Seton Hall University and Hackensack Meridian Health Sign Agreement to Lease Former Roche Site for New School of Medicine

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J., July 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Seton Hall University and Hackensack Meridian Health announced today that the two organizations have signed an agreement for a long-term lease with the real estate development firm Prism Capital Partners to lease 16 acres including two state-of-the-art buildings on the former Hoffmann-La Roche biomedical campus located in Nutley and Clifton, New Jersey, to serve as the home for their new health and medical sciences campus. The campus will include the new School of Medicine being started by Hackensack Meridian Health and Seton Hall, as well as Seton Hall's College of Nursing and School of Health and Medical Sciences, which will be moving from their present location on the University's main campus in South Orange. In addition, the new campus will serve as a major site for health science research and discovery activities. The 25-year-lease of the campus is set to begin in early October. 

Prism signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement that will enable the transfer of the former Roche North American Pharmaceuticals headquarters' 116-acre campus by September 30.  Transfer of the Roche site and the lease are contingent upon completion of the necessary financial and development approvals by the local municipalities.

The co-location of the College of Nursing and School of Health and Medical Sciences with the new School of Medicine is designed to mirror how healthcare will be delivered in the future. This team-based approach will train students from medicine, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, and other related fields together to improve patient care. Hackensack Meridian Health's hospitals will serve as the primary clinical teaching sites for Seton Hall and its affiliated graduate education programs.

"Seton Hall is proud to partner with Hackensack Meridian Health in the signing of this lease agreement to create a state-of-the-art health and medical sciences campus that will serve as the home for our new School of Medicine," said University President A. Gabriel Esteban. "The new campus will allow us to become the preeminent center for Catholic-based health sciences education in the Northeast."

"Together with our partner, Seton Hall University, Hackensack Meridian Health is pleased to enter into this agreement with Prism Capital Partners for the home of our medical school," said Robert C. Garrett, co-CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. "The longevity of the lease indicates our confidence that this school of medicine will thrive and become one of the nation's best. We look forward to providing a world-class medical school on a world-class campus."

The Seton Hall and Hackensack Meridian Health partnership will establish the only private school of medicine in the state and will provide a significant economic boost to the region. Establishing a school of medicine with the backing of two esteemed institutions is expected to attract the best and brightest to the field of medicine in the State of New Jersey and help curb the critical physician shortage that the state and the nation currently face.  By 2020, it is estimated there will be a shortage of upwards of 3,000 physicians in the Garden State and 135,000 nationally. The joint venture to create a premier academic institution will provide key educational, research and career opportunities to incentivize the next generation to pursue a career in medicine.

Earlier this year, Dr. Bonita Stanton, a nationally recognized expert on pediatric medicine, was appointed the founding dean of the new School of Medicine, which the parties plan to open in fall 2018.  The school will be committed to educational and healthcare excellence, cutting-edge research, high quality care, and the advancement of medical and health science educational imperatives.

The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners granted conditional approval to the project earlier this year, subject to the approval from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The LCME is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the authority for the accreditation of medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree. Accreditation by the LCME establishes eligibility for selected federal grants and programs, including Title VII funding administered by the Public Health Service.

ABOUT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY

One of the country's leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall University has been developing students in mind, heart and spirits since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hal's academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Business.

Seton Hall, which embraces students of all religions, prepares its graduates to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, the University has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth in addition to an impressive 95-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have been awarded nearly 20 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors including a Rhodes Scholar. In the past five years, the University has invested more than $134 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall launched a new School of Medicine as well as a new College of Communication and the Arts.

A founding member of the new Big East Conference, the Seton Hall Pirates field 14 NCAA Division I varsity sports teams. The University's beautiful main campus is located in suburban South Orange, New Jersey, and is only 14 miles from New York City – offering its students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. The University's nationally recognized School of Law is prominently located in downtown Newark. For more information, visit www.shu.edu.

About Hackensack Meridian Health

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.  Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 13 hospitals, including two academic medical centers, two children's hospitals and nine community hospitals, physician practices, more than 120 ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 28,000 team members, more than 6,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The Network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, the number one hospital in New Jersey as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women."  Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

The hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health include: academic medical centers - HackensackUMC in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; community hospitals -  Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, HackensackUMC Mountainside in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in Westwood.

To learn more, visit www.hackensackmeridian.org.

SOURCE Seton Hall University

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http://www.shu.edu