Morristown Medical Center’s plans for a $1 billion expansion have gotten a haircut.
Whether trimmed heights for a proposed tower, parking garage and specialty building will assuage neighbors and sway the town council for a blanket approval remains to be seen.
Key changes, disclosed Tuesday during a special meeting with a few dozen residents of the Green Hill neighborhood, include:
- Lopping 30 feet from the proposed West Pavilion tower, by transferring some beds to a smaller “bump-out” appendage.
- The Specialty Medical Building will be reduced from six to four floors, with three underground parking levels.
- Two floors and rooftop solar panels will be removed from the East Garage, with window louvers added to block car lights and noise from bothering Randolph Drive residents
- A revised traffic study was submitted last week to the state Department of Transportation (DOT). This one contains traffic counts from January. The prior study based some of its projections on counts during COVID, when traffic was lighter than usual.
- Plans for a hotel and research labs on the other side of Madison Avenue were merely “a concept,” and have been shelved, Atlantic and hospital officials said.
The bump-out would reduce the pavilion from 11 stories to 10, according to officials from Atlantic Health, the hospital’s corporate parent.
That roughly equates to a 17-story commercial tower, according to calculations previously acknowledged by those officials. They have explained the discrepancy by citing regulations mandating higher ceilings for hospital rooms.
By that measure, the revised pavilion still would eclipse Morristown’s tallest building, the 14-story North Tower of Headquarters Plaza.
Other revisions include window coatings and internal shades to minimize reflected sun glare and reduce evening spillage of interior lighting.
Tuesday’s gathering, in an Atlantic Health conference room on South Street, was the hospital’s third and final meeting with nearby neighborhoods. These sessions followed two town-wide presentations last fall that raised more questions than answers for some residents, who expressed concerns that the expansion was a done deal.
MORE QUESTIONS
Green Hill residents still had plenty of questions on Tuesday.
They pushed for more details about helicopter noise from a helipad that’s being moved from the center of the 30-acre campus to a higher perch above the West Pavilion, closer to Route 287.
They continued to voice concerns about traffic, and called for greater hospital transparency, with better promotion of public information sessions and more specifics about the hospital’s methodology for predicting patient trends that Atlantic officials are citing to justify the expansion.
People from the Parsons Village neighborhood, near the South Street/Madison Avenue intersection, said rush hour traffic already boxes them in.
The problem has been exacerbated by daily hospital shuttles of hundreds of employees to parking lots at Atlantic’s South Street complex. This will get worse when the expansion rolls out, and 1,000 employees are shuttled off-site, Parsons residents said.
Atlantic initially proposed an 11-story pavilion and a 2,500-space parking garage, among other improvements. The five-year, $900 million build-out aimed for 700,000 square feet of new facilities — a 50 percent increase to the 1.4 million-square-foot medical center.
Any expansion should include more services for seniors, a rising demographic, said resident Mary Masilamani, 75. She reprised suggestions for the hospital to relocate someplace with more room.
“I appreciate that you need this (expansion), but you’re really stretching our community. As much as your space is being stretched, our community is being stretched even more…you’ve been on that site for close to three-quarters of a century, and you’ve really outgrown it,” Masilamani said.
Moving is not feasible, answered hospital President Trish O’Keefe, who reiterated her belief that the hospital’s “hub and spoke” model best serves the community. Outpatient- and clinical services are arrayed nearby, along Madison Avenue and on South Street.
O’Keefe repeated Atlantic’s contention that the expansion is vital to serve a growing population with the same level of care that has earned Morristown Medical Center top honors in numerous state rankings. More acute care beds are needed for cardiac-, orthopedic and cancer patients, said O’Keefe, who also is a registered nurse.
She did not mention previous Atlantic statements that the expansion also is crucial for the company’s financial health, to compete with other large healthcare networks.
Green Hill resident Mike Kurek asked if the hospital could lop off another story from the West Pavilion, via another bump-out. That would eliminate desperately needed hospital beds, replied Robert Peake Jr., Atlantic’s vice president for real estate.
“Everyone wants to be cared for by the Number One hospital in the state of New Jersey,” added O’Keefe.
Kurek also said the Federal Aviation Administration must approve helicopter flight paths, and he wants to see decibel estimates for those paths. But such numbers are moot, contended another resident, because pilots routinely stray from their flight plan, rattling houses instead of flying over Route 287 and Madison Avenue.
“Those pilots go wherever they want to go,” said the woman. Peake acknowledged that pilots sometimes deviate from the script, for the safety of passengers or crew. The hospital is a regional trauma center, where accident victims are airlifted by Atlantic and the State Police.
On a brighter note, these flights should not increase. They have averaged one or two flights per day for 20 years, said Phil Smith, a civil engineer for the expansion project.
Another resident proposed eliminating hospital access via Franklin Street, to spare that neighborhood from traffic.
“That won’t work,” Smith responded. About 25 percent of hospital traffic uses Franklin, he said, and diverting those vehicles to Madison Avenue would overwhelm access there.
