A healthcare facility in New Jersey will be located at a transit station

Tomorrow, Hackensack Meridian Health, the largest healthcare provider in New Jersey, is expected to break ground on a 60,000-sf Health and Wellness Center that the network claims to be the first of its kind healthcare facility at a mass transit hub. The groundbreaking ceremony will occur at Metropark Station in Woodbridge, N.J., one of the busier terminals along the Northeast Corridor rail system.

The Health and Wellness Center is part of larger redevelopment of Metropark Station valued at $200 million. That development will be executed by DOR, a consortium led by Russo Development, which was awarded a $110 million tax credit grant for the project through the state’s ASPIRE program, which supports transportation development that incorporates community benefits.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has been championing the modernization of transportation hubs in the state that would make them multi-use locations for residential, office, retail, and restaurants. (Currently, most of the buildings that surround Metropark Station are for corporate offices.)  Murphy said, in a prepared statement, that the Health and Wellness Center “marks a major milestone” in realizing his Administration’s “broader vision” for the future of transportation and community health.

Healthcare hub will provide travelers convenient access

The services that the Health and Wellness Center will provide include primary care, medical and surgical specialties, a sports and spine center, advanced imaging, bloodwork, rehabilitation, a retail pharmacy, occupational health, and urgent care.

Robert C. Garrett, Hackensack Meridian’s CEO, said in a prepared statement that 60,000 people travel through Metropark Station each month. When the Health and Wellness facility opens next year, it will provide them “easy access” to healthcare with best-in-class doctors, and will complement the health system’s efforts to address “how social determinants of health are impacting health quality.