Jones Lang LaSalle

Stripped-down factory slotted for redevelopment
Pharmaceutical plant cleared for overhaul
Thursday, April 06, 2006
BY JONATHAN CASIANO
Star-Ledger Staff

The West Orange Planning Board voted last night to designate the abandoned Organon pharmaceutical plant as a redevelopment area, urging the township council to accept its recommendation and begin soliciting proposals for the site.

The recommendation, which cleared the nine-member board by a vote of 5 to 4, paves the way for a complete overhaul of the 11-acre site, either by the township or a town-approved developer. West Orange holds an option on the property and could purchase it outright for $4.5 million before the option expires in September.

The planning board's recommendation came after a presentation by Stuart Portney of The Metro Company LLC, a Jersey City-based consultant hired by West Orange to study the property.

In his presentation, Portney told the board that the 175,000-square-foot factory was "functionally obsolete" after being gutted and abandoned by Organon in 2004.

He said the building's boilers, water purifiers and electrical conduits had all been stripped out and sold off, leaving the plant "virtually unusable" for another pharmaceu tical company or other enterprise.

"The entire building has been fully gutted, literally from stem to stern," Portney told the board. "Everything has been ripped out."

His assessment of the site found favor with five of the board members, including Councilwoman Susan McCartney, who said she wanted the township to steer redevelopment efforts at the factory.

"I would want control of that to see what the plans are and decide what's best for the town," she said.

But the presentation was not enough to convince the entire board.

Some panel members, as well as several residents at the meeting, said they felt the property's future should be left up to the free market, noting that it sits in an upper- middle-class neighborhood with easy access to major highways.

"People move all the time and businesses have problems all the time, and it seems that they generally solve those problems without the interdiction of the municipality," said John Schmidt, a mayoral candidate who spoke out against the designation.

The Organon site was first put on the table for redevelopment in January, when Mayor John McKeon suggested that it could be bundled with other properties in the township's downtown redevelopment zone to entice developers who have so far been reluctant to tackle that area.

The township also is considering the creation of a third redevelopment area encompassing Town Hall and the municipal complex. If that area is designated for redevelopment, the township could move its municipal complex to the Organon site and replace it with some mix of retail and residential development. McKeon has called the concept unlikely, and many residents have spoken out against relo cating Town Hall.

But The Metro Company filed a report in February stating that Town Hall, police headquarters and the West Orange Public Library all met the necessary redevelopment criteria, and the planning board will decide whether to recommend a formal redevelopment designation.

The panel was scheduled to debate that issue last night, but postponed its review of the municipal complex until its June 7 meeting, scheduled for 8 p.m. in council chambers.