This is a company blog used by the New Jersey Jones Lang LaSalle Team to keep track of current events within the real estate sector. All items posted on this website are originally written by other authors from various sources. This is simply used as a searchable tracking system for news we found relevant to our business.
And not all the progress is on beachfront Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/13/06 BY NANCY SHIELDS COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
ASBURY PARK — Like the rebuilding of a team, the progress the city was making in the first year or so of its comeback was hard to see.
There were still many negative stories, sad happenings. The old way of doing things in Asbury Park fought hard not to let go.
But five years later, officials and residents appear to have stayed the course, and reports of progress — more visible, more measurable — have been mounting.
"This is one of the most positive times we've had in the city, possibly in 30 or 40 years," Mayor Kevin Sanders said earlier this week. "New stores, restaurants, waterfront construction, restored houses throughout the city."
"The apathy is gone from Asbury Park," he said. "Everyone's talking about its appeal. They say Asbury Park is the new gold rush."
Last week, the City Council and its beachfront redeveloper announced a new agreement that requires Asbury Partners to invest $6 million in the next two years to renovate the Fifth Avenue Pavilion and make important exterior renovations to Convention Hall, the Casino and the power plant. Designs for the costly interior renovations of the boardwalk buildings must be completed by September 2007.
Although the City Council had seen progress with the new condominiums now visible on the waterfront, officials were concerned about the lack of investment to get permanent renovations under way on the historic buildings. The city and developer negotiated in February and March and say they now have time lines, financial requirements, penalties for nonperformance and an agreement to stay in close communication as the work progresses.
Leadership lauded
"I can't stress to you enough how important the leadership of the city is right now in making this happen," said Glenn Scotland, a city redevelopment attorney. "This is probably only the second time in my career where we had public officials stand up, take a position and be willing to stick by it under the enormous economic pressure being placed on them by the developer.
"It is such a delicate balance to extract what is the proper equity in a deal and to recognize we want to be strong, treated fairly, but don't want the deal to go away," Scotland said of the negotiations. "And we compliment Asbury Partners on their willingness to go through this. It's very difficult to change a paradigm, especially in the business world . . . They stepped up big time."
Late last week, Metro Homes, the third developer brought in by Asbury Partners and the city to build waterfront condominiums, announced that C-8, the steel skeleton that became a symbol of the failed redevelopment all through the 1990s, will be imploded April 29. A new 224-unit condominium high rise, the Esperanza, is planned for the site.
Some officials and residents are talking about making the long-awaited demolition a celebratory event.
In the midst of the waterfront activity, downtown merchant Clark Mitchell, 37, co-owner of the Be Green vegetarian cafe on Cookman Avenue, said he has some reservations over the pace of redevelopment.
"With all the redevelopment, I think we just have a wait-and-see attitude," Mitchell said. "We don't want to get too excited about it."
"The downtown has problems — a parking problem — but there are a lot of good people putting good businesses here," he said. "All the downtown needs really is more — more businesses."
But for himself, he said he could not be happier with the restaurant he moved from Belmar in 2004.
"I do well here," Mitchell said. "All anyone wants here is progress. If it looks like it's going forward, it doesn't have to have been done yesterday."
Council members, led by Councilman Ed Johnson, are working at the committee level to develop plans to return Springwood Avenue to a commercial and residential thoroughfare and make needed improvements to the city train station on Main Street.
Other city concerns
Redevelopment isn't the only issue in the city.
A second event planned for April 29 is a hope and empowerment rally for city children which will start at 12:30 p.m. at Springwood Avenue and Memorial Drive. A march is planned to a recreation area between the Bangs Avenue School and the Middle School, where a youth talent expo, games and other activities will be held. There will be opportunities for young people to register for summer jobs.
As for the school district, which will see four people elected to its nine-member school board Tuesday, member Frank D'Alessandro, who is not up for re-election this year, believes the district "finally has stability."
"We're building on stability, brick by brick," D'Alessandro said. "Our district has fallen into the depths, and we're trying to lift everyone out. It's taking time. We haven't performed any miracles. But we have a foundation and what we needed more than anything was stability."
And within the Police Department, officers say their department has united under the new leadership of Deputy Chief Mark Kinmon. The officers' Police Athletic League joined the city in starting up a biddy basketball league for 60 third- to fifth-graders and plans to build on that program's success.
