RWJBarnabas Plans To Tear Down Some Buildings At Monmouth Medical Center

LONG BRANCH, NJ — RWJBarnabas plans to tear down certain buildings at Monmouth Medical Center and reduce the size of the hospital by 65 percent, as it seeks the state's approval to transfer the Monmouth Medical Center hospital license to a new hospital it wants to build in Tinton Falls.

Currently, Monmouth Medical Center is approximately one million square feet. RWJ plans to reduce it to 345,000 square feet.

RWJBarnabas declined to say which buildings it plans to remove. Monmouth Medical Center President and CEO Eric Carney said Monmouth Medical Center is made up of multiple buildings that were added over time, many of which are now aging, and the original hospital building dates to 1914.

He said RWJBarnabas is planning to renovate the newest Todd and Stanley buildings at MMC, and those renovations are expected to begin in 2033 or later. Conceptual designs call for the possible removal of MMC's oldest buildings once the Todd and Stanley buildings are renovated, but building teardowns would not happen until 2035 or later, said Carney.

More parking and green space will be added to where the buildings once stood, RWJBarnabas said on this website it published about the plans.

"Our planned renovations will provide an easier and safer experience for patients, visitors and staff, as adding more parking and green space through the removal of existing buildings will make for a better experience for all," RWJBarnabas said here.

Monmouth Medical Center also said it would not start any renovations until its new Vogel Medical Campus is built in Tinton Falls. Completion on that is slated for 2032.

RWJBarnabas also published this new site plan that shows how the reduced footprint of Monmouth Medical Center will look once some buildings are removed.

RWJBarnabas has been reducing its footprint in Long Branch for the past several years:

In 2022, the hospital system gave four acres of hospital land and buildings to the city of Long Branch. This included the Ronald McDonald House, where families stayed when their children were being treated at Monmouth Medical Center. (Long Branch Begins Converting Ronald McDonald House Into Health Center, Library Branch, Pickleball Courts)

At the time, some families who stayed at Ronald McDonald House were very upset by RWJ's decision. Ronald McDonald House families are now housed within Monmouth Medical Center, where the hospital gives them sleeping and family rooms, bathrooms with showers and kitchen and laundry facilities.

RWJBarnabas says Monmouth Medical Center will still have a full-service ER, 200+ hospital beds (many of those for psychiatric care), an outpatient surgery center, imaging services and specialty clinics. All the hospital rooms at MMC will become private. RWJ says it views Monmouth Medical Center as a complement to the new hospital it plans to build on 36 acres of the former Fort Monmouth Army base in Tinton Falls.

RWJ plans to relocate labor & delivery (for which Monmouth Medical Center is perhaps best known), specialty surgery, critical care and all cancer care to its new Tinton Falls location, which will be called the Vogel Medical campus.

RWJ needs the New Jersey Department of Health to approve a hospital license transfer before it can proceed. There will be a public hearing on the hospital license transfer from 4-6 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Anne Vogel Family Care and Wellness Center, 200 Wyckoff Road in Eatontown.

Tuesday: New Hospital, Cancer Center Coming To Tinton Falls: Everything You Need To Know

Last week: RWJ Barnabas Wants To Transfer Monmouth Medical Center's Hospital License To Tinton Falls