DEVCO President Chris Paladino has seen the decades-long transformation of New Brunswick closer than anyone for one simple reason: He’s built most of it.
From creating a college campus for Rutgers, an arts center and a hotel conference center for the city and refurbished train stations for commuters, Paladino and DEVCO has been in the middle of everything.
So, when he says his latest effort, the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, is unique, it comes through a historical lens.
“So many of our projects have that component of bringing the community together, whether it be the Heldrich Hotel or the Performing Arts Center,” he told BINJE. “What’s different about the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center is that it is creating impact not just for the local community, not just for Middlesex County and region, but potentially for the country.
“The research and the treatment that will go on here will impact lives across so many zip codes, and that’s a good thing for New Brunswick.”
Longtime Mayor Jim Cahill saw a project like this — and the Helix, Paladino’s transformative research and innovation hub that’s currently being built — before anyone.
Speaking Tuesday at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for what is being called The Morris, Cahill said the effort is another notch on an overall plan.
“It was 30 years ago that New Brunswick embarked on a new initiative called the health care city,” he said. “We saw the potential of the health care industry as an economic driver.”
Cahill said it addressed three crucial elements of the city’s redevelopment criteria:
- To create jobs and put more people to work than ever before so they can take better care of themselves and their families;
- To provide greater access to health care and a healthier lifestyle;
- To be a welcoming community that provides the opportunity for a better life and where people are proud to go home.
“The opening of the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center raises the health care city and our community’s ongoing commitment to health care, innovation and compassionate treatment to a crescendo,” he said.
Paladino thanked the efforts of Middlesex County Commissioner Director Ronald Rios and County Administrator John Pulomena and their teams.
“They have implemented an economic development plan that is the envy of the state — and have put in place fiscal controls that allow the county to support projects just like this one,” he said.
They have done so because of the depth of the projects for the community.
Rios noted programs at Middlesex College and internships for local college and high school students, plus workforce development resources, such as incumbent worker training to upskill current RWJBarnabas Health employees.
“We have a rich legacy of life sciences in our county, and it continues to evolve,” he said. “The RWJBarnabas Health Workforce Partnership will grow right alongside, ensuring that the people of Middlesex County are positioned to thrive in this fast-growing life sciences sector.”
RWJBH CEO Mark Manigan said you can feel the impact.
“People love to see what’s going on here, all the energy,” he said. “It’s like a giant magnet drawing the best and brightest to New Brunswick.”
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, whose office is in Woodbridge, agreed.
He has long joked the center will be great for people in the city and county – and people outside those communities who are smart enough to come in.
Its impact on the local community is serious stuff, Coughlin said.
“It’ll be a place where people from all walks of life, particularly those who are our most vulnerable neighbors, can reach out for world-class care,” he said.
Paladino, already onto his next project, seemingly can’t wait for the one after that. He said they are necessary steps in the success of New Brunswick and the county.
“Cities that don’t change, die,” he said. “I think we’ve done our part to help New Brunswick find its footing over the last three decades, and I know it will continue to change and continue to be an important part of the culture and the economy of New Jersey.”
