Cooper University Health Care Breaks Ground on First Phase of $3 Billion "Project Imagine" Expansion in Camden

Camden, New Jersey--(Newsfile Corp. - January 28, 2025) - Today, Cooper University Health Care held a groundbreaking ceremony on the first phase of a transformative $3 billion expansion of its Health Sciences Campus in Camden. When complete, Cooper's "Project Imagine" will mark the largest building investment in Camden County's history. George Norcross III, chairman of Cooper University Health Care's Board of Trustees, and Cooper Co-CEOS Kevin O'Dowd, JD, and Anthony J. Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE, were joined at the groundbreaking ceremony by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and former Governors Chris Christie, Jon Corzine, James McGreevey, and Tom Kean, and a special appearance by television icon, South Jersey native, and long-time Cooper supporter Kelly Ripa, underscoring the project's significance to the state and region.

"Cooper's investment of $3 billion for its future growth will be a transformative investment in the future of Camden and South Jersey," said George E. Norcross III, chairman of Cooper University Health Care's Board of Trustees. "This project reinforces Cooper's long-standing commitment to delivering extraordinary health care, driving economic growth, and creating new opportunities for the people of the City of Camden and the region. Cooper's success, and the Camden renaissance, could not have happened without the strong and uninterrupted support of Governors Kean, McGreevey, Corzine, Christie and Governor Murphy - thank you for all you have done."

"Families have entrusted Cooper with loved ones in their time of need for more than a century. Today's groundbreaking helps ensure Cooper can continue serving families in Camden and beyond with the same high-quality standard of care it is known for," said Governor Murphy. "Our Administration has made ensuring New Jersey's critical health services remain available and accessible a key focus, and these upgrades will ensure this hospital can continue meeting the region's growing needs."

The expansion project, first announced by Cooper University Health Care in late 2022, will dramatically enhance Cooper's main campus to meet the current and future projected demand at Cooper University Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.

Cooper's ambitious campus plan is designed to address the clinical, ancillary, education and research, and support service needs of Cooper's rapidly growing academic medical center campus in Camden. The first phase hospital tower will use approximately $170 million in state grant money the Murphy Administration provided to the State's three Level 1 trauma centers after the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen New Jersey's emergency preparedness.

Project Imagine includes:

• Three new patient towers: Accommodating up to 745 all-private inpatient beds.

• Enhanced surgical and emergency services: Expanded surgical and interventional capacity, a state-of-the-art emergency department, and a bridge connecting to MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.

• Regional Emergency Preparedness: A new regional medical coordination center (RMCC) and additional surge capacity to bolster New Jersey's emergency infrastructure.

First Phase Underway

The first phase of the project is a 10-story, 35,000 square foot hospital tower on the corner of MLK and Haddon Avenue directly across from the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. The new building will be linked to the cancer center with a bridge over Haddon Avenue and is slated for completion by 2028.

Tower A will include:

• 125 acuity-adaptable private rooms incorporating advanced technology to meet diverse patient needs.

• Expanded women's services featuring labor and delivery rooms and a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

• Additional operating rooms, increasing surgical capacity to meet growing demand.

• Education and research spaces with a modern medical library and learner-focused spaces to support Cooper's academic mission.

• Emergency preparedness infrastructure including a state-of-the-art medical command center to serve the region.

"Today, we celebrate the incredible professionals who have served at Cooper over the past 138 years. Cooper has evolved into an elite, nationally recognized academic health system, and this next step forward would not be possible without the unwavering dedication and commitment of our team members," said Kevin O'Dowd, JD, co-CEO of Cooper. "We are grateful for your hard work and passion, which continue to drive our success and shape our future."

"This project will also empower Cooper's dedicated, expert physicians, nurses, and health care professionals to provide patients with the highest quality of care in facilities that match their skills," said Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli, co-CEO of Cooper.

The project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and, upon completion, hundreds of permanent positions in health care and related fields. Cooper is partnering with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and its construction manager, Torcon Inc./P. Agnes Inc., to ensure that Camden residents benefit from these employment opportunities through a unique job training program. Cooper University Health Care is the largest employer in both Camden city and Camden County. In 2024, Cooper was recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best-in-State Employers for the fourth consecutive year, highlighting its commitment to employee satisfaction and workplace excellence.

