Holy Name Requests Zoning Change For Teaneck Expansion Project

TEANECK, NJ — Holy Name Medical Center has released plans for a major expansion in Teaneck, with multiple new buildings including offices, parking structures and hospital buildings. But first, they'll need approval from the Planning Board.

The hospital has filed a request to amend the land use element of Teaneck's master plan, seeking a "vacation of a portion of Chadwick Road and the expansion of the existing H-Hospital Zone."

If approved, there are four phases to the plan as it currently stands, which estimates a build-out of 10 to 20 years.

Among the new elements of the hospital's campus would be two nine-story hospital buildings, three new medical office buildings and a number of renovations to existing structures and access points.

Additional parking spaces are needed, the hospital said, as are ancillary services like child and adult day care.

However, these are just estimations of what may happen over the next decade or two, officials said in the proposal.

According to officials, this expansion request should come as no surprise to the township.

The hospital has "experienced both capacity issues and technological obsolesce for many years," they wrote. Additionally, the hospital's need to replace "undersized and outdated facilities as well as add to the number of inpatient beds and treatment facilities" was recognized as far back as 2007, and again over the years by the planning board in 2011, 2014 and 2017.

But this expansion would come with a cost.

Some homes, but not all, officials said, would be demolished, specifically near the entrance off Grange Road, to "allow for the expansion of surface parking and the addition of a child care center."

The 2007 master plan addressed this fact, stating that options for expansion included "splitting off certain of its functions, further intensifying its facilities on the present site, or seeking zoning changes that would allow it to purchase and raze neighboring homes, thereby allowing it to expand its physical boundaries."

It appears that the time has come for those hypotheticals to be actualized.

The Planning Board meets on Thursday at 8 p.m. to discuss the issue.

For the full proposal, which includes specifics on each of the four phases click here.