After 86 years at its current location on Witherspoon Street, the University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP) will relocate to a 150-acre site in Plainsboro by 2010 to create room for future expansion and a more modern facility.
The UMCP board of trustees announced the planned move, which still needs to be approved by the state department of health, in a press conference Tuesday. The new site is located across Lake Carnegie three miles east of campus — no longer within walking distance.
"After a thorough — and I mean thorough — examination of many sites and this plan, the board of trustees has decided to move to Plainsboro to continue fulfilling our mission since 1919," said Jack Chamberlin, chairman of the board of trustees of Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS).
The planned site's distance from the University will not restrict students' access, Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said, noting that improved services will outweigh any inconvenience posted by the greater distance.
"The new site will allow for better healthcare by allowing the current hospital to expand and improve its facilities," Durkee said. "Princeton students will benefit from a better hospital."
The University is collaborating with the UMCP on plans to purchase portions of the current facility, including the Merwick Care Center and a parking lot on Franklin Avenue. It is considering converting the Merwick facility, which is located near the University's Stanworth apartments, into either faculty and graduate housing or affordable housing for local residents.
The board decided on the Plainsboro site after consulting numerous community residents, doctors and planning experts. After narrowing its choices from 18 proposed sites, UMCP chose the new location because it of its closeness to the majority of Princeton residents, said Barry Rabner, PHCS president and CEO.
The new facility will be designed to enhance patient privacy, safety and comfort, a UMCP press release said. "The entire facility will be family friendly, designed to provide privacy and close access to patients," it read.
The new hospital will also incorporate "environmentally conscious design" to reduce indoor air pollution and increase energy efficiency to benefit employees and patients, Chamberlin said. The board is also working with the town of Plainsboro to leave a riverfront portion of the site as open land.
If these plans go forward, builders will break ground for the site in 2007, and the new hospital would begin receiving patients in 2010.
UMCP negotiated the plan with the town of Plainsboro, the University and Lupert-Adler Management, Inc., a real estate development company with experience in redeveloping hospitals into apartments and condominiums.
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