Paramus-based health care provider Valley Hospital has begun considering a 200,000-square-foot addition to its main hospital. The proposal comes less than two years after the health care provider relocated to Paramus from Ridgewood.
Professionals working on behalf of The Valley Hospital went before the planning board on July 16. They held a conceptual presentation about the proposal, which calls for expanding the hospital’s capacity by more than 135 beds and adding a new parking deck.
A press release from the hospital says the new wing would create a specialty inpatient pavilion to support high-demand clinical services. The addition would blend in with the existing structure, matching the existing architecture and color palette.
Meeting materials shared with Jersey Digs show that the hospital intends to build the new wing behind the hospital’s current main entrance at 4 Valley Health Plaza. The new wing would span over six stories and extend toward the northeast of the main entrance, adjoining the other existing wings.
The proposal also calls for a reconfiguration of the outdoor space to make way for a winding walkway that connects the hospital to the northeast section of the campus, which could become a new parking garage. The open space just in front of the main entrance would also be reconfigured to include new walking paths, seating, lighting, plants, and may even include a water feature.
Although professionals from The Valley Hospital are not scheduled to go before the Paramus planning board again, they told the planning board that a site plan application would be submitted later this year or as early as next year.
The press release from the health care system says the project could break ground in 2027.
The existing portion of the hospital in Paramus consists of 370 beds. The hospital was officially opened on April 14, 2024, and includes a neonatal intensive care unit. The Valley Hospital Foundation said in April 2025 that it had raised $145 million toward the construction of the hospital between 2021 and 2024. A report in NorthJersey.com said the entire hospital cost $868 million to build.
Although the hospital in Paramus is only two years old, Valley Hospital has been operating in Bergen County since the 1950s. An archive from Valley says its first hospital, located in Ridgewood, opened in August 1951 with 108 beds, 78 physicians and 181 employees. Valley Hospital emerged from the Ridgewood Hospital organization, which was incorporated in 1925. In 1926, the group purchased the 7.5-acre lot that would later become Valley’s first hospital for $28,000.
Ridgewood Hospital intended to begin developing the parcel; however, the Depression and several years of weak fundraising led the organization to abandon the plans. Ridgewood Hospital became The Valley Hospital in 1945, three years before breaking ground on the hospital in Ridgewood.
Valley Health System is the second largest health care system and employer in Bergen County, after Hackensack University Medical Center. A public filing to the IRS shows that Valley Hospital employed 4,835 workers as of 2024.
