When Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Bob Garrett welcomes Gov. Mikie Sherrill and a host of other dignitaries for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new HMH Wellness Center campus at Metropark this morning, he’ll talk about how the facility — located on the train line — is a transformative, transit-oriented headquarters for health care.
Garrett will talk about all the offerings (urgent care, physical therapy, blood work and imaging) and the ease of access it will give anyone (patients and providers) living near a train line from Philadelphia to New York City.
And he’ll talk about how mixing corporate offices with clinical space will offer unique daily interactions that remind all HMH team members of the organization’s mission.
But the true impact of the building can only be felt when you walk through its seven floors.
From clinical areas with an overabundance of natural light to the fractal patterns on the ceiling designed to create a sense of calm to the earthy wall hangings — and an incredible outdoor mezzanine area — the entire complex has next-level comfort.
“We designed this like a hospitality suite,” Jose Lozano said.
Lozano, the chief growth officer at HMH, has been the steward of the project since its inception. The goal, he said, was not just to make health care more convenient, but to make it more caring.
And to make sure it had all the little touches that make a difference.
Start with this: Over the past two years, at HMH facilities up and down the state, the organization has been photographing patient interactions. The best-of-the-best moments can be found on walls everywhere.
“It’s a reminder of what we do, who we serve,” he said.
That can be lost in a sector that often feels mired in the financing challenges of the day.
Hackensack Meridian Health officials, sitting in a corporate office, realized they were missing the mission. That’s why this facility has three floors for patients on the bottom, three floors for corporate on the top — and one floor between them to mix.
The fourth-floor café was designed to serve as a communal area.
“It’s a place where patients and visitors, nurses and doctors, and corporate leaders can mix,” Lozano said. “You have to remember, most of us in the corporate office came from hospitals — we saw the mission every day. This helps bring that back.”
And it does so in a way that feels like anything but a health care facility. One step out on the mezzanine will show you that.
Lozano insisted on having an outdoor gathering space for all.
“I think we all saw during the pandemic that fresh air is so important to everyone,” he said. “We wanted to bring that here.”
Lozano notes that this is a multi-specialty building, not only conveniently serving commuters on the way to work but those who need to spend significant time there.
“You could have back-to-back-to-back appointments,” he said. “We wanted an area where patients — and the people who brought them — could sit and relax.”
The mezzanine area comfortably seats a few hundred. A canopy system will be in place in time for the summer, not only providing cool areas but creating a unique space you’ll struggle to find at other health care facilities.
“We wanted to put the ‘park’ in Metropark,” Lozano said.
Also coming soon is an overhang of large leaf-like structures that not only create visual interest but will teach proper breathing techniques.
The feature was created by HUSH, the same firm bringing exterior design to the nearby HELIX. The panels will turn one color to inhale and another to exhale, helping those on the mezzanine find an inner peace.
“We’ve literally created a building that breathes,” Lozano said.
What HMH has created is a vision for the future — one that Lozano has had for more than ten years.
A former official in the Murphy administration and the former CEO of Choose New Jersey, Lozano recalls telling the former governor that Metropark — for all its dozens of companies and office buildings — was an underutilized space.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be so intricately involved in bringing it to life,” he said.
That’s the perfect metaphor for what’s happening around the facility.
A multifamily housing project by Russo Development is going up right next door. It could be leasing as soon as this fall — and it will come with a restaurant that will serve both those residents and the facility.
Across the street, there already are plans to bring in more shops and restaurants.
It’s all part of an effort to bring energy and excitement to an area that previously served only as a transit hub.
It’s all part of the transformative nature of the project — one that was created for health care but designed for hospitality.
