Psychiatric Hospital to Become Parkland (VIDEO)

Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in northern New Jersey will be preserved and turned into a park. Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday announced the landmark and 165 acres will be converted into useable open space at a cost of $27 million.

The structure was turned over to the state Treasury Department after a new Greystone facility opened in Parsippany in 2008. Officials hired a real estate consultant to assess its future, a move that worried residents and preservationists.

The nearly half-million square-foot hospital dates to 1876 and features marble pillars, a rotunda and a chapel. President Ulysses S. Grant spoke at its opening.