Early next year, the New Brunswick (N.J.) Development Corporation, in collaboration with RWJBarnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute, is scheduled to open the Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, which will be the Garden State’s first National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
This 12-story, 520,000-sf, $750 million project, which broke ground in June 2021 and topped off in November 2022, will be a freestanding building that combines in- and outpatient services with research. A skywalk will connect the Cancer Center to the existing Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
The new building will include 96 inpatient beds on three floors, with one entire floor for surgical services. There will also be 84 infusion bays, 74 exam rooms, and state-of-the-art imaging and diagnostic equipment that includes four linear accelerators. The Cancer Center will offer in- and outpatient radiation oncology services.
More than 100 scientists will have access to 10 research labs within the Cancer Center.
The Cancer Center will be integrated into RWJBarnabas’ “Navigator” program, which allows patients to take a more active part in managing their treatment and longer-term healthcare.
The Building Team for the Cancer Center includes HOK (architect and designer), a joint venture between Jingoli Construction and LF Driscoll (GC), and O’Donnell & Naccarato (SE). As part of this project, RWJBarnabas picked up the $55 million tab to build Blanquita B. Valenti Community School, a three-story elementary school for 800 students that opened last September. Jack Morris, the Cancer Center’s benefactor and namesake, is the founding chairman of RWJBarnabas Health, and with his wife leads Edgewood Properties, a property development and management firm.
An innovation hub in the city’s core
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/helix-new-brunswick%20SJJP%20Properties.jpg)
The Morris Cancer Center isn’t the only project that’s positioned to reshape New Brunswick’s reputation, urban landscape, and economy, at a time when this city of 56,400 is only growing marginally and has struggled to maintain its jobs base. After years of languishing as a massive excavation hole, The Health and Life Science Exchange (HELIX NJ), a four-acre innovation district which was co-developed by SJP Properties and the New Brunswick Development Corporation, finally began construction last July and is scheduled to start opening next year.
HELIX’s $650 million first phase, a 13-story 573,400-sf building, will house an Innovation HUB, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (on four floors), and a research facility, as well as retail space, a 10,000-sf market hall, and a 3,000-sf restaurant that opens onto a 70-ft-wide plaza.
Rutgers University, which will occupy three-quarters of HELIX’s first building, has committed $270 million to recruit and retain 80 translational research investigators to work in HELIX.
HELIX’s $731 million second phase, designed by HDR, will include 600,000 sf of built-to-suit office and lab space. (Last month, Nokia announced plans to move Nokia Bell Labs into HELIX.) Phase 3 will be a mixed-use 42-story building with 220 housing units. Jingoli Construction is HELIX’s general contractor.
HELIX was the first program approved under the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's Aspire tax credit program, which was created by legislation passed in 2020.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 50 Medical Office Building Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, Gresham Smith, KPFF Consulting Engineers, and IMEG Corp. head the ranking of the nation's largest medical office building (MOB) engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 100 Medical Office Building Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
CannonDesign, Perkins Eastman, HGA, and E4H Environments for Health Architecture top the ranking of the nation's largest medical office building (MOB) architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 60 Outpatient Facility Contractors + CM Firms for 2022
Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., PCL Construction, Skanska USA, and Power Construction top the ranking of the nation's largest outpatient facility contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 40 Outpatient Facility Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, IMEG Corp., Gresham Smith, and TLC Engineering Solutions head the ranking of the nation's largest outpatient facility engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 100 Outpatient Facility Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
Perkins and Will, HDR, CannonDesign, and Massa Multimedia Architecture top the ranking of the nation's largest outpatient facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 90 Hospital Facility Contractors + CM Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, Brasfield & Gorrie, DPR Construction, and JE Dunn top the ranking of the nation's largest hospital facility contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 80 Hospital Facility Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, AECOM, WSP, and Gresham Smith head the ranking of the nation's largest hospital facility engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 130 Hospital Facility Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
HDR, HKS, CannonDesign, and Stantec top the ranking of the nation's largest hospital facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 115 Healthcare Sector Contractors + CM Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, Brasfield & Gorrie, DPR Construction, and JE Dunn Construction top the ranking of the nation's largest healthcare sector contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking factors all healthcare sector work, including hospitals, outpatient facilities, and medical office buildings.
Giants 400 | Oct 6, 2022
Top 90 Healthcare Sector Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
Jacobs, AECOM, WSP, and IMEG Corp. head the ranking of the nation's largest healthcare sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking factors all healthcare sector work, including hospitals, outpatient facilities, and medical office buildings.