DOWN THE ROAD
Residents wary of Atlantic redeveloping the other side of Madison Avenue have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It won’t, insisted Atlantic and hospital officials. Not soon, anyway.
They said they have set aside intentions for the opposite side of Madison Avenue, where Atlantic owns a string of office buildings. The corporation had floated the possibility of creating a research hub, and a hotel for families visiting hospital patients.
“That was a concept over two-plus years ago,” O’Keefe told Morristown Green after the 75-minute meeting. “But the priority for the community is exactly what we are presenting.”
“Right now… the priority is the hospital side” of Madison Avenue, Peake told the audience. When a resident persisted, Peake, O’Keefe and Atlantic spokesman Luke Margolis chorused: “There are no plans!” for the other side of Madison.
O’Keefe later said the hospital has been shifting outpatient services to Atlantic buildings at 55, 65, 95, and 111 Madison Ave., to free up hospital beds for acute care. Converting those buildings for other uses is not an option for the foreseeable future, she said.
Residents dismissed the first traffic study as incomplete, noting that projections did not consider Atlantic’s potential redevelopment across from the hospital.
After the meeting, Peake told Morristown Green he remains hopeful the town council will amend a special hospital zone ordinance to accommodate all the revisions, rather than requiring piecemeal approvals from the zoning board.
“The longer we keep waiting on this, the more it’s costing us” because of escalating construction costs, Peake said. He pegged the project price tag at around $1 billion.
Talks with Morristown officials are ongoing, Margolis said.
Mayor Tim Dougherty, who attended the meeting, did not immediately respond to a request for comment afterward.
Other politicians in attendance included town Administrator Jillian Barrick, First Ward Councilman Robert Iannaccone, mayoral candidate Andrea Lekberg, and council candidate Andrew DeLaney.
Questions were fielded by Peake, O’Keefe, Smith, and acoustic analyst Jack Zybura. The project’s traffic consultants were absent.
One expansion topic not raised Tuesday was additional revenue for the town. Millions of dollars in Atlantic payments to Morristown from a landmark 2015 settlement end this year. The settlement recognized portions of the nonprofit hospital as for-profit, and taxable.
There also was scant talk about a proposed widening of Madison Avenue. Margolis, the Atlantic spokesman, said a public session focusing on revisions submitted to the DOT may be scheduled down the road.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE HOSPITAL EXPANSION
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Lisa – please define setting up affordable housing in your mind and how that works? Using the govt with a bat to a developers head to force them to sell something and maintain it in perpetuity for less than the services cost. Correct?
Idk what business you’re in, but if I lobbied and convinced the govt to come to your business, and say, I’m sorry Lisa this will cost you $100 to do, but you must provide it to the community for $50. Would you be happy and understanding?
Ridiculous, and purely emotional argument.
Lisa, ALL housing is affordable.
How many affordable homes are they required to build?
Something not discussed in the presentation was what portion, if any, of the new buildings would house for profit services and whether the town would be receiving any tax payments or payments in lieu of taxes for the new buildings. That would certainly seem to be a point for negotiation with the hospital.
@ Jeff, you’re quite vocal on this. I admire your enthusiasm, unless, of course, you’re conflicted. My point on taxes is that deference should be to the taxpayers, not the hospital. MMH adds a ton to the economy in every way. I’m all for expansion; every reason provided is valid, but the neighbors need to be heard. Referring to their complaints as “NIMBY” is disrespectful and if you put their homes (likely their largest asset) on parity with the hospital (Atlantic Health’s largest asset), its unrealistic to tax their homes at $200, so raise the hospital to a reasonable valuation, even if they paid $5mm in property tax, it wouldn’t hurt them at all and Morristown would benefit tremendously. That said, it may hurt Trish O’Keefe and her publicly disclosed $1.5mm salary in 2024 or the recently retired CEO and his $5.4mm 2024 package. Last I heard, lots of non-profits paid their executives minimally as to have the most impact on their cause…it would seem that Atlantic Health and the hospital should step up their contribution to the Town if they want to get over the finish-line…I would tie these permits/variances/plan review and leverage that point. If Atlantic Health wants us all to live in contruction dust for years, they can kick in first….
Carolyn, inadvertently you’re right. “A ‘town’.” You misused quotation marks, but ironically they corrected your meaning.
Morristown is a town in name only. It has everything a city has. It’s the urban center of northwest NW with a bustling downtown, a major hospital, airport, loads of restaurants, retail, a major (and growing) corporate presence, transit, and is the center of county government.
An “eyesore” – really?? It faces the highway. And replaces a parking lot. That is an eyesore. This hospital is world class, and needs to keep up with RWJ and Saints Barnabas
We are a “town” not a city.
And how many private rooms are being added to the West Pavilion? This is not a hotel, so are they really necessary? Sounds very elitist. How many Morris County residents want/need/can afford a private room? Is this a competition for who can be the best? I don’t believe that is part of quality care. That 17-story building is a towering eyesore.
