, patient safety, patient satisfaction, operational efficiency, and environmental sustainability,” said Edward Matthews, the chairman of the Princeton HealthCare System board of trustees.
Rabner recalled the promise he made during the planning process, which began in 2002. “We’re going to deliver on that goal,” Rabner said. “You will be proud of the facility.”
Mayor Peter Cantu said he was pleased with the smooth process leading up to the beginning of construction. He said he had four specific goals in mind in ensuring the project was successful. He said the proposal had to make sense for Plainsboro in a planning sense, that it had to have no severe impacts on traffic for the township, that hospital officials mitigated any affordable housing obligations created by the project, and that “rigorous evaluation” be conducted to come up with a sound redevelopment plan for the site.
Despite the economic uncertainty currently making headlines around the nation, the project “not only makes sense for Plainsboro, but it will provide a boost economically,” Cantu said. He pointed out that the construction of the new hospital will create 3,”300 new construction jobs, and that once the hospital is open, it will create 4,”800 new permanent jobs. It will generate $1.2 billion in annual economic activity, he said.
Matthews said that of the $115 million fundraising goal, more than $76 million, or 66 percent, money has been raised. Some of the biggest donators were acknowledged during the ceremony, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, which has contributed $6 million toward a community health center, which will provide healthcare to the uninsured and underinsured patients, and former West Windsor residents David and Patricia Atkinson, who have pledged $25 million for the completion of the project.
Sean Hopkins, the senior vice president of Health Economics of the New Jersey Hospital Association, spoke of all of the new construction projects underway in the tri-state area, including the new Yankees and Mets stadiums. But, he said, “I think the most important of all new homes is going to be the home of the new healthcare facility in Plainsboro.”
The hospital itself lies on 48 acres, and the other portions of the site, including the continuing care retirement community, are expected to be built by other developers.
