Groundbreaking Held for NJ Innovation Technology Hub
By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On Oct 14, 2021
New Brunswick underscored its nickname as “The Hub City” today with the groundbreaking of the New Jersey Innovation and Technology Hub, a $665 million, 550,000-square-foot development that is destined to be a center of innovation, research and development, and medical education not just for the city and state, but nation and world.
It was almost a year ago when it was announced that Princeton University, Rutgers University, Hackensack Meridian Health and RWJBarnabas Health would be the core tenants at the site, which is expected to open in 2024. Today, it was announced that the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School will relocate to the site and that it will also include the Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine and Science.
Additionally, Middlesex County will become a core partner at the HUB, joining the originally announced partners plus the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and the New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO). Princeton University and Choose NJ are the HUB’s initial tenants.
Gov. Phil Murphy said the Hub will be a place where “doctors and researchers will work shoulder to shoulder on innovative treatments and solutions. It will be that rare standalone center where researchers and clinicians from across the pharmaceutical and life science sectors will have immediate and daily access to academic and industry experts as they fine tune their advancements. [They will also have access] to the investors they need in order to take those advances to markets and then treat patients around the world.”
New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill said the Hub will create some 2,000 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs. When combined with other projects underway in the city, he said New Brunswick is reaching a total investment of $1.7 billion in 1.3 million square feet of space.
“New Brunswick never had any difficulty in thinking big with decades of development projects via our partnerships with government and the New Brunswick Development Corporation. The city has been transformed and it is now a destination … thus this project,” Cahill said.
“We recognize the potential of the Hub site: A central location right here in the heart of New Jersey directly across from the city’s train station on the most traveled rail line in the US,” he added.
DEVCO President Christopher Paladino said the project will expand the synergy and creative energies between academia and the private sectors.
“Our core partners will manage an ecosystem that will allow access to collaborations with innovators in real time. The translational research facility and the new Robert Wood Johnson Medical School will further drive life science research from bench to bedside. It will be collaborations not just in labs, but in the cafes, outdoor spaces and social spaces throughout the project,” Paladino said.
Rutgers University President Dr. Jonathan Holloway said the project will “redefine the heart of New Brunswick and serve as the economic engine for central New Jersey. This project is all that and so much more. … It is ambitious and aggressive. It is fundamental to how we will deliver knowledge and make discoveries. It will revolutionize the ways we provide healthcare and medicine in the future. The project today has the potential to be the most meaningful and profound investment this state has ever made in translational research.”
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