CHS projects costs at more than $200 million.
By: Lea Kahn
Capital Health System is moving ahead with plans for a proposed $200 million to $250 million hospital on a 31-acre site on Princess Road, according to Al Maghazehe, CHS president and chief executive officer.
The proposed hospital would contain 300 to 350 beds, Dr. Maghazehe said. CHS is conducting a study to determine the exact number.
The site is currently owned by developer Princeton South at Lawrenceville, according to the Lawrence Township tax assessor’s office. It is assessed at $1.2 million, which generated $40,026 in real estate taxes in 2004. Dr. Maghazehe said CHS "has control" over the property.
CHS is seeking to expand its services to residents of Bucks County, Pa., and that’s why it chose the Princess Road site, Dr. Maghazehe said. Princess Road is accessible to those patients, who would use I-95 to reach the hospital.
Dr. Maghazehe said CHS currently serves many patients from Bucks County, as well as Mercer County, at its Trenton campus. The proposed Lawrence Township site also is not too far from that, he added.
There are numerous physicians’ offices located near the Princess Road site, so it would be more convenient for both doctors and patients if the hospital is located nearby, he said. It would make life easier for both, he said.
The proposed campus would contain more than the hospital, he said. It would include multiple other uses, which he said would be announced over the next few months. The site is currently vacant.
But first, there are several hurdles that must be met starting with the granting of a certificate of need for the hospital by the state Department of Health and Human Services. A certificate of need application will be submitted within the next 150 days.
A certificate of need is the approval process that all hospitals must go through if they are building something significant, Dr. Maghazehe said. The applicant must prove that a hospital is absolutely needed and that it would not result in overbuilding in the area or have a negative impact on nearby hospitals, he said.
The 31-acre parcel is zoned I-1. Permitted uses include offices, light industrial uses, wholesale distribution centers and warehouses, research and engineering offices and labs, and governmental use.
The I-1 zone, however, does not permit hospitals. To build a hospital would require submitting an application for a use variance to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, said township planning consultant Philip Caton.
But because of the project’s scope and size, Mr. Caton said, it would be better for a site plan application to be heard by the Planning Board. He has recommended amending the township’s Land Use Ordinance to allow hospitals as a permitted use in that zone, so the application would be heard by the Planning Board.
Any changes to the LUO would be made by Township Council. An ordinance to change the LUO would be introduced at a Township Council meeting and then referred to the Planning Board for comment. The council would take final action on the ordinance amendment at a subsequent meeting.
If CHS gains permission to build a new hospital on the property, it is not known whether it would generate additional tax revenue, said Lawrence Township Tax Assessor Geoffrey Acolia. A hospital may be considered exempt from paying property taxes if it is deemed to be a nonprofit organization.
But in some cases, a portion of the hospital campus may be considered to be a taxable entity, Mr. Acolia said. For example, Morris Hall/St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center is tax exempt, but the magnetic resonance imaging center on the campus is taxed. The building belongs to Morris Hall/St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center, but a group of physicians rent the building and operate the MRI center on a for-profit basis.

