Rowan launching $690M West Campus aimed at making South Jersey hub for health care, advanced manufacturing

Rowan University on Monday is unveiling plans for a $690 million West Campus Development Project in Gloucester County that it feels will dramatically reshape the region while transforming higher education and workforce development.

The multiphase initiative will pair an intergenerational wellness community with a center for manufacturing innovation on the school’s West Campus at the intersection of Routes 55 and 322 in Harrison Township and Glassboro.

Rowan officials say the project is expected to generate more than 5,000 jobs and roughly $14.3 million in annual tax revenues and, if it comes together as planned, give South Jersey a new anchor for health care, advanced manufacturing.

The West Campus project, to be built on about 220 acres of Rowan‑owned land, combines two major components:

• The Rowan University Wellness Village: A “living‑learning community” built around health, longevity and intergenerational housing;
• The Rowan University Center for Manufacturing Innovation: A 350,000‑square‑foot cluster of facilities that link applied research, workforce training and private‑sector R&D.

“What we are proposing is transformational in scope and impact,” Rowan President Ali Houshmand said. “It is a bold vision for the region, well beyond the 220 acres of our project, something that will spur growth throughout the county and South Jersey.”

“The Wellness Village provides a planned living‑learning community anchored in education, health and wellness. Our Center for Manufacturing Innovation will act as a powerful catalyst to attract researchers and investors interested in leveraging Rowan’s research expertise and facilities.”

Houshmand, Rowan Provost Tony Lowman and Fairmont Properties Founder Randy Ruttenberg spoke exclusively to BINJE and two Philadelphia-area outlets to offer details on the plan. Much of this story, and others in this package, come from that conversation.

The West Campus project starts with this idea: It is designed with student success in mind, created with the potential to create thousands of internships and clinical placements over time, Rowan officials said.

Houshmand said the Wellness Village will give nursing, music therapy, animal‑assisted therapy, nutrition and other students opportunities to work directly with residents in the retirement community and with patients in the Inspira medical facilities, while the university’s Institute for Successful Aging and Rowan Community Wellness Institute layer on additional programming and research.

Lowman said the Center for Manufacturing Innovation and the broader innovation park will extend Rowan’s long‑standing “hands on, minds on” engineering model by embedding students with private‑sector partners in advanced and digital manufacturing.

Lowman, who noted that Rowan already places large numbers of engineering students in internships with companies such as Lockheed Martin each year, said the new facilities are meant to do that “at scale.” He sees companies co‑locating R&D alongside faculty and student teams and treating the campus as a direct pipeline for the South Jersey workforce.

As for how the West Campus project will be built … and financed.

Rowan officials said it will be delivered through a public‑private development model, with the university primarily contributing land and partners bringing capital. Fairmount Properties, the managing developer, will lead the private financing.

Ruttenberg said Fairmount expects to invest “upward of $60 million” in private equity along with traditional first‑mortgage construction financing. But even with that equity and bank debt, Ruttenberg said the deal depends on state incentives and local tax agreements.

Ruttenberg said Fairmount’s team already has met with N.J. Economic Development Authority for the past year to discuss the project’s merits — and said they will be seeking a transformational project designation under Aspire, which could make the development eligible for up to $400 million in tax credits.

Local PILOTs and tax‑sharing agreements would be negotiated with Harrison Township and Glassboro as part of the approvals process, too, he said.

Of course, nothing this size can be built without a look toward its energy and infrastructure needs.

Houshmand said Rowan has been talking with Atlantic City Electric for 2-3 years about power for future growth on the West Campus. He also cited conversations with officials in Vineland, where fuel‑cell‑powered data centers are in development, and noted that Vineland recently purchased 42 acres of Rowan‑owned land in Carneys Point to develop as a solar farm.

Houshmand also said options such as fuel cells, solar and gas turbines are all under consideration as Rowan looks at potential data‑center projects and broader regional health and research ambitions.

While those future data‑center plans are separate from the wellness and innovation district now being announced, Houshmand said they all fit together. He said that large‑scale, reliable power will be critical if South Jersey is to become a hub for AI‑enabled health care and advanced manufacturing.

So, when will the project start — and when will it be completed?

Ruttenberg said “in a perfect world” the groundbreaking could happen within 12 months, give or take a quarter.

Ruttenberg described the Wellness Village as roughly a 5‑ to 6‑year build, with the Center for Manufacturing Innovation and the broader innovation park growing over a longer horizon.

Houshmand said he just wants to get the calendar started, noting that Rowan bought the West Campus land more than two decades ago with the idea that it would one day support a major expansion of the university’s mission, not just sit idle on the edge of Glassboro.

Houshmand said the West Campus project is intended to finally put that land to work for both Rowan and the broader region.

“We are sitting on a gold mine that we have been selling like copper, growing tomatoes in it,” he told reporters. “That’s really the idea.”

Here is a big-picture overview of the entire scope and vision of the project, presented in an easy-to-digest Q&A format.

Here are a number of stories from BINJE on recent moves by Rowan that connect to the vision of the West Campus project:

• Rowan unveils AI-powered digital engineering hub; 
• Rowan, FDU join forces in health care education; 
• Rowan celebrates grand opening of first veterinary school; 
• Rowan receives $1M for transportation, engineering research;
• Rowan conference to tackle state’s energy future;
• Rowan joins academic aerospace consortium;
• Rowan, Cooper EDA create Strategic Innovation Center.