by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

February 3, 2009

The New Jersey Workmen’s Circle has found a new location for its proposed Village for Healthcare and Rehabilitation.

A 14-acre site on Gibson Place, near Routes 537 and 33 in Freehold Township, is expected to be the new home of a 152-bed, long-term, skilled-nursing care facility, according to Marshall Goldberg, president and CEO of the Village for Healthcare and Rehabilitation. The skilled-nursing home will include approximately 100,000 square feet of space for resident bedrooms and amenities and will care for elderly Jewish residents from Freehold Township and central New Jersey, Goldberg said.

The proposed facility will be built and operated by the state Workmen’s Circle, a nonprofit organization that owned and operated such a home in Elizabeth for nearly 60 years. The group had hoped to begin construction on a similar health-care village last year. However, plans to build on a 14-acre tract on Halls Mills Road fell through when the Freehold Township Zoning Board of Adjustment defeated a construction application submitted by the Village by a 6-1 vote at the board’s June 12 meeting. The board turned down the request for a use variance to permit construction because the Halls Mills Road property has been zoned for industrial use since the 1950s.

But this time, the process has proven much smoother, Goldberg said; the new location is zoned in accordance with the proposed project and will not necessitate any special zoning requests or applications.

“It’s beshert — it’s meant to be,” Goldberg told NJ Jewish News. “Obviously, it was disappointing when the original plans for Halls Mills Road did not work out, but now things are running very smoothly. The township officials and the community members have been wonderful and extremely supportive.”

The design plans for the proposed facility are a “mirror image” of the architectural plans that were developed for Halls Mills Road, Goldberg said.

The original proposal attracted the interest and support of organizations within the local Jewish community, including the Jewish Federation of Monmouth County, which will support the revised project, according to executive director Howard Gases.

Hundreds of members of the Jewish community also endorsed the original project, and many expressed their support last year at zoning board meetings that reviewed the original construction application. The Workmen’s Circle has already received endorsements regarding the project’s rebirth on Gibson Place, Goldberg said.

The proposed new location, which is near the Radisson Hotel of Freehold, the Freehold Raceway Mall, and CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, is the same acreage as the Halls Mills Road site, although there is more “buildable area” on the Gibson Place tract, Goldberg said.

“It’s a great location for a generational program,” he said. “It’s a quiet, wooded area with beautiful private homes nearby. We hope to leave as many trees as possible, and the appearance of the facility will be in keeping with the style of the residences that are close to us.”

The health-care village project may be discussed at the Feb. 5 Freehold Township Committee meeting, Goldberg said, adding that the plans are making their way through the ordinary procedures.

“Since last year, we’ve had ongoing meetings with the township committee and the planning board,” he said. “Everything is in a very positive state and we’re very grateful for all the support and cooperation.”

If the project is approved, construction may begin this spring; costs may reach approximately $50 million, Goldberg said. The village hopes to open approximately 15 months from the date of approval, he added.

The Workmen’s Circle has hired Barry Haber of Matawan as the project’s director of development of the nonprofit foundation, which has been in existence since the Halls Mills Road proposal. Plans are under way to kick off an aggressive capital campaign in several months, Goldberg said.

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