Police Inspector Chris Van Buren, the PAL president, said PAL is working on starting up an amateur boxing program for teenagers and young adults and may lease second-floor space in the former YMCA building on Main Street, now owned by REI Group.
"There's a room on the second floor that we're looking at that's perfect for what we want to do," Van Buren said. "The REI group gave us a lease which our attorney is reviewing. We're trying to tighten it up so that if they happen to sell the building, we'll have a leg to stand on. We want to be able to negotiate with the new owner if it happens."
But, Van Buren added, "this program will definitely happen."
Police also are working with a new community group that met last week after a peace rally was held on DeWitt Avenue to try to end gang violence that saw one young man shot to death on DeWitt Avenue in November and a second young man killed almost on the same spot late in March.
"As far as I see right now, because of what's going on — the events organized for youth and biddy basketball and PAL — I think things are turning around for children in Asbury," said Denise Richardson, the mother of seven daughters, who owns a home with her husband, Carl Richardson, on Ridge Avenue and is an administrative clerk in the Monmouth County Health Department. "My 7-year-old was a mascot before and is going to be a cheerleader this year for Pop Warner," she said.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:05 AM
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch Last Update: 4:48 PM ET Apr 12, 2006
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sales at U.S. retailers likely bounced back in March from a big decline in February, economists said.
The Commerce Department will report the March retail numbers on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Economists canvassed by MarketWatch expect retail sales to rise 0.4% after falling 1.4% in February. See Economic Calendar.
The expectation for retail sales excluding autos is also an increase of 0.4%, as auto sales were relatively flat in March. Ex-auto sales fell 0.6% in February. See full story on auto sales. "We expect the net result will be a report that looks neither especially strong nor weak," said James O'Sullivan, an economist for UBS and the winner of the MarketWatch Forecaster of the Month award for March. See full story.
Chain store sales were weak in March, with same-store sales rising just 1.9% year-over-year, the slowest growth since August 2004. See full story.
Retail sales account for about one half of consumer spending, which in turn accounts for about two-thirds of final demand.
Despite the poor February results, economists believe consumer spending recovered in the first quarter after a tepid 0.9% annualized gain in the fourth quarter, as auto sales plunged. Haseeb Ahmed, an economist for JP Morgan Chase, thinks real consumer spending probably rose at a 5% annual rate in the first quarter.
Consumer spending should slow to a 3% pace in the current quarter, said Joseph LaVorgna, a U.S. economist for Deutsche Bank.
In March, the sales figures will get a boost from the higher gasoline prices, which rose to an average of $2.47 per gallon from $2.33 in February. Ahmed is forecasting a 2% gain in gas station sales.
The real wild card in the March figures could be sales of building materials, which account for about 9% of sales. With January very warm and February very dry, sales at garden centers, hardware stores and lumber yards increased nearly 9% in the first two months of the year. It's payback time, said Ray Stone of Stone & McCarthy Research. He figures building materials sales plunged by 8.5% in March, enough to cut total sales by 0.5%.
Thursday is a particularly busy day for the economic data.
Also at 8:30 a.m.: The March import price index (0.1% expected after -0.5% in February) and weekly jobless claims (303,000 expected after 299,000 last week).
At 9:45 a.m.: The University of Michigan will leak the results of its early April consumer sentiment survey (89.3 expected after 88.9 in March).
At 10 a.m.: February business inventories (0.3% gain expected after 0.4% in January). Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:57 AM
Bayer Makes $20B Takeover Bid for Schering Thursday April 13, 6:50 am ET By David Rising, Associated Press Writer
German Drugmaker Bayer Makes Official $20 Billion Takeover Offer for Schering
BERLIN (AP) -- Bayer AG on Thursday made its official takeover bid for fellow German drugmaker Schering AG, offering 16.5 billion euros ($20.01 billion), slightly more than its previous 16.3 billion euro ($19.76 billion) offer that Schering's board had recommended be accepted. Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer said it made a final takeover offer of 86 euros ($104.28) per share. The increase over the previously announced offer came primarily because Schering AG had issued shares from its own shareholding for fulfillment of employee options in the interim, Bayer said in a statement.
Bayer's offer for Berlin's Schering trumped a hostile 14.9 billion euro ($18.07 billion) offer made March 13 by a third German company, Merck KGaA, which abandoned its takeover bid after Bayer made its offer.
