Health care, housing facilities pop up on 18
Newly proposed care center would be latest addition
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

David B. Crabiel

OLD BRIDGE - A plan by Middlesex County officials to bring a new long-term care center to the township by 2009 will add to what's become a cluster of health-care and specialized housing facilities on a section of Route 18.

The 180-bed nursing and rehabilitative care facility is intended to fill the needs of the county's growing number of residents who require long-term care.

"I think this facility is going to be good for Old Bridge, I think it's going to be good for Middlesex County," Mayor Jim Phillips said. "This is one of the ways we [as a government] keep our commitment to the people of Old Bridge and the people of Middlesex County."

The care center will be the third in a recent string of housing facilities in the section of Route 18 near Raritan Bay Medical Center's Old Bridge division. While the exact location for the new facility has not been determined, the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders is considering two sites in close proximity of one another.

The two possibilities are a 10-acre parcel near the intersection of routes 9 and 18, which is owned by the township and is part of the Crossroads redevelopment area; and a piece of land owned by the existing hospital.

Freeholders Director David B. Crabiel expected to meet with Phillips today to visit and evaluate both sites. Crabiel said the county is leaning toward the township-owned land because of the municipality's willingness to seal the deal, but nothing is definite. The hospital land may not be a sure option, Crabiel noted.

"We don't have a commitment," Crabiel said. "If we really wanted the hospital site, I think we can get it. Both sites would probably be acceptable."

Phillips said if the county decides on the Crossroads land, the county would pay the township fair market value for it. The land represents a rare commodity in Old Bridge, Phillips said, because much of the available land has wetlands restrictions attached to it.

"Either way, whatever the county board picks, the township stands to gain," Phillips said.

While the exact cost of building the care center is uncertain, Crabiel said $13 million remains from a bond ordinance that will be amended once a set figure is determined. The total cost should be somewhere in the vicinity of $25 million, he said.

The construction will help to provide a newer facility for some of the residents at the Roosevelt Care Center in the Menlo Park section of Edison, which now consists of 401 beds, Crabiel said. A new 180-bed facility was constructed there two years ago, but other aging buildings are slated to be torn down as residents are moved elsewhere. The original building at Roosevelt, constructed in 1936 as a tuberculosis hospital, is on the National Register of Historic Places and will be rehabilitated as senior housing with federal dollars.

"The care at Roosevelt is excellent, and we are proud of that," Crabiel said.

Crabiel announced plans for the Old Bridge facility during his address at the freeholders' reorganization meeting Jan. 4.

"People are pleased with what we're doing," Crabiel said. "It's the right thing to do."

County officials chose Route 18 in Old Bridge, Crabiel said, because of the availability of land, and because of its central location between the county's eastern and western borders. It is also beneficial that it would be in close proximity to the hospital, Phillips said.

"The magnet is the hospital," Phillips said. "It's a first-class health-care facility."

Crabiel said the intention is to begin construction on the long-term care center in 2008, and dedicate it sometime in 2009.

The other new facilities adjacent to the hospital include Maher Manor, a senior residence, and the Chuck Costello Independent Living Complex, which provides affordable housing for the independently disabled. The Costello center received a certificate of occupancy in December, Phillips said.

"The need for extended care in our county is being addressed ... and we confidently expect further progress with a new 180-bed facility in Old Bridge," Crabiel said.