Jones Lang LaSalle
Morris, state hailed as business hotspot
Available office space and proximity to major roads makes area very desirable
BY MICHAEL DAIGLE
DAILY RECORD
RANDOLPH -- Morris County and New Jersey's prime location as a transportation crossroads and an educated, skilled workforce is a key reason why businesses choose to relocate here, but those advantages are offset by the high cost of living, especially for housing, and an archaic zoning system that ensures delays in the application process.
The types of business that would be attracted here are high-technology, high paying companies for which being close to New York City and a high income population outweigh the higher costs of doing business, speakers said.
Those were among the key points made at the third annual Morris County Municipal Summit Wednesday at County College of Morris that attracted over 100 municipal officials.
The event, presented by The Morris County Economic Development Corp., featured discussions about how to create an effective and flexible building code program, and economic trends.
Office overflow
It is also time that towns reconsider the uses of the 32 million square feet of empty office space, said David T. Houston, president of real estate developers, Colliers Houston & Co. The businesses that once used those type of large office parks have moved to less costly locations, especially overseas. It is the cost of doing business in a global economy, he said.
"With the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent and 32 million square feet of office space available, even if every person in the state got a job, you could not fill the office space," he told the town officials.
Houston said that mixed uses that include retail and housing could be developed. He said he helped sell some empty office parks to colleges.
John Bronson, managing director for Barclays Capital, the British bank that moved 500 jobs into a Whippany office space, said the company chose Morris County for its location within 30 miles of New York City, the available workforce and "world class" restaurants.
He said after Sept. 11, Barclays decided that having all its operation in one place, at the time Manhattan, was unwise. After considering Jacksonville and Columbus, Ohio, the company settled on Morris County, he said.
The town helped the company recognize that it was the right choice by working well with the company to get the necessary site changes made, Bronson said.
Sticker shock
While Morris County's closeness to New York was a plus for workers who had worked in the city, the cost of housing was a shock, and some workers chose not to relocate, he said.
The workers there are not the "million dollar babies" of the company, he said, but technicians and operations people, who, while well paid, balked at the cost of housing in the county.
Houston, who helped Cadbury -Schweppes relocate its research facility to Route 10 in Hanover, listed 10 attributes of business life in Morris County and rated them as either a plus or a minus.
The most favorable attribute is the highway system, he said. Routes 80, 287, 24, 23 and 10 all make it easy to move goods and people through the region.
Bronson said that the level of the workforce was a key in Barclay's decision to move to the county, and cautioned the town officials about the dangers of attacking school budgets as a way of reducing taxes.
The county's excellent school system is producing the kinds of talented workers that businesses need, he said. If that changes, it is easy for corporate leaders to look elsewhere.
Tax incentive
Houston said another plus for the state is business tax incentive plan that is used to lure companies to the state. It is a cost effective tool, he said.
The biggest problem in the state is a "1950s style zoning system" that simply takes too long for site plans to be approved, Houston said. It takes two years, and in a time when products are devised, designed and marketed in a few months, "no one has two years to wait."
Morris, state hailed as business hotspot
Available office space and proximity to major roads makes area very desirable
BY MICHAEL DAIGLE
DAILY RECORD
RANDOLPH -- Morris County and New Jersey's prime location as a transportation crossroads and an educated, skilled workforce is a key reason why businesses choose to relocate here, but those advantages are offset by the high cost of living, especially for housing, and an archaic zoning system that ensures delays in the application process.
The types of business that would be attracted here are high-technology, high paying companies for which being close to New York City and a high income population outweigh the higher costs of doing business, speakers said.
Those were among the key points made at the third annual Morris County Municipal Summit Wednesday at County College of Morris that attracted over 100 municipal officials.
The event, presented by The Morris County Economic Development Corp., featured discussions about how to create an effective and flexible building code program, and economic trends.
Office overflow
It is also time that towns reconsider the uses of the 32 million square feet of empty office space, said David T. Houston, president of real estate developers, Colliers Houston & Co. The businesses that once used those type of large office parks have moved to less costly locations, especially overseas. It is the cost of doing business in a global economy, he said.
"With the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent and 32 million square feet of office space available, even if every person in the state got a job, you could not fill the office space," he told the town officials.
Houston said that mixed uses that include retail and housing could be developed. He said he helped sell some empty office parks to colleges.
John Bronson, managing director for Barclays Capital, the British bank that moved 500 jobs into a Whippany office space, said the company chose Morris County for its location within 30 miles of New York City, the available workforce and "world class" restaurants.
He said after Sept. 11, Barclays decided that having all its operation in one place, at the time Manhattan, was unwise. After considering Jacksonville and Columbus, Ohio, the company settled on Morris County, he said.
The town helped the company recognize that it was the right choice by working well with the company to get the necessary site changes made, Bronson said.
Sticker shock
While Morris County's closeness to New York was a plus for workers who had worked in the city, the cost of housing was a shock, and some workers chose not to relocate, he said.
The workers there are not the "million dollar babies" of the company, he said, but technicians and operations people, who, while well paid, balked at the cost of housing in the county.
Houston, who helped Cadbury -Schweppes relocate its research facility to Route 10 in Hanover, listed 10 attributes of business life in Morris County and rated them as either a plus or a minus.
The most favorable attribute is the highway system, he said. Routes 80, 287, 24, 23 and 10 all make it easy to move goods and people through the region.
Bronson said that the level of the workforce was a key in Barclay's decision to move to the county, and cautioned the town officials about the dangers of attacking school budgets as a way of reducing taxes.
The county's excellent school system is producing the kinds of talented workers that businesses need, he said. If that changes, it is easy for corporate leaders to look elsewhere.
Tax incentive
Houston said another plus for the state is business tax incentive plan that is used to lure companies to the state. It is a cost effective tool, he said.
The biggest problem in the state is a "1950s style zoning system" that simply takes too long for site plans to be approved, Houston said. It takes two years, and in a time when products are devised, designed and marketed in a few months, "no one has two years to wait."
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:15 AM
<< Home