The planned merger of Schering AG and the Bayer pharmaceuticals division will create a new heavyweight of international standing in pharmaceutical specialty products.
It is also expected to result in the loss of some 6,000 jobs from a work force that will number about 60,000 when Schering is combined with Bayer's pharmaceuticals business. The combined company is to be named Bayer-Schering Pharmaceuticals and have its headquarters in Berlin.
Bayer AG said it will announce the management of the new entity when the offer is no longer subject to conditions.
Those conditions are primarily the minimum acceptance threshold of 75 percent of Schering shareholders and the go-ahead from European and U.S. antitrust authorities.
Schering shares were barely changed by midday on the Frankfurt exchange, edging up 0.1 percent to 86.06 euros ($104.46). Bayer shares were up 0.2 percent at 33.33 euros ($40.46).
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:57 AM
NJ Transit plans new station link in NYC Thursday, April 13, 2006
NEWARK -- NJ Transit said yesterday it would start designing a walkway from New York Penn Station to the planned Moynihan Train Station. NJ Transit, which is to be the anchor rail tenant of the new station, expects increased demand by commuters to midtown Manhattan. A concourse connecting the two stations should help pedestrian flow as rail service is increased, NJ Transit said. The project also includes extending the platforms serving tracks 1 through 4 in New York Penn Station to handle longer trains and connect them with the new concourse. The new concourse, platform extensions and related improvements to New York Penn Station should be done by 2010, NJ Transit said.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:55 AM
State Unveils $3B Transportation Capital Program By Eric Peterson Last updated: April 12, 2006 10:44am
TRENTON-The underlying message in the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s $3.2-billion FY 2007 capital program unveiled yesterday is that the state wants to get people out of their cars and onto NJ Transit’s trains and buses. The far-reaching program calls for major improvements to the state’s transit system and the existing highway infrastructure, but only minor increases in New Jersey’s highway capacity. Indeed, as transportation commissioner Kris Kolluri pointed out yesterday, only about 3% of the budget will go to create new highway lanes. "Through this program, we will strengthen the transportation network that is critical to our long-term economic viability and our quality of life," said Gov. Jon Corzine, who with Kolluri unveiled the program. "It’s also a real statement on our commitment to mass transit. We’re always looking to make sure we improve the system we have."
Pending legislative approval, a total of $1.3 billion is slated for NJ Transit projects, including 15 rail station improvement projects, hundreds of new rail cars and "convenient new services for commuters," according to Corzine. And rather than adding road capacity, the $1.9 billion going to NJ DOT projects are part of what state officials call that agency’s "congestion relief plan." Among the projects are a total of 125 bottleneck relief projects relating to roadway planning and design. Approximately $150 million is going to resurfacing projects, and the plan also calls for creating more than 4,500 parking spaces for commuters.
The program, pending legislative approval, will be funded 50-50 with state and federal money. The state’s share of $1.6 billion is an increase of FY 2006’s $1.2 billion in capital spending for transportation.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:54 AM
Rreef Renews and Expands to 22,000 SF By Eric Peterson Last updated: April 11, 2006 09:57am
HACKENSACK, NJ-Rreef has renewed its lease at Continental Plaza, and has more than doubled its presence in the complex in the process. The Deutsche Bank unit has relocated from its existing 10,500 sf space within the 433 Hackensack Ave. building to a full floor of 22,458 sf. Terms of the signing were not disclosed.
"That a prominent firm whose business is real estate chose to stay here is a testament to the complex’s attractiveness," says William J. O’Keefe, vice president of leasing for Normandy Real Estate Partners, owner of the complex. "The move was necessitated by the company’s ongoing growth and is primarily accommodating an accounting department."
Normandy and joint venture partners Morgan Stanley and Wafra Investment Advisory Group acquired the 650,000-sf, three-tower office complex in September 2004 from Stellar Management and Brack Capital Real Estate for a reported $108.5 million, or $167 per sf. The 12-acre complex is located at 401, 411 and 433 Hackensack Ave.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:54 AM
73,000-SF Office Building Trades for $13M By Eric Peterson Last updated: April 12, 2006 10:47am
SOMERVILLE, NJ-Sterling Enterprises has acquired Post Office Plaza, a 73,000-sf office building at 50 Division St., for just over $13.3 million, or approximately $182.50 per sf. The seller was JG Petrucci. The buyer is a Flemington, NJ-based investment group headed by David Hay.
