March 21,2016
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As The Valley Hospital has struggled for years to expand its campus in Ridgewood, it has been quietly buying real estate in Bergen County, assembling a portfolio that includes a string of properties on North Maple Avenue in Ridgewood and the building that houses the New Jersey Children’s Museum in Paramus.
Over the past two years, the hospital, in some cases through holding companies, has spent at least $54 million to acquire roughly a half-dozen sites in the village and neighboring Paramus as potential future locations for doctors’ offices, along with outpatient and other services that would be moved from its main campus. Some of these newly acquired properties are already operating as off-site hospital facilities.
But the hospital’s plans for some of its other new properties remain unclear, and Valley’s real estate shopping doesn’t appear to be over. Recently, it has been in talks to purchase buildings that the global parcel deliverer UPS will be vacating on Winters Avenue in Paramus, as reported by The Record. If that deal closes, it would add another property to a medical-services cluster that the hospital has been creating in Paramus, near the Fashion Center mall.
Valley’s push to expand comes on the heels of a bitter, losing battle in which it joined with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center to keep Hackensack University Medical Center from opening the former Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. Now, Valley, Englewood and Hackensack are fiercely competing for the aging and affluent Bergen County population, offering hotel-like amenities combined with top-notch expertise and technology in a rapidly changing health care terrain influenced by Obamacare.
The Valley Hospital, which has not commented on the UPS negotiations beyond saying it has not purchased the property, describes its recent real estate buys as “strategic property acquisitions to ensure its ability to develop outpatient and ambulatory programs and services needed by the community.”
Megan Fraser, the hospital’s vice president for communications and marketing, said in an email that the hospital will share its plans for properties it has acquired “as they are finalized.” She said plans may include a health and wellness center and new facilities for Valley Medical Group, a group of family and urgent-care centers with seven sites in North Jersey.
Among properties already being used by the hospital is Parkview Plaza, a three-story office building at 1200 E. Ridgewood Ave. — near the hospital’s main campus — where it is expanding its cardiac center. The building was purchased last November for $28 million
In 2012, the hospital paid $4.8 million for a building at 970 Linwood Ave. in Paramus that in one section currently houses a regional blood center that will be moving out in March. Valley has established a research program there, in what is now the Bolger Medical Arts Building.
Moving outpatient services off campus to reduce traffic to and from the hospital was among the promises Valley made to village residents during contentious expansion hearings that date back to 2002. Valley has been trying nearly to double the square footage on its main campus, nestled on North Van Dien Avenue in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Its first proposal was rejected by the Ridgewood Village Council and a slightly scaled-back project totaling 995,000 square feet has been before the Village Planning Board almost a year. https://www.northjersey.com/news/valley-hospital-buying-up-string-of-properties-near-its-ridgewood-site-1.671045
Valley is looking to bulk up on assents making any unsolicited take over bid of the hospital by local competitors too expensive.
Rumors have been floated in the past of a imminent take over attempt by Hackensack University Medical Center but so far have never materialized.
Excellent analysis, and certainly not surpring. The problem with all this is that the people of Ridgewood are the ones who, in the end, pay for it all. And it’s not like Valley does not have options, they do. But the truth is that rather than exercise those options to the benefit of the town that has given them so much, they want more. Really, it is about nothing more than greed.
In the end the Court has and will continue to decide that the rights of the homeowners near the hospital are trumped by the greater good and benefit to the overall community, which effectively extends well beyond the village of Ridgewood. The Village can choose to appeal and continue this fight but at what cost to taxpayers?
It’s time to move on.
the “greater good” ??????
Valley has utilized deplorable tactics in its fight against Ridgewood to expand – and those tactics have failed miserably. Their “all or nothing” expansion plan hasn’t even broken ground yet and Hackensack has already beaten them. Valley spent all of this time fighting a rag-tag bunch of community activists and still haven’t prevailed despite having millions of dollars to spend on the fight and 2 insiders on the Village Council. They may ultimately get their way with Ridgewood but it will be far too little and way too late. A Hackensack takeover would be better for Ridgewood if it meant getting rid of the current Valley leadership team.
Of course it’s an anti-takeover ploy. The Omnia strategy employed by BCBSNJ is step one to force consolidations. Similar to health insurers, you will have more consolidations with providers as well. That will be the only way to deal with the ongoing ACA requirements, which is not going away whether people agree or not. Valley will be too small to be an independent based on the handwriting on the wall. HUMC Englewood and RWJ will be the major state players.
Yes James, the “greater good”. When the town tried to fight the taller utility poles how did that go? The efficient transmission of electricity was deemed to supersede the “affected” homeowners.
And to 9:04 Do you really want a University Hospital in Ridgewood? Do you think they would be a better neighbor?
so when Valley tried to block the reopening of Pascack Valley ER was that for the “greater good”
Red- So upgrading won’t do it, they have to expand in order.to “benefit the overall community ?” Destroy a neighborhood when you clearly have options? It’s flawed thinking like this that has caused past Planning Boards to reject Valley’s proposals, and rightfully so.
I don’t care where you live in Ridgewood, think seriously about selling your house.
Challenge Valley’s not for profit status in the courts based on the Morristiwn precedent – if they have cash to buy properties and pay huge CEO salaries, they have cash to pay municipal taxes in Ridgewood given all of the municipal services they consume. Would add at least $4.0mn in property tax revenues a year or 10% of the current Village budget. Where the heck are the four “non-beholden to Valley” Council members on this? Maybe we can get three new Council members who aren’t afraid to challenge Valley in the courts on their not for profit status?
James and Bill
I’m not talking about the actions of Valley Hospital. There actions are irrelevant to me because if the Court sides with them, and they will, I think the Village fighting this is going be of great to cost the taxpayers.
And Bill, I’m not selling my house because there will be a modern hospital in my town. This will destroy neither the neighborhood nor the town.
Red- A Regional Medical Center will. Again, you can get to “modern” without expanding. If you can’t do that then you do what Princeton Health Care did, move to another town that can better serve the needs of the surrounding community.
Sadly 10.21 the teachers and town administrators would soak up 85 percent of that newly found money as nothing gets returned to the burdened taxpayers in this town.They are all driving around in one to two year old cars in the village government..police have massively expensive SUV.S..NO ONE seems to care even more so that our local government has been prooven to be poor managers with the people’s trust and capital.
Neighbors are starting to look south now that Valley whale shall soon give birth to Chaos.
If the Valley thing goes thru, the turnover, at least around the hospital, will not be pretty.
2:56 All town vehicle are bought on a state contract price. Here is an example.. I don’t think that that massively expensive SUV.S’
2016 Ford Utility Police Interceptor AWD (Section 3, T-2776) 2
Contract Price: $23,069 (Price Line: 5)
Contract Discount: 16% (Price Line: 6)
(% Discount off List Price of Manufacturer’s Option) Contractor: Chas S Winner Inc.
Contract#: A88728
State of New Jersey Procurement Bureau