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Atlantic Health System’s Overlook Medical Center today marked the opening of its new South Garage, a recently completed, state-of-the-art employee parking structure that will improve parking throughout the campus. The 234,000 square-foot garage includes 648 parking spaces and two elevators. The seven-level garage features recharge stations for electrical and hybrid vehicles on one of the levels. By significantly increasing the parking available to Overlook’s team members, the South Garage creates tremendous additional capacity for patients and visitors in Overlook’s East and West garages, creating more convenient access to the hospital. The additional dedicated parking also eliminates the need for offsite employee parking on surrounding local streets. “We make a patient or visitor’s experience a high priority, and that begins even before they walk through the door,” said Alan Lieber, president of Overlook. “The addition of the South Garage makes it vastly easier for patients and visitors to get to the services they need. It also relieves a great burden for our team members, giving them faster access to on-campus parking so they can care for our patients.” The project was applauded by local officials from the City of Summit, who joined Overlook officials on Thursday to mark its opening. “Improvement projects that benefit not only patients, but the overall community are part of the reason Overlook Medical Center is such a valued neighbor in Summit,” said Mayor Nora Radest. The garage features motion-activated lights to save energy and minimize the impact to the neighborhood around the hospital. A vacant wooded area between Lower Overlook Road and Morris Avenue buffers the surrounding community from direct view. “We kept the needs of our patients, team members and the community at the forefront of our decisions at every stage of planning,” said Martin Manfredo, construction project manager for Overlook. Construction of the South Garage began in August 2019 and involved the excavation and removal of more than 32,000 tons of rock and soil from an unused portion of the Overlook campus along Lower Overlook Road. The completion of the garage marks a milestone in a larger plan to expand and enhance services throughout Overlook. “As with the recent opening of the Bouras Emergency Department entrance last week, we are eagerly looking forward to more developments to benefit our patients in the very near future,” said Lauren Yedvab, Overlook’s chief operating officer.