CLIFTON – Hackensack University Health Network and Seton Hall University were to announce today they have signed a memorandum of understanding to start a four-year medical school on the campus of the former Roche headquarters in North Jersey, according to njbiz.com.
Gov. Christopher Christie was to be the keynote speaker at Thursday’s announcement.
The private medical school will be the anchor tenant of the 119-acre property on Route 3, with portions in Nutley and Clifton, approximately five miles from both Hackensack and Seton Hall.
The organizers aim to make the school a conduit for a world-class research facility to attract researchers and pharmaceutical companies of all sizes.
The goal is to have the first class of approximately 125 to 150 students enter in the fall of 2017.
The official name of the institution is to be determined.
Job creation TBD
It is too soon to know how many jobs will be created because of the vast scope of the project. Hackensack and Seton Hall officials said the school alone could create 400 to 500 jobs, and hundreds of other jobs could be created through the other outlets on the campus, both said.
The developer of the project, to be selected by Roche, has not been announced. Those same officials said it has been made clear by Roche that the medical school will get favorable lease terms as well as a large say in how the rest of the campus is developed.
Hackensack and Seton Hall, which will share all capital costs 50-50, figure to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars in the first 10 years” to get things going, Hackensack officials said.