Sweetwater Construction Corp. To Build the New Merwick Care and Rehabilitation Center

“Green” Facility Will Be Located in Plainsboro, N.J.

CRANBURY, N.J. (July 28, 2009) – Sweetwater Construction Corp. has announced that it has broken ground on the New Merwick Care and Rehabilitation Center, a new health care facility in Plainsboro, N.J., being developed by Windsor Health Care.

The long-term care facility will be located on the 160-acre campus of the Princeton Healthcare System’s new University Medical Center of Princeton. The University Medical Center, slated to open in 2011, will be located off Route 1 between Scudders Mill Road and the Millstone River, 2.5 miles from downtown Princeton.

The 105,000-square-foot New Merwick Center, located directly south of the new University Medical Center, will consist of a cluster of buildings on more than six acres overlooking the Millstone River and a 35-acre park. The facility, which is being designed by RMJM Architects of Princeton, N.J., will contain 80 beds of sub-acute care and 120 beds of long-term care. It will replace an existing 83-bed facility located at 79 Bayard Lane in Princeton.

The sub-acute care unit will act as a bridge between hospital and home, providing care for patients recovering from certain surgeries or prolonged illnesses and needing specialized rehab, while the long-term care unit will provide care for people who are no longer able to reside in their homes. The two facilities will share a common kitchen and service areas, as well as an administration building, and an in/out patient dialysis center that can be utilized by the community.

The New Merwick facility will use a patient care model developed by Eden Alternative, whose goal is to de-institutionalize the culture and environment of nursing homes and other long-term care institutions by making them more home-like for people rather than sterile medical institutions. Facilities that have adopted the Eden Alternative model are typically filled with plants and animals and are regularly visited by children, along with many other unique design features.

The New Merwick project is also being designed with sustainable features that will minimize the hospital's impact on the environment and provide the best conditions for patients. The facility will seek LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED® rating system is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance sustainable buildings.

“We are delighted to be working on a construction project that will set a new standard for long-term care facilities as well as meet the sub-acute and long-term care needs of patients from the entire region,” said Ronald Witt Sr. LEED AP, president and chief executive officer of Sweetwater.

In addition to the New Merwick Center, Windsor Health Care also operates facilities in Essex, Bergen and Middlesex Counties.

The engineer for the project is GPI Greenman-Pedersen Inc., with site and civil engineering being provided by French & Perrello Associates.

About Sweetwater Construction Corp.

Established in 1974 and headquartered in Cranbury, N. J., Sweetwater Construction is guided by a proven management team and a client-centric business philosophy. Sweetwater provides clients with expert preconstruction and construction services backed by professional commitment and personal accountability. Sweetwater’s project teams possess proven track records in the corporate, healthcare, science and technology, hospitality, multi-family and institutional sectors. Sweetwater’s notable project methodology delivers expertise in budgeting, estimating, constructability, lifecycle reviews, and project control methodology, all of which come together to help ensure a successful project. For more information, please visit http://www.sweetwatercorp.com/about_us.htm