(Cherry Hill, N.J.) — Cherry Hill Township has received an Achievement in Planning Award for its efforts to improve the community’s quality of life through the LourdesCare at Cherry Hill project, Mayor Chuck Cahn has announced.
Township officials accepted the award at last month’s New Jersey Planning Officials’ annual event in Warren, N.J. The organization recognized projects large and small that resulted from good sense and sound planning. The award highlighted LourdesCare’s creative and transformative adaptive reuse of a former abandoned greyfield and environmentally challenged site.
“The redevelopment of this site to a higher and better use is a great example of the ongoing economic recovery and improvement throughout the Township,” said Mayor Chuck Cahn. “It shows how creativity can help resolve a once ugly and abandoned site. Coupled with an aggressive schedule and an environment of cooperation amongst all the stakeholders, this project has become a model of economic revitalization and rejuvenation in the heart of our community.”
LourdesCare at Cherry Hill opened in March 2013 as a state-of-the-art outpatient and urgent care center at Route 70 and Brace Road in Cherry Hill. It is a convenient, all-in-one location for expert medical care, support services, and wellness programs and classes to help patients maintain their health.
“We’re thrilled that our new, award-winning facility has become a hub of high-quality healthcare in Cherry Hill,” says Alexander J. Hatala, president and chief executive officer of Lourdes Health System. “LourdesCare at Cherry Hill provides residents of South Jersey with physicians, programs and technology, all in one comfortable and patient-centered setting.”
Prior to Lourdes Care at Cherry Hill, the land at Route 70 and Brace Road served for the last four decades as a supermarket and discount department store, among other uses. It stands today as a sleek and modern, state-of-the-art health and wellness center.
“We are proud to have worked with the Township on this significant redevelopment project,” said Joe Gonnelli, President of Rosewood Real Estate Enterprises. “Not only is the new facility aesthetically transformed, but the new space adds tremendous value to the Cherry Hill community and surrounding areas by bringing quality design right to the Township’s main crossroads.”
NJPO is an organization that was formed by and is still led by citizen planners, volunteer local residents appointed by mayors and/or municipal governing bodies to serve on planning boards and zoning boards of adjustment throughout the state. Their mission is to chart and preserve a community’s quality of life standards.