A medical group that has made a significant investment in New Jersey’s second-largest city has drawn up a fresh proposal to revitalize a historic building into office space.
Last month, RWJ Barnabas Health submitted plans to overhaul a property they own at 350 Montgomery Street. The company acquired the half-block parcel when they purchased Jersey City Medical Center from previous owner Liberty Health, who liquidated their assets last decade following a bankruptcy.
The two-story, cream-colored building has stood at the address for over 90 years. It was first constructed as a warehouse for the Post Office circa 1929 and the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency donated the building to a non-profit in 1993. It was eventually overhauled into the Jersey City Museum, but that endeavor closed in 2010.
Located within the city’s Montgomery Gateway Redevelopment Plan, Barnabas has been using portions of the space for their operations and are now looking to convert the property into formal administrative offices. Proposed work at the building includes adding windows into openings that are currently enclosed, a fit-out of the space, an exterior rehabilitation, and replacement of the existing entryway.
The revamp was drawn up by Caitlin DiMarzio of Philadelphia-based firm NORR and while the proposal does not provide any off-street parking, the application states that no variances from existing zoning will be needed. The city’s planning board will need to sign off on the plan before it moves forward.
Livingston’s St. Barnabas Medical Center was recently ranked the #3 hospital in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report and the company has made considerable upgrades since acquiring the 15-acres that make up Jersey City Medical Center’s Grand Street campus. A 60,000-square-foot expansion is currently being built along the southwest corner of the facility’s main building and it will eventually house a state-of-the-art emergency department, surgery suites, and additional impatient rooms.
The company also gained approvals to move forward with a major floodproofing plan at the building that will install vertically deployable flood barriers, build concrete floodwalls, and establish flood reinforced glass components at the property. A timeline for the rehabilitation of the Montgomery Street property has yet to be announced.
