Efforts to save old Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital

Robert Sciarrino / The Star-LedgerLooking up at the front facade of the Curry Building, which dates to the 1920s. The massive structure is the last of the old Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital buildings on Parsippany's Central Avenue -- the main tree-lined road leading up to the 1876 hospital.

It is four stories tall and nearly a half-million square feet in size. The stone structure sits at the end of a scenic, tree-lined avenue in Parsippany and has its own chapel, complete with pipe organ.

But Morris County wants nothing to do with taking title to the 133-year-old, abandoned behemoth Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, a state facility that was allowed to turn into a contaminated ruin.

Problem is, if the county doesn't want that building it's not likely to get some 50 acres on the Greystone campus it wants to buy for open space, to use as a buffer for its new county park and a host of human services and mental health facilities located there.

"It's the million-pound elephant in the room," said Parsippany Mayor Michael Luther, referring to the old hospital.

Luther trekked to Trenton last week with Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler and Morris County Administrator John Bonanni to try and work out a land deal with the state.

But they were rebuffed by state officials who want any deal to include all of the abandoned Greystone campus, including the old hospital and several other abandoned buildings, said members of the Morris County contingent.





A copy photo of a map of the Greystone Hospital campus, showing areas in blue that Morris County wants to purchase form the state for open space. The areas will provide a buffer for human services agencies and create a new access road to the counties park.

"They had no interest in what we proposed unless we take the old hospital," said Bonanni. "I don't think that's something we can do, especially in this economy. But I'm not sure anyone else is willing to take that on, either. At least this way they could get some dollars from the county."

State Treasury Department officials and state Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), who chairs the State House Commission, met with the Morris County officials.

The abandoned Greystone land and buildings were transferred to Treasury for disposal last year after a new Greystone opened nearby. Any deals for the excess land or buildings would require approval by the State House Commission.

On Friday, Smith pointed out Morris County already received 300 excess acres on the Greystone campus from the state for a dollar in 2002, in a deal brokered by Republican Gov. Donald DiFrancesco and the all-Republican freeholder board and the county's GOP legislators.

"Never in the history of the state has something like that happened," said Smith. "In terms of financial implications, that was huge. When Montgomery Township wanted to buy the site of the North Jersey Developmental Center, it paid $5.9 million. But Morris County paid nothing."

County officials, however, have countered Morris taxpayers already have spent more than $10 million on cleanup and demolition of run-down buildings on the old campus, and the county has financed renovations to a group of homes used by a mental health agency for its clients.

But Smith contended Morris County wants to "cherry pick the Greystone property," just taking the best land and leaving the state with the remainder.

"Look, when I cut my arm I bleed green, I support saving open space," said Smith. "Certainly no one wants to see a Paramus Park Mall built on that land. But we have to play fair with each if something is going to get done here.

Smith said he is waiting for Treasury officials to provide a detailed assessment of the costs of cleaning up the old Greystone hospital.

When the old Greystone closed last July, the state declared the hospital and auxiliary structures on 130 acres as surplus. With the blessing of the State House Commission, the Treasury Department retained commercial real estate broker Cushman and Wakefield to prepare the site for sale or lease.

The land is zoned rural residential, according to a town official. Morris County wants to buy six small parcels, mostly at the eastern end of the sprawling hospital campus, furthest away from the main Greystone building.

Their goal is to preserve open space to serve as a buffer for human services agencies located on or adjacent to the Greystone campus and the new Central Park at Morris County. Also, they want one piece of land, off West Hanover Avenue, that could be used to create an entrance to the new park, which already includes two skating rinks and a baseball field for disabled persons.

Bonanni said county open space trust fund dollars could be used to finance the land purchases, which could be a boost to the cash-strapped state. Also benefiting the state, the county could take down an abandoned nurses cottage and take over responsibility for several road right-of-ways on the Greystone tract, he said.

Druetzler, a former Morris County freeholder, and Luther both urged the county to maintain a dialogue with the state on this issue.

"I'm always trying to be optimistic about our options," said Druetzler. "The goal is to keep this land as open space, so we have to re-group and come up with some good options. That would serve the public the best."

PARSIPPANY (AP) -- A watchdog committee appointed by the courts to monitor Greystone Psychiatric Hospital says there are still issues to be addressed there despite the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility in July 2008.

The Doe v. Klein Monitoring Committee says problems include uncaring attitudes by some staff members, too many restrictions on patients' mobility and access to computers and cell phones. The seven-member committee also noted positive findings. They include upgraded living conditions for patients, improved safety and staff training.

The committee was created in 1977 to help settle a lawsuit over conditions at the Parsippany facility. With the opening of the new hospital, it had considered disbanding, but decided there was still work to do.