Glen Ridge residents hear hospital's building plans

Photos by Erin Roll/staff photographer

John Fromhold, CEO of HackensackUMC Mountainside, speaks to an audience of local residents, hospital staff and town officials during a community meeting Wednesday night in the hospital auditorium.

HackensackUMC Mountainside hosted a meeting with Glen Ridge residents Wednesday night to discuss the planned construction of a new medical office building.

It was the first community meeting for Glen Ridge residents on the proposed expansion, which is part of a series of capital projects that the hospital plans to carry out over the next two years.

About 40 to 50 residents were in attendance at the meeting, along with hospital staff members and town officials: Borough Administrator Michael Rohal and council members Dan Murphy and Paul Lisovicz were present.

The intention is to demolish the existing School of Nursing building, which is across Bay Avenue from the main hospital, and build a 60,000-square foot, three-story building with office space for 50 doctors in its place.

Middle - Roswell Terrace resident Genny Dunn asks a question during the meeting's question-and-answer section. Above- Glen Ridge Councilman Dan Murphy addresses the audience.

The plans are preliminary ones at this stage, hospital CEO John Fromhold said; the hospital is still working on choosing developers and working out design plans for the building, among other preparations.

Fromhold said that the new buildings and parking areas would be a source of tax revenue for Montclair and Glen Ridge. The hospital is expected to pay about $2.5 million in property taxes in 2014, he said, up from $686,725 in 2013.

"I'm leading you to the point of why a medical office building is so important here," he said.

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Glen Ridge residents hear hospital's building plans