Jones Lang LaSalle


Pfizer cuts construction plans in Morris, Parsippany
Thursday, April 20, 2006
BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE
Star-Ledger Staff

A massive expansion and renovation of Pfizer's Morris Plains campus has been scaled back, and plans by the pharmaceutical giant to build a $100 million product testing facility in Parsippany have been scrapped, according to company officials.

The changes are a result of a company-wide cost-cutting effort, which likely will include the sale of its Morris Plains-based consumer products division, company spokesman Bryant Haskins said.

"We are just slowing down construction until a final decision is made about the consumer health business," Haskins said this week. "It just makes good sense right now."

Pfizer announced in February it was seeking a buyer for its over-the-counter business, which markets products such as Sudafed, Rogaine, Listerine and Benadryl. British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, Colgate-Palmolive, Novartis and Unilever are among companies considered as possible buyers, according to analysts.

"We are watching this carefully. There is no question this is big to Morris Plains," said Mayor Frank Druetzler, who has been briefed by Pfizer officials on the company's plans. "It's unsettling for this town, no doubt."

Druetzler, who also is a Morris County freeholder, said the company pays $3.6 million in property taxes, financing 17 percent of the borough's municipal budget.

The change of plans also will hit hard in Parsippany, where Pfizer had invested $8 million to evaluate whether to build a pilot plant to test products at a site on Webro Road. Instead, that work will be done in Morris Plains, company officials said.

That follows a decision by Pfizer last year to shut down its Parsippany manufacturing plant and lay off 490 workers at a site adjacent to where it had considered building its new pilot plant. The move was part of a companywide restructuring that included closing 27 other manufacturing sites around the world, the company said.

"This is the first I've heard of this," Parsippany Mayor Michael Luther said yesterday when informed Pfizer has decided to eliminate the $100 million facility in his town. "We have not been briefed on this by Pfizer."

Pfizer inherited the Morris Plains facility in 2000 with its acquisition of Warner-Lambert, which had been based there since 1947.

Acting Gov. Richard Codey broke ground in June on Pfizer's planned $200 million research and development facility at the company's 175-acre Morris Plains campus. At that time, company officials said the number of jobs there could more than double, from about 2,000 to 5,000.

The company's master plan called for called for demolition of 1960s-era buildings on the west side of Route 53, adding up to 1.5 million square feet and renovating another 700,000 square feet. There also would be three new parking decks with room for about 3,000 cars.

However, the plans are being altered, Haskins said.

On the west side of Route 53, two main buildings were scheduled for demolition, to be replaced by new, expanded structures. Now, only one will torn down and the so-called "182 building" will eventually be renovated and possibly expanded.

Workers who would have moved to a new Parsippany facility would likely be located there, Haskins said.

On the east side of Route 53, renovations to the "201 building," the headquarters for consumer health operations, will be delayed.

Also, a new office building that is mostly erected will get its exterior completed, but the interior will remain empty. The future of both are connected to the future of the company's consumer health business, Haskins said.

"This is giving us flexibility on the Morris Plains campus, while we are doing the analysis on consumer health," he said. "That's the smart thing to do right now."