Faced with rapid changes in the healthcare industry, JFK Medical Center had closed the majority of its 111-acre Muhlenberg Hospital campus in the City of Plainfield in 2008 and by 2015 had decided to market the property for sale. Studies of the local health-care market indicated that replacement of the hospital with another in-patient hospital was not financially viable. In addition, the presence of the existing over-sized, outdated hospital on the site made re-use and redevelopment difficult, especially given the presence of asbestos in one of the buildings.
Since the future use of the site would have ongoing implications for both the City of Plainfield and JFK Medical Center, JFK had agreed to work with the City on the sale to assure that the process worked well for both the hospital and the municipality in a public/private partnership.
RESGroup was retained by the City to prepare and market a request for proposals (“RFP”) for disposition of the site. RESGroup also completed a market assessment to determine the types of uses that would have the strongest market support, and to assist in the analysis of developer responses to the RFP. After submission of responses, RESGroup reviewed the proposals utilizing the selection criteria established by the Selection Committee with RESGroup’s assistance. RESGroup then presented the findings to the Selection Committee for the selection of a developer and presented the Committee’s selection to the public for their review.
An agreement of sale was signed between the developer and JFK, and the redevelopment plan was approved by the City. Since the site was designated “An Area in Need of Redevelopment” the project was eligible for certain financial incentives that allowed it to move forward, revitalizing an important asset for the City of Plainfield.
The site was improved with a mixed-used development that includes a 186,000 SF primary- and specialty care medical center that answered the community’s call for maintaining health care jobs and services. It also includes a 120 unit apartment building with 36 age-restricted units.
