Cardiology. Neurology. Oncology. Orthopedics. OB-GYN. Urology. Pulmonary. Pain management. An MD Anderson Cancer Care suite. A next-generation radiology suite — and an ambulatory surgery center.
All of it, under one roof. All of it, in Gloucester Township. All of it, open seven days a week — including nights and weekends.
On Wednesday morning, Cooper University Healthcare announced a $300 million, 184,000-square-foot outpatient campus that is coming to Route 42 near the Gloucester Premium Outlets.
State and local approvals are expected between late 2026 and fall 2027. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2027 and conclude by the end of 2028. And the first patients are expected in spring 2029.
But the people behind it are thinking bigger than the building.
Cooper board chair George Norcross said the project represents a fundamental rethinking of how health care should work.
“This facility is going to become a state-of-the-art, seven-day-a-week facility to care for our patients at nights and on weekends,” he said. “We have to learn, in terms of delivering healthcare, that we need to provide for our patients in a way that’s convenient for them.”
It is, Norcross said, a long-overdue correction.
The shift from inpatient to outpatient care has been building for decades — Cooper now generates roughly 60 percent of its revenue from outpatient services, compared to 20 or 25 percent when Norcross joined the board 34 years ago, he estimated. The Gloucester Township campus is the fullest expression yet of where that trend is heading.
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The five-story facility will sit on 39 acres of undeveloped land and will be Cooper’s largest ambulatory campus — surpassing the Moorestown facility that opened in 2023 and became a model for how a major academic health system could bring specialists, surgeons and diagnostic services directly to suburban communities.
Gloucester Township is the next chapter of that story, bigger and more comprehensive.
Cooper co-CEO Kevin O’Dowd said the project reflects a deliberate strategy to bring academic medicine closer to where patients live.
“Today’s announcement reflects Cooper’s unwavering commitment to expanded access to academic medicine closer to home in a lower-cost setting,” he said.
The Moorestown campus — converted from a former Sears department store at the Moorestown Mall — proved the model worked. Patients responded. Specialists followed. The formula of meeting people where they live, rather than sending them to a downtown medical center or across the Delaware River to Philadelphia, has driven Cooper’s ambulatory expansion ever since.
The Gloucester Township campus will offer a service lineup that reflects the depth Cooper is bringing to the region. In addition to the full specialty roster, it will include an MD Anderson Cancer Care at Cooper suite featuring radiation oncology and infusion services — extending to Gloucester Township the nationally recognized cancer partnership already established at Moorestown.
A next-generation radiology suite will offer advanced diagnostic imaging. A dedicated procedural suite will serve digestive health patients. And an ambulatory surgery center will be designed for seamless same-day outpatient procedures.
Cooper co-CEO Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli noted the project is part of a health system that now employs 14,000 people across South Jersey and treats 2.5 million patients a year.
“Today, more people than ever are seeking care at Cooper University Healthcare,” he said.
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The economic impact of the project is significant.
The campus is expected to create more than 400 new health care jobs and represents a $300 million private investment in a region that has built its growth strategy around the meds and eds corridor.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill told the crowd of a few hundred that the state is eager to help the region.
Sherrill said the state will provide Cooper with $34 million this year to help cover the cost of outpatient care for the state’s most vulnerable residents. The state is also maintaining its $25 million annual commitment to the South Jersey Cancer Program and continuing subsidies for Cooper Medical School.
Sherrill said the project is part of a broader effort to make healthcare work for working families — and that Cooper’s decision to expand rather than pull back in a difficult federal funding environment was worth recognizing.
“Washington is slashing access to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act subsidies, costing over 350,000 New Jerseyans coverage,” she said. “Cooper could have stepped back. They could have said this isn’t going to be profitable. Instead, they’re doubling down.”
Camden County Commission Director Louis Capelli said the project captures what South Jersey has been building toward.
“South Jersey residents no longer need to cross the Delaware River to get world-class care,” he said. “When you talk about meds leading the meds and eds charge, it’s Cooper leading that charge.”
