Press Release

September 12, 2006
Contact: Kaylyn Kendall Dines
(973) 972-3000
dineskd@umdnj.edu

UMDNJ Opens First Residential Building for Students on Newark Campus

NEWARK — A grand opening celebration was held today to welcome graduate students to their new homes at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s first on-campus housing.

UMDNJ’s Student Apartments at 180 West Market have been designed for medical residents, dental residents, post-doctoral fellows and other students who attend six of the university’s eight schools. There are 233 units in the building, which houses studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments that range from 410 to 1,015 square feet. In August, students entered housing contracts and moved into the building.

Named after UMDNJ campuses, each unit is fully furnished and the building sits adjacent to UMDNJ’s George F. Smith Library of the Health Sciences. Each apartment includes several amenities such as high speed Internet, basic cable and local telephone services. A capacity of 462 residents will have access to a study area, an outside terrace on the sixth floor, and laundry facilities in a security-staffed building.

The building, which has more than 456,000 square feet and includes on-site parking in a secured deck, an ATM, a large lobby area has direct access to the school.

“The opening of this new facility embodies perfectly our commitment to current and future generations of our students, and to the current and future city of Newark,” said Dr. Bruce C. Vladeck, UMDNJ’s Interim President.

“We are proud that UMDNJ’s first residential complex opened its doors allowing our students to make this their home,” said Celia Dorantes Abalos, vice president of Academic and Clinical Initiatives. “This new residential complex makes it possible for the future of health care to rest here on the Newark campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. ”

Development of 14,000 square feet of retail space continues on the ground floor of the building, and will be home to a convenience store and fitness center.

UMDNJ is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.