Foundation gets wish for castle-like facility
Zoning Board OK's plan for 7-acre site on Perrineville Rd.
BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer

The Make-A-Wish Foundation's proposed New Jersey headquarters, depicted here in the foundation's initial rendering in 2005, has received approval from the Monroe Township Zoning Board of Adjustment.

MONROE - Magic will be happening here soon, at a place where wishes come true for those who might need them most.

The township's Zoning Board of Adjustment has granted unanimous approval for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey to build its state headquarters on Perrineville Road near Route 33.

"This new facility is going to offer us a number of great opportunities that we currently don't have," said Thomas Weatherall, chief executive officer and president of the New Jersey foundation. "We couldn't think of a better location."

The 20,000-square-foot facility will be built to look like a castle, in order to enhance the wish-making experience for the children with life-threatening illnesses who are served there. The building's design includes 80-foot turrets, or small towers, which required a height variance from the Zoning Board.

"The last thing we want them to think is that mom or dad tricked them into coming to another doctor's office or specialist's office," Weatherall said. "It will be a place where magic will take place."

A Walt Disney Co. "imagineer" assisted the foundation in designing the structure, Weatherall said.

Allowing for the consolidation of the foundation's Union and Cherry Hill offices, the foundation headquarters will be the first of its kind on the East Coast. It will house a "wishing place" that aims to get children's imaginations and creative juices flowing, and will also be host to activities and events for the children.

Other onsite features will include a wishing well, children's garden, respite suite for bereavement counseling, offices, volunteer workspace and center for their training and development, and multipurpose room.

"It's really a great thing to happen for Monroe," said Township Environmental Manager John Riggs, a former councilman. "It's an exciting thing."

Situated on 7 acres just north of Route 33, the site was donated by Piscatawaybased Edgewood Properties in 2005. It was initially slated to be part of the Route 33 Marketplace project, which was to center around a baseball stadium, but it remains unclear if the bulk of that project will come to fruition.

Weatherall said the new location will help to raise the organization's profile throughout New Jersey, and allow for better accessibility from all points in the state.

"When you look at Monroe Township and Middlesex County, you fold a map in half, and there it is," Weatherall said. "It's really an ideal location."

With the creation of the new facility, overcrowded conditions that existed at the Union and Cherry Hill locations will be eliminated. Another improvement comes from the fact that those locations were merely offices, and did not allow for onsite wishmaking. Instead, volunteers traveled to the homes and hospital rooms of the children.

According to Riggs, the project is slated to cost about $7 million to complete, and will be funded through public philanthropy. A $2 million donation from Joe and Nancy Plumeri for the project came in January, and did the New Jersey chapter of the organization ever receive the largest contribution. Joe Plumeri owns two minor league baseball teams - the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Trenton Thunder.

Though a groundbreaking date has not been set, Weatherall said he is hopeful that the project will be started sometime in the fall. According to Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton, no further approvals are required from the township for the project to move forward.

The Make-AWish Foundation of New Jersey was founded in 1983. Over the last five years, its volunteers have granted more than 3,000 wishes to seriously ill children throughout the state. To learn more about the foundation and its new facility, or to make a donation, visit its Web site at wishnj.org.