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
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
| Dec 1, 2014
How public-private partnerships can help with public building projects
Minimizing lifecycle costs and transferring risk to the private sector are among the benefits to applying the P3 project delivery model on public building projects, according to experts from Skanska USA.
| Nov 25, 2014
Emerging design and operation strategies for the ambulatory team in transition
As healthcare systems shift their care models to be more responsive to patient-centered care, ambulatory care teams need to be positioned to operate efficiently in their everyday work environments, write CannonDesign Health Practice leaders Tonia Burnette and Mike Pukszta.
| Nov 20, 2014
Lean Led Design: How Building Teams can cut costs, reduce waste in healthcare construction projects
Healthcare organizations are under extreme pressure to reduce costs, writes CBRE Healthcare's Lora Schwartz. Tools like Lean Led Design are helping them cope.
| Nov 18, 2014
5 big trends changing the world of academic medicine
Things are changing in healthcare. Within academic medicine alone, there is a global shortage of healthcare professionals, a changing policy landscape within the U..S., and new view and techniques in both pedagogy and practice, writes Perkins+Will’s Pat Bosch.
| Nov 14, 2014
Haskell acquires FreemanWhite, strengthens healthcare design-build business
The combination expands Haskell’s geographic presence by adding FreemanWhite’s offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Nashville, and San Diego. FreemanWhite will retain its name and brand.
| Oct 30, 2014
CannonDesign releases guide for specifying flooring in healthcare settings
The new report, "Flooring Applications in Healthcare Settings," compares and contrasts different flooring types in the context of parameters such as health and safety impact, design and operational issues, environmental considerations, economics, and product options.
| Oct 30, 2014
Perkins Eastman and Lee, Burkhart, Liu to merge practices
The merger will significantly build upon the established practices—particularly healthcare—of both firms and diversify their combined expertise, particularly on the West Coast.
| Oct 21, 2014
Passive House concept gains momentum in apartment design
Passive House, an ultra-efficient building standard that originated in Germany, has been used for single-family homes since its inception in 1990. Only recently has the concept made its way into the U.S. commercial buildings market.
| Oct 21, 2014
Hartford Hospital plans $150 million expansion for Bone and Joint Institute
The bright-white structures will feature a curvilinear form, mimicking bones and ligament.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