This expansion also further strengthens Cooper's ongoing contributions to Camden's revitalization efforts. As a regional health care leader, Cooper has been committed to helping city residents lead healthy, full lives and has helped spearhead Camden's turnaround. In addition to dramatically expanding its operations and expertise in recent years with the addition of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Cooper dramatically improved EMS service in the city when it took the service over in 2016. The Cooper EMS team has achieved a response time, from dispatch to arriving on scene, of eight minutes or less for 91.7% of their advanced lifesaving (ALS) calls. In 2019, Cooper EMS became the first emergency medical services team in the nation to implement a Suboxone program, aimed at saving lives and combating the opioid crisis.

Cooper serves its community in numerous ways, including the HeroCare Connect program, a partnership with Deborah Heart and Lung Center that provides specialty care for active and retired military personnel and their families. As the region's busiest trauma center, Cooper trains medical providers from every military branch-one of the few health systems in the U.S. to do so-and provides training to local, state, and federal government agencies.

A founding member of the Camden Health and Athletic Association (CHAA), Cooper supports expanded youth sports programs and health initiatives in Camden. Since 2016, CHAA has enabled over 1,000 Camden children to participate in various sports. Cooper also offers free job training programs, preparing Camden residents for careers as medical coders, critical care technicians, and more.

Additionally, Cooper provides direct support to those in need through in-kind donation programs and holiday meal donations. For the past 12 years, Cooper employees have donated backpacks and school supplies to Camden students.

Over the past decade, Camden has transformed from one of the nation's poorest and most violent cities into what President Barack Obama in 2015 called "a symbol of promise for the nation." This remarkable turnaround is the result of an unprecedented collaboration among government, businesses, nonprofits, and religious leaders, all working to improve key quality-of-life pillars for residents.

In January, Mayor Victor Carstarphen joined the Board of Commissioners, the Camden County Police Department, and community stakeholders throughout the city to highlight the incredible progress and major accomplishments made in Camden over the last 12 years. In 2024, the city recorded its lowest number of homicides since 1985. In addition to a falling crime rate, Camden has seen progress when it comes to education, economic development, infrastructure, housing, and more.

"This expansion marks another milestone in the 138-year partnership between the City of Camden and Cooper University Heath Care," said Camden Mayor Victor G. Carstarphen. "I congratulate George Norcross, chairman of the board of trustees for Cooper University Health Care System, and the entire team at Cooper for expanding their state-of-the-art facilities. Cooper's commitment to attract the top doctors, nurses and specialists have made Camden the center for quality healthcare in the region. This historic investment will create not only construction jobs, but upon completion, hundreds of new job opportunities in the healthcare industry. Cooper University Health Care is helping to lead the way in Camden's renaissance."

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, former NJ governors Chris Christie, Jon Corzine, James McGreevey, and Tom Kean, and television icon, South Jersey native, and long-time Cooper supporter Kelly Ripa joined George Norcross III, chairman of Cooper University Health Care's Board of Trustees, and Cooper Co-CEOS Kevin O'Dowd, JD, and Anthony J. Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE, at the groundbreaking ceremony for a $3 billion, multiyear expansion in Camden, NJ.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/11336/238757_8951dd99949ba958_001full.jpg

About Cooper University Health Care

Cooper University Health Care, with its MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper and affiliation with Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, is a leading academic health system. Cooper has more than 11,000 team members, including nearly 1,600 nurses, more than 1,000 employed physicians, and more than 550 advanced practice providers.

Cooper University Hospital has been recognized as a top-performing regional hospital by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals annual survey for six years.

Cooper has revenues of more than $2 billion and, along with its new upgraded "A" rating from S&P, recently received an A+ credit rating from Fitch Ratings. Cooper University Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in South Jersey and the busiest in the region. More than two million patients are served annually at Cooper's 663-bed flagship hospital in Camden and the 229-bed Cooper University Hospital Cape Regional in Cape May Court House.

Cooper's ambulatory network encompasses three outpatient surgery centers, several urgent care centers, a wound care center, and more than 130 physician, physical therapy and radiology offices extending from the Delaware River to the New Jersey shore. Cooper has been named as one of America's Best Employers by Forbes for four consecutive years.

The Cooper Health Sciences campus in Camden, New Jersey, is home to Cooper University Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, Children's Regional Hospital at Cooper, and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

Visit CooperHealth.org to learn more.

###

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/238757