TAPInto Plainfield
PLAINFIELD, NJ — Managing Partner William J. Colgan of CHA Partners said at a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday that two-thirds of the 120 units at the 186,000-square-foot property dubbed The Randolph, a new rental development on the site of the former Muhlenberg Hospital, are already rented. Construction began in late 2019, and the project included environmental remediation and site-wide traffic and circulation improvements.
Colgan told the assembled group that the market rate project was “probably the hardest project CHA has ever done.” He said when the hospital closed in 2008, it left a “gaping wound” in the Plainfield community, with everyone wanting to see the hospital reopened, even though it was never going to happen. His project, he recalled, was an “extremely unpopular decision” at the time.
But Colgan noted, “CHA’s core principles of honesty, integrity and transparency have allowed us to become one of the most sought-after developers in the State of New Jersey.”
“I know that we’ve had a number of issues and concerns raised by the residents in this area in particular, but by others across the city as well,” Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp said during the ceremony. “Concerns raised out of fear as to what might happen at this site if it were to be developed. But those concerns were secondary to what would have happened had nothing been done at the site.”
After the closure of Muhlenberg in 2008, the mayor noted, there were a number of proposals, none of which met what the city was looking for at the location.
“And so I intentionally embarked on a marketing campaign, and we did an RFP process with several respondents to that RFP. And the lucky winner was CHA.” Mapp called the site a total transformation.
“And to the critics who say we are building too many apartments, just ask yourself if you were looking for someplace decent to live, would you want to be in a place like this?”
The Randolph includes one- and two-bedroom units, with a fitness center, yoga studio, courtyard and lounge areas, event rooms, a “bark park” and pet spa, and more.
CHA Partners is also nearing completion of a new CVS Pharmacy at 1204 Park Avenue, set to open in Summer 2021.
For more information about The Randolph apartments or to schedule an on-site tour, visit https://therandolphapts.com or call 908-900-1330.