"The sale of Post Office Plaza demonstrates our value-added property program," says Greg Rogerson, a principal of the Asbury, NJ-based Petrucci organization. Petrucci bought the asset in mid-2002 from Somerville Urban Renewal Associates, a local group, for an undisclosed price. Completed in 1987, Post Office Plaza is situated across from this Somerset County seat’s commuter rail station. The building’s major tenants include Embryon Inc., which occupies 44,300 sf; New England Financial (11,500 sf); and Harding Loevner (9,500 sf). All three renewed their leases in 2003.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:53 AM
Mills Gets Default on Credit Line By Ian Ritter Last updated: April 12, 2006 02:43pm (Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)
ARLINGTON, VA-Troubled retail-REIT the Mills Corp. received waivers of default from its lenders through Dec. 31, which also permit new borrowings, under certain conditions, of up to $341 million. Mills is also in the process of obtaining waivers on the construction loans of four of its completed projects.
The company is currently exploring a sale and is under investigation by the SEC for accounting flaws. Mills is restating its financials from 2000 through last year after its third-quarter NOI and FFO dropped due to the failure to collect rents, charges on projects under construction and other factors. For previous coverage, click here.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan provided the company with a $625-million mortgage on Sawgrass Mills, a center in Sunrise, FL, to replace a $268-million mortgage and $74 million in mezzanine financing. Executives expect to generate about $246 million in proceeds from the deal.
Mills’ management also plans to refinance its Madrid (Spain) Xanadu and Vaughan (Ontario) Mills centers. The refinancing and access to its credit line will allow it to pursue its current developments, says Laurence Siegel, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. Among the major projects it has in the pipeline are Meadowlands Xanadu in East Rutherford, NJ and 108 N. State St. in Chicago.
"This financial flexibility should also strengthen the company's position with respect to its previously announced exploration of strategic alternatives," says Siegel, in a statement. So far, Vornado Realty Trust, other publicly traded REITs and private-equity firms have been named as potential buyers of some or all of Mills’ assets.
Mills is also paying a dividend of just over 25 cents per share on its common stock for the period from Feb. 2 to May 1. The company owns 42 centers in North America and Europe.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:51 AM
The proposal to build a new train station off Route 80 in Mount Arlington cleared a final hurdle this morning when the NJ Transit Board of Directors approved the $12.1 million project’s construction, NJ Transit officials said.
The board awarded the construction contract to Terminal Construction Corp. of Wood-Ridge. Construction on the station is expected to begin this summer and completed by late 2007.The station, which will be served by trains on the Montclair-Boonton line and the Morristown Line, will give commuters from western Morris, Sussex and Warren counties, as well as parts of Pennsylvania, access to direct rail service to Morristown and New York City.This board’s approval marks a successful end to a three-decade campaign by local officials to create a transit hub west of the Route 80-Route 15 interchange at Exit 34, where eastbound traffic consistently backs up.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:50 AM
$1B Allied Junction Project Makes Major Move Forward Thursday, April 13, 2006 By Eric Peterson (For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)
SECAUCUS, NJ-Allied Junction Corp. has found a developer for its massive mixed-use project slated to rise atop and around the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station here, but isn’t identifying that developer just yet. "The deal hasn’t formally closed yet, and the developer doesn’t want its identity disclosed until that happens," a spokesman for Allied Junction tells GlobeSt.com. The spokesman did not know when the deal might close.
By any yardstick, however, the project is massive. Under the agreement the developer, identified by the spokesman only as "a national office property developer," will build the project according to a general site plan approved in the early 1990s by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, a state agency. While the final site plan is subject to amendment by agreement between the NJMC and the developer, the approved plan calls for four class A office towers of between 20 and 40 stories, totaling 3.5 million sf. Also part of the plan is a 600-room hotel and conference center, as well as a 112,000-sf retail concourse and a six-level, 4,400-car parking garage. Allied Junction and NJMC officials put the total cost of the project in the $1-billion range. "This is the final piece of a dynamic puzzle more than 25 years in the making," says Marc Joseph, president/CEO of Allied Junction Corp., who is also a trustee for the George W. Newman Irrevocable Trust, owner of the property. Newman, who founded Allied Outdoor Advertising and subsequently bought the 28-acre site surrounding the Northeast Corridor rail line and adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike in 1982, died last year.
