Summit Medical Group eyes Bridgewater Commons for health care facility
BRIDGEWATER – Plans to convert the former Crate & Barrel at The Village at Bridgewater Commons into medical offices will go before the township Planning Board on Oct. 11.
Summit Health Management, headquartered in Berkeley Heights, wants to convert the vacant store into a health care facility.
The Township Council adopted a zoning ordinance last November to allow the 34,218-square-foot building at the south end of The Village at Bridgewater Commons next to Route 22 to be used for medical purposes.
Summit Medical Group will use the building for doctors' offices, advanced imaging, orthopedics, physical therapy, laboratory services, pain management, primary care and other medical specialties that could include gastroenterology, endocrinology, cardiology and pulmonology.
Summit Medical Group also may place an ambulatory surgery facility in the building.
The Commons requested that the location be rezoned so the application would not have to go through the process of obtaining a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment, a more arduous procedure than receiving site plan approval from the Planning Board.
Summit Health plans to modify the parking area, including restriping the handicapped spaces.
Also see:As Bridgewater Commons marks anniversary, a look at its past, present and future
Summit Health is the largest and oldest physician-owned medical practice in New Jersey. The group has more than 80 locations.
Crate & Barrel closed the store at the end of last year, citing a strategic shift to online sales.
Crate & Barrel is part of the Germany-based Otto Group, which employs 7,500 associates in more than 100 stores and franchise partners in nine countries.
The Crate & Barrel nearest to Bridgewater is at the Short Hills Mall.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Summit Medical Group eyes Bridgewater Commons
