Glen Cairn Hall: Thomas Edison State University

Training Nurses in Trenton

On Jun 29, 2017

Thomas Edison State University is known for its online higher education. However, TESU’s new Nursing Education Center, Glen Cairn Hall, at the corner of Calhoun and West State streets – one of the main gateways into the City of Trenton – houses the university’s first program with students on-site in Trenton.

In support of the university’s expanded nursing program, Glen Cairn Hall includes 34,000 square feet of classrooms, testing labs, nursing simulation labs, meeting spaces and faculty offices. It also features large operable windows for classrooms and offices and exhibit space for the university’s collection of Edison artifacts. A great central common room provides informal meeting and lounge areas. The roof on the 100-vehicle parking deck is a garden, serving both as outdoor space for students, faculty, staff and guests and minimizing the flow of stormwater. This energy-efficient building also makes extensive use of local and recycled materials.

The $24-million development of Glen Cairn Hall in partnership with the State of New Jersey (a partial funder of the facility), is the latest redevelopment and historic preservation project effected over the past 30 years by TESU’s President, Dr. George Pruitt. Each project was carefully designed to maximize not only its architectural and historic preservation value to the city, but also its economic impact, bringing new employees, students and visitors to downtown Trenton.

The Glen Cairn Hall project has particular impact since it revitalizes the highly visible, blighted site of the former Glen Cairn Arms, a 1920s apartment building that had been vacant since the early 1990s. City attempts to find a redeveloper for the site were unsuccessful, leaving the building to continue deteriorating. Through TESU’s vision and commitment to bring new programs and students into Trenton, up to 100 students, faculty and staff use this building daily, bringing vitality to this formerly forsaken area and spurring new interest in development along West State Street.

ARCHITECT
Clarke Caton Hintz
Trenton

BUILDER
Epic Management, Inc.
Piscataway

FINANCE ENTITY
State of NJ:
Building Our Future
Bond Act

PNC Financial Services
Philadelphia, PA

NOMINATOR
Thomas J. Gilmore
Executive Director
Trenton Downtown Association

 

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