Plans, Construction Date Unveiled for Monmouth Medical Center’s Fort Monmouth Vogel Campus

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The Cold War-era Myer Center on Fort Monmouth, where night vision goggles were invented, was demolished and will soon become the site of Monmouth Medical Center’s Vogel Campus. Courtesy FMERA

By Laura D.C. Kolnoski

TINTON FALLS – On Tuesday, officials of the Monmouth Medical Center (MMC), an RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) facility, announced plans to begin construction of its newest health care facility, the Vogel Medical Campus, in early 2023, pending all necessary approvals. 

The campus will be built on the approximately 38-acre site of the fort’s Albert J. Myer Center, a fabled Cold War-era research and development innovation hub that had become obsolete and too costly to renovate for future use. The structure was demolished before the property was sold by the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA). 

The medical campus is funded by a $50 million gift to MMC from philanthropists Sheldon and the late Anne Vogel. The campus is named for the Vogel family of Colts Neck, who have long ties to Monmouth Medical Center and have donated previously to RWJBH.

Hospital officials described “a state-of-the-art outpatient care center” that will “bring world-class care to a convenient location where patients can access services in one place.” Phase One will include the five-story approximately 150,000-square-foot outpatient center. Construction is expected to last approximately two years. 

The outpatient center will include surgical and imaging services, physician offices and support services. Patients will also have access to comprehensive cancer care provided in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. HDR Architects and Engineers, P.C., and international firm with New Jersey offices in Mahwah, Newark and Pennington is designing the project. 

“We are working to create an outstanding experience by making high-quality services available when, where and how patients prefer,” said Eric Carney, president and CEO of Monmouth Medical Center. “As an expansion of the MMC campus in Long Branch, the Vogel Medical Campus is located within the communities we already serve. It will be a future-forward facility uniquely tailored to meet the needs of our diverse and growing community.”

Construction will begin early next year on a new health care facility from Monmouth Medical Center/RWJ Barnabas Health on a portion of the former Fort Monmouth. Courtesy Monmouth Medical Center

Plans for the site located at Corregidor Road and Pearl Harbor Avenue also include the option for a new acute care hospital that would operate in conjunction with the Long Branch campus. Construction of that portion would depend on future needs, officials said, adding that if MMC opts to move forward on that aspect, construction would begin by 2027 and be completed by late 2029. If it is not built, the designated land will be converted into a green space. Plans call for the site to include open space, public areas and landscaped areas.

The health care firm entered into an agreement to purchase the parcel from FMERA in 2017 for $8 million. Since then, the project has been navigating the lengthy approval process, which involves state, county and municipal entities. 

Landfills left on the site by the U.S. Army had to be identified, tested and remediated under the auspices of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, as has been happening throughout the 1,126-acre fort over the past decade. Officials told The Two River Times in February that “environmental concerns have not affected the project design” and that the NJDEP is “satisfied with the plan.” Complex technical issues with such a project, along with layers of reviews and pandemic-related delays have also impacted progress.

In February, at MMC’s request, FMERA increased the allowed square footage sizes for the individual buildings and the parking facility that will be constructed on the campus, keeping it within the fort’s master reuse plan parameters. 

“The need for extraordinary care close to home has never been more important,” said Bill Arnold, president and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and president of RWJBarnabas Health’s Southern Region. “By listening to and learning from those we serve and partner with, we’re shaping the future of care in the region.”  

RWJBarnabas Health serves an area covering nine counties with 5 million people. The system, created by the merger of Robert Wood Johnson Health System and Barnabas Health in 2016, includes 12 acute care hospitals. The entity has more than 37,000 employees and 9,000 physicians.

The article originally appeared in the June 23 – 29, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.