"Commercial development of this site will jump-start the North Jersey economy and provide residents here and throughout the state with our very own Rockefeller Center," Joseph says. The Lautenberg rail station itself, named for the once and future New Jersey senator and commonly referred to as Secaucus Junction, was completed in 2003. An interconnecting hub for several rail lines, it also sparked the creation of a new interchange on the New Jersey Turnpike, Exit 15X, which will serve the Allied Junction project as well.
"The office complex couldn’t be built until the highway interchange was complete," Joseph explains. "The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission stipulated that we had to wait. We used this time to identify a developer. The project fits perfectly with the NJMC’s desire for transit-driven development around the station."
ProLogis sets up $4 billion industrial fund The Denver Business Journal - February 15, 2006
ProLogis has formed ProLogis North American Industrial Fund LP, which will own recently developed properties in major distribution markets throughout the United States and Canada, the company said Wednesday.
The open-end, infinite-life fund is expected to have a total capitalization of approximately $4 billion, including $1.5 billion of third-party equity, ProLogis' 20 percent equity interest and targeted leverage of 55 percent to 60 percent.
ProLogis (NYSE: PLD), a Denver-based global provider of distribution facilities and services, will contribute the properties it acquired in January 2006 when it purchased the remaining 80 percent ownership interest in each of ProLogis North American Properties Funds II, III and IV from an affiliate of Arcapita Bank B.S.C. This initial portfolio comprises 12.2 million square feet in 77 buildings in 23 U.S. markets. The properties have an average age of seven years and are currently 96 percent leased to a diverse mix of more than 173 customers.
Separately, ProLogis said it had increased the range for 2006 ProLogis-defined funds from operations by 5 cents per share, resulting in a new range of $2.95 to $3.15 per share, prior to charges of 1 to 3 cents per share for the remaining costs associated with the Catellus merger and the move of the company's Denver headquarters.
The current guidance range for 2006 earnings per share is $1.85 to $2.25 per share.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:47 AM
Billion Dollar Mixed-Use Development Planned for Secaucus Rail Station Site April 12, 2006 By Michael Fickes, East Coast Correspondent
The trust established by philanthropist and businessman George W. Newman of Oradell, N. J., today announced an agreement that might lead to the construction of a $1 billion mixed-use commercial development (rendering pictured) atop the NJ Transit Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station at Secaucus Junction.
Under today's agreement, Allied Junction Corp.--an agent for Newman's trust, which owns the rail station property--will transfer the development rights for the property to a large national office property development company. A spokesperson for Allied Junction today declined to give the developer's name.
Completed in 2003, the rail station was constructed according to a plan approved by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission in 1992. The plan called for a design that would accommodate the construction of four 20 to 40-story office towers; a 600-room hotel and conference center; a 112,000 square-foot retail concourse; and a six-level 4,400-car parking garage.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:42 AM
Broad Street Buys NYC Building for $97.2M April 11, 2006 By Colleen Corley, News Writer
La Salle's Income & Growth Lexington L.L.C. has sold 370 Lexington Ave. (pictured), a 27-story, 296,000-square-foot office building in New York City's Midtown submarket for $97.2 million. Broad Street Development and Crow Holdings Realty Partners IV acquired the building, despite its almost-unheard-of 15 to 20 percent vacancy rate, explained Daniel Blanc, executive vice president of Broad Street Development.
"(The) Midtown marketplace is very robust right now, and the tenancies we're trying to attract--the 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot tenants--(are) one of the most deep markets," he told CPN this afternoon. The company plans to spend "significant capital" on infrastructure and the building's lobby to fill the remaining space.
Yet the vacancy is surprising in a market with an average vacancy of just 7.2 percent, according to a March 2006 report from Colliers International. But at $328 per square foot, the price remains competitive with the submarket and justified by the building's location just one block from Grand Central Station, Blanc noted. "It's an underutilized, under-marketed asset that's just right for repositioning," he explained. "It's capital and time. You have to spend a lot (it) on these things."
CB Richard Ellis Inc. negotiated the transaction.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:51 AM
New Web site to draw biotech firms to state by Amanda Fung April 11, 2006
New York's biotech trade association and economic development agencies launched the first Web site dedicated to helping attract firms to the state.
