Cooper University Health Care is preparing to launch the first phase of its planned $3-billion expansion, which it dubbed “Project Imagine.” The hospital operator plans to build three towers at its Camden, N.J., Health Sciences Campus during the project. 

The plan for the first phase calls for construction of a 10-story, 345,000-sq-ft patient tower, as well as upgrades to the hospital’s central utility plant that will allow for additional future expansion. The tower would connect directly to two neighboring buildings and to a third building via a pedestrian bridge to be built as part of the work. It would add 125 beds, expanded women’s services, a neonatal intensive care unit, operating rooms, education and research spaces including a medical library and a regional medical coordination center.

The tower’s deep foundation system will be made of auger cast piles and micropiles supporting reinforced concrete pile caps and grade beams, according to Philadelphia-based O’Donnell & Naccarato, the project’s structural engineer. Pile-supported mat foundations will support the lateral system cores, and wide flange steel beams and girders spanning wide flange steel columns will support a composite concrete slab on metal deck floor system. 

“As a crucial hub for Cooper’s campus, the new patient tower is serving as a centerpiece for Cooler’s vision for innovation and growth,” Michael Herrmann, vice president of O’Donnell & Naccarato, said in a statement. 

Construction of the first tower, led by construction managers Torcon Inc. of Red Bank, N.J., and Philadelphia-based P. Agnes Inc., is scheduled for completion in 2028. 

New Jersey provided the hospital with about $170 million in trauma center grant funds for the first phase. 

The second and third phases of the project would bring the total number of new beds up to 745, add more surgical and interventional capacity and a new emergency department. 

Pre-apprenticeship Program

As part of a community benefits agreement, the hospital and construction managers partnered with the Eastern Atlantic State Regional Council of Carpenters on a pre-apprenticeship program for Camden residents. 

About 260 people have joined the program, according to Jon Young, political director with the regional council. The program provides them with an overview of different building trades, and then sets up participants to enter the trade of their choice. 

“We’ve got a really good group of people,” Young says.

The goal is to set up local residents with good jobs while helping ensure the availability of skilled labor throughout the project, and for other area projects like NJ Transit’s upcoming Walter Rand Transportation Center improvement project in Camden.

“We are trying to get younger,” Young says. “And we’re trying to be proactive in how we recruit individuals to get them to come in and have work.”