Inspira Health is making big progress on two Gloucester County projects in Woodbury and Deptford.
In Woodbury, steel is going up for a new building to house an Emergency Room and Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit, while in Deptford a new Medical Office Center is being developed in the former Dick’s Sporting Goods building… which has the front façade removed.
(Dick’s Sporting Goods relocated across the street into the Deptford Mall in August 2020.)
A third very large project is still to come… what to do with their main Woodbury building/property after it’s core hospital uses were moved to a new facility in Mullica Hill. Back in December I shared that Inspira has hired a firm to review options for the building and property.
Inspira Woodbury: Emergency Room And Inpatient Behavioral Health
I last reported on the plans for Woodbury on December 1st, where I shared a rendering of what was being developed in Woodbury.
Current construction activity is focused on the property next to the core building which used to house an full hospital.
As a quick background on the need for the new building, the core hospital functions which were handled in Woodbury were previously relocated to a new hospital in Mullica Hill.
That being said, the Emergency Room and Behavioral Health Units are remaining in Woodbury, and currently they still exist in the old former hospital buildign.
So the plan is to develop an all new separate building for these two important units, which would completely free up the former hospital building and property for future development (to be determined)
Woodbury New Construction
In that property next to the former hospital, Inspira demolished buildings there last fall, ahead of the construction of a new Emergency Room and Inpatient Behavioral Health Building.
Once completed, the new two-story building will feature a 24,900 square foot Emergency Room on the first floor, and a 21,500 square foot, 20-bed behavioral health facility on the second floor.
A second smaller one story building of about 5,400 square feet is also planned for the property and will be used as an Emergency Medical Services and dispatch garage facility.
For the main 24,900 sf building, a significant portion of the steel structure is up. It’s an elongated property and the new building is positioned closer to Broad Street.
It appears that what is already standing includes the overhang roof of the emergency room entrance, as well as the corner of the building which will be a 2-story glass entrance atrium.
I am not a construction expert but it appears there are two types of steel in the frame construction… interior structural steel which will be out of the elements (brownish), and then galvanized steel sections which are part of the exterior glass wall and entrance canopy, as they could see more exposure to moisture.
The positioning of the building and the emergency room entrance puts it across the street (and very close) to the existing emergency room area that everyone has been familiar with for decades.
Once the new building is open, emergency vehicles and patients would make the same turn off of Broad Street, but turn right into the new ER, instead of left into the old one as they do now!
I don’t have a completion date on this new building but it’s clear that Inspira and their contractors are moving quickly on the project.
Inspira Health Center Deptford
Back in October of 2021, 42Freeway informed readers know about Inspira’s plans to create a new medical office in Deptford, repurposing the building which most recently was home to Dick’s Sporting Goods property.
That project was approved in the Spring of 2022 and is a smart reuse of the large building. That being said it will still require significant construction efforts to turn it into the medical facility.
The placement across from the Deptford Mall is likely targeted at taking advantage of well developed access roads which positions the medical facility to be in proximity to a large patient base.
Plus with plenty of shopping and restaurants nearby, the medical facility and area businesses are likely to provide cross-benefits to each other.
One aspect of the Deptford project is to turn the front façade into a mostly glass front wall.
Today simply driving by the mall district you have likely noticed that front wall segment has been removed.
With a lot of construction efforts taking place inside the building, it’s likely that we won’t see the new glass façade go up until later in the development project.
An overhead canopy roof entrance is also in the plans for the front.
The building is being developed as multiple medical offices, and will include practices such as urology, orthopedics, imaging, cardio, general physician offices and more.
There will be no patient beds in the Deptford facility, nor will there be an emergency room.
in our 2022 article we noted that the building was developed around 1980 as a Best Product showroom store, and later became Dick’s Sporting Goods.
While many will note that Dick’s Sporting goods was a one floor interior, there actually was a section with a second floor mezzanine that was originally developed by Best Products retailer as a warehouse area.
From the Planning Board commentary it was stated that their target is to get the entire building shell completed and the first floor occupied. At a later date they would focus on the second floor.
From our earlier report it was said the first floor is expected to be open at the end of 2023 (or First Quarter 2024) and the second floor will likely be 2 years later
Links and Locations
Inspira Health Woodbury Campus
509 N Broad St (and surrounding blocks)
Woodbury NJ
Inspira Health at Deptford
399 Almonesson Rd
Deptford NJ