I have no problem with making the approval of the development contingent on a very long term property tax agreement. Given that the hospital has admitted that moving to another location is not feasible, seems that the city has sufficient leverage to get a fair tax deal out of them — and “fair” refers primarily to the residents, not just the hospital. My Morristown property tax just went up 40%, so the hospital can absorb a little pain as well.
P.S. I was just reading Connor, Matt, and Paul’s comments. It would be great if there was a way to upvote comments here.
Okay, John Q. Public. That’s a good response.
I can see both sides, but I think this needs to happen for the greater good.
Having a world class hospital is a huge thing for any city.
I have a few questions:
– How long has the hospital been there?
– How long have the Green Hill neighbors been there?
– Is this a similar argument to folks who live near an airport but don’t like the noise?
– Can they fix the tax problem?
– Do people actually want it to be relocated in some office park in the wasteland that is referred to as Parsippany, or some other faceless suburb?
@ Jeff – I’m all for supporting growth, but the notion that deference should be given to MMH is misplaced. Great employer, attracts lots of money, sure…but they pay a pittance is property tax and their burden to the infrastructure is unparallelled. They dominate in every category of traffic, noise, and being an imposing neighbor. Some back of the envelope math from Atlantic Health’s own audited 2024 financials, they value their physical property at nearly $1.5bln (if half is MMH, say $750mm) and they pay $1.5 million in property tax, it ridiculously low. If the Green Hill neighbors homes average $1mm, their equivalent property tax would be about $200 per year. Take the inverse facts, if some homes on Randolph Drive are assessed at $660K and pay $10K. The hospital, even at $750MM, should be paying nearly 10x the amount they are paying or $10mm a year. I’ll bet MMH would pay their own auditors $8.5mm to perpetuate the benefit of that math.
https://ahs.atlantichealth.org/content/dam/atlantichealth-v2/financial-reporting/Q42024-UnauditedFS.pdf
Cblloyd,
Maybe Parsippany would be a better place for you…
Has there been a change from this?
“The bill (A1135) is a response to a landmark tax court ruling in 2015 that found Morristown Medical Center operated largely as a for-profit hospital, making it subject to property taxes. The two sides settled on an agreement that will require the hospital pay the town $15.5 million over the next 10 years.>
Glad to hear others support the hospital — what a fantastic positive it’s been and will continue to be for this community. It’s already compromised it’s plans too much to accommodate a small minority of NIMBYs — no more of that. It’s too bad they’re not going to improve the other side of Madison Ave right now too — that would strengthen even more the jobs boon that this project will bring and it will further improve the infrastructure of the hospital and our growing city. Time to get out of progress’s way.
relocating the hospital is a ridiculous idea. It is a huge asset to Morristown.
The equivalent of a 17 story building being added, not to the central business district but to an area surrounded by residential, is also a ridiculous request. Besides the unchangeable ugly impact to the skyline, our town taxes will likely go up because of this development since added fire equipment may be required to protect the new ‘tallest building in Morristown’ and the hospital pays ZERO taxes as a “not for profit”, a term I use lightly for these large hospital systems. Find another way to get the added beds elsewhere on the property or buy more property. Build out, not up.
What I hear at the meetings I’ve attended is that the neighbors of the hospital want to understand the impact this hospital expansion will have on them and their neighborhoods. They want to know that the hospital has done its due diligence, done a current impact and traffic study. If Franklin Street gets 25% of the hospital traffic, for the proposed project- how much more traffic (a number) is anticipated and what do they do to keep roads safe for residents and their families.
I read this and thought it was appropriate.
“One thing that I’ve learned about local government is this: It’s designed to go slowly. It doesn’t go slowly because we want it to go slowly. It goes slowly because we need input from our residents. It’s designed to get input from residents in a way that will maximize people’s opportunity to speak.”
Nonsense. Build the premier destination for healthcare and have it at our doorstep. Honestly, if you don’t like that, it may be time to relocate. When things go south, health wise, you want a top notch medical facility over hearing about field and stream nonsense. Majority must rule.
I don’t understand – don’t these people want to continue having a top rated in US hospital in town?
The silly downsizing requests and granting of them is predictable. It happens with every project.
I’m pretty sure the hospital was here before the complainers. This is NIMBYism at its finest. And the suggestion that the hospital pack up and move is beyond ridiculous and I am glad that that’s off the table.
they really need to be done listening to these naysayers. they just speak in circles, have no helpful suggestions, and throw shade on just any and all improvements. Again, the same people who want Morristown to be be a quaint little village like 50 years ago. Its not, and will not go back to that. The only thing these people are doing now is handcuffing a burgeoning small city from having world class things.
Exhibit A: “I appreciate that you need this (expansion), but you’re really stretching our community. As much as your space is being stretched, our community is being stretched even more…you’ve been on that site for close to three-quarters of a century, and you’ve really outgrown it,” Masilamani said.
Is this person seriosuly suggesting they move elsewhere? Absolutely unbelievable thought process.