Cooper Health Moves Forward With $3 Billion Expansion

On Sep 12, 2024

Cooper University Health Care, along with partners including the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and Torcon Inc. / P. Anges Inc., began the $3 billion expansion of Cooper’s campus in Camden.

Cooper’s new investment, Project Imagine – the largest in Camden County’s history and one of the largest in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey – will expand the academic health system’s main campus to meet the current and future projected demand at Cooper University Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. The expansion, first announced in September 2022, is expected to break ground on its first tower later this month.

“For over 138 years, Cooper and Camden have been united: what’s good for the city is good for the hospital and vice versa and that’s why we are committed to ensuring that as Cooper grows, so does the opportunity for our community,” said George E. Norcross III, the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cooper Health System, Cooper University Hospital, and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. “We are excited and proud to partner with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, who are stepping up in a big way to set a new paradigm for how large-scale projects can and should be run.”

As part of the unprecedented joint venture, the Carpenters will serve as the lead construction partner on Cooper’s expansion, working to help establish specific plans to ensure a hiring preference for Camden residents, overall workforce inclusion, hiring and recruitment for apprentice programs.

“Cooper has long been an anchor institution supporting and serving the City of Camden and the residents of the southern seven counties of New Jersey,” said Kevin O’Dowd, JD, co-CEO of Cooper University Health Care. “This first-of-its-kind agreement will provide broad based economic opportunities and marks a significant milestone in our longstanding commitment to serving our region.”

“For the thousands of hardworking men and women who make up the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, this new joint venture is more than a job – it’s an opportunity for us to show what we can do to make the community, our community, better and stronger and create real opportunity,” said William C. Sproule, the union’s Executive Secretary-Treasurer. “We are looking forward to working with Cooper and thank them for the trust they are placing in our team – we won’t let Cooper or Camden down.”

Cooper currently employs more than 940 Camden residents and sponsors the Cooper Health Careers Initiative (CHCI), an education and job training program leading to employment in medical coding, offered free of cost to Camden City residents. Cooper was recently named one of New Jersey’s “Best Employers” by Forbes for the fourth year in a row.

“This innovative agreement with the Carpenters Union and our construction manager will result in tangible benefits and jobs for residents in the City of Camden,” said Anthony Mazzarelli, MD, MD, MBE, co-CEO of Cooper University Health Care. “As Cooper continues to grow, we will continue to ensure opportunities for Camden residents.”

The new Cooper-Carpenter Joint Venture will also include significant disclosure of the effort’s success including regular reports on the number of participants in job training and apprenticeship programs and the number of Camden city residents and from historically underrepresented groups hired. The details of commitments to local civic and other organizations, including youth and community programs, in the City of Camden and Southern New Jersey Region will also be disclosed quarterly.

“We want people to hold us accountable for results because we know that what matters isn’t making promises, it’s delivering on those promises,” closed Cooper Chairman Norcross. “The investment Cooper is making in Camden is part of our commitment that as Cooper grows, the people of Camden benefit.”

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