Camden could see another 10-story hospital as part of Cooper Norcross Health’s $3 billion expansion
Camden’s planning board will consider site plans for another hospital building with 110 beds on Haddon Avenue, part of the health system’s plan to transform its Camden campus.
Cooper Norcross Health wants to move ahead with another phase of its $3 billion expansion in Camden, a new 10-story hospital.
If approved, it will join another 10-story hospital tower under construction on the same Haddon Avenue campus.
Developers are scheduled to go before Camden’s planning board on Monday to get approval for the proposed Benson Pavilion, which would have 110 beds for patients, site plans show.
A Cooper spokesperson was not able to say Friday when they hope to break ground or open the new hospital.
Cooper University Health Care, which has campuses across South Jersey, changed its name this year after George Norcross, a New Jersey power broker and the chairman of Cooper’s board of trustees, donated $100 million to the health system and its MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.
The proposed Benson building, which would be at the corner of Haddon Avenue and Benson Street, is one of three patient towers included in Cooper’s “Project Imagine” expansion plan, first announced four years ago.
Workers broke ground on the first 10-story, 125-bed tower in January 2025. Tower A, which will connect to the cancer center via a pedestrian bridge over Haddon Avenue, isn’t set to be completed until 2028.
During its busiest shifts, Benson Pavilion will accommodate 428 employees and 40 doctors. The pavilion will be nearly 30,000 square feet, taking up more than 315,000 square feet across its 10 floors.
The proposed area for the Benson building is currently used as a drop-off loop for the health system’s emergency department, but site plans show the project includes a new drop-off.
Construction will happen in two phases, according to site plans, first to build the lower six floors and allow the hospital to operate at partial occupancy, and then the remaining four floors will be constructed.
Cooper will lease nearby parking spaces to account for the increased demand and shuttle employees from an off-site parking area near the Camden Waterfront, the site plans show.
Vincent Basara, a spokesperson for the city, said Cooper is Camden’s largest employer and “a tremendous community partner.”
“While their investments are numerous, the $3 billion expansion is the largest investment in Camden. This project is yet another testament to Cooper Norcross Health’s unwavering commitment to Camden and the city’s revitalization,” Basara wrote in an email.
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