New York state's biotech trade association and economic development agencies partnered to launch the first Web site dedicated to helping attract biotech firms to the state.
The Web site, www.BioNY.org, will be unveiled at the annual international trade show BIO2006 in Chicago on April 12.
"This Web site will aid firms in networking and will help keep New York State competitive in the global marketplace," Empire State Development chairman Charles Gargano said in a statement.
The new site follows a number of initiatives by Gov. George Pataki and the legislature aimed at expanding biotech businesses and creating high-tech jobs. BioNY.org is designed to help New York-area start-up biotech companies find potential investors, network, and find business information resources. It also lists biotech patents and job openings in the region.
The Web site was created by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research, Empire State Development Corporation, Manhattan-based New York Biotechnology Association and other regional agency members of the New York State Bioscience Council.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:50 AM
Bioscience Industry Fuels Jobs and Growth for States, Industry Study Finds Monday April 10, 11:30 am ET Nation's 1.2 Million Bioscience Jobs Generate Additional 5.8 Million Jobs
CHICAGO, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- States and regions across the country are working to develop and promote the growth of their bioscience bases, according to the study "Growing the Nation's Bioscience Sector: State Bioscience Initiatives 2006," released today by Battelle and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). The biosciences are a growing and vibrant sector of the U.S. economy, with more than 40,000 businesses employing 1.2 million people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
"Growing the Nation's Bioscience Sector: State Bioscience Initiatives 2006" profiles state policies and programs that provide support to bioscience companies. The report also provides state-by-state employment data for all bioscience sectors, including drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment, research, testing and medical laboratories, and agricultural feedstocks and chemicals.
"This report shows that when states invest in building bioscience industries, they are at the same time making long-term investments in their citizenry with higher education -- especially in science, math and technology. These investments pay off with high-wage, new economy jobs in a growing industry," said Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO. "The industry's growth and the benefits are not just in health care, but also in agricultural, industrial and environmental biosciences."
Walter H. Plosila, vice president of the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, said, "State investments in research and development at universities and laboratories will become increasingly important in the future to continue the growth of the bioscience industries. The payoff for states will come from investments in translating this research into commercial applications and products."
Key findings of the report include:
* Total employment in the biosciences in the United States reached 1.2 million in 2004, with bioscience workers found in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The highest rate of growth in jobs is in the research, testing, and medical laboratories sector.
* The nation's 1.2 million bioscience jobs generated an additional 5.8 million jobs in the economy. Each bioscience job in the United States generates 5.7 additional jobs in affiliated industries.
* States are spending billions of dollars to support bioscience research and development, with research funds and construction of academic and medical facilities.
* States are also using investment funds and tax incentives to attract large industry anchors, instead of solely focusing on launching and growing new bioscience ventures.
* Smaller states that have not traditionally invested in building bioscience industries are beginning to do so.
All 50 states and Puerto Rico are working to develop and promote the growth of their bioscience bases. Each of these states recognizes that by focusing on its own strengths, they will succeed in capturing the economic benefits of bioscience discoveries.
Battelle is a global leader in science and technology. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, it develops and commercializes technology and manages laboratories for customers. Battelle, with the national labs it manages or co-manages, oversees 19,000 staff members and conducts $3.4 billion in annual research and development. Battelle innovations include the development of the office copier machine (Xerox), pioneering work on compact disc technology, medical technology advancements, and fiber optic technologies.
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Biotechnology Industry Organization
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:48 AM
BofA to cut 1,900 jobs Tuesday April 11, 1:36 pm ET
Bank of America Corp. is closing call centers in Delaware, Colorado and Pennsylvania, cutting about 1,900 jobs as it integrates former credit-card giant MBNA Corp.
BofA (NYSE:BAC - News) bought MBNA of Delaware in January for $35 billion in a deal that created the largest credit-card issuer in the country, based on balances.
All affected workers will be offered severance packages and outplacement services, a bank spokeswoman says. Employees in Delaware and Pennsylvania will be offered opportunities to apply for other positions within BofA, she says.
Bank officials have said they expect to save $850 million in expenses by the end of 2007 through measures that included cutting 6,000 jobs and eliminating overlapping technology and marketing.
After the January purchase, BofA announced a series of cutbacks, including the closing of five call centers in Maine and Delaware.
And last month, the Colorado Springs Business Journal reported the planned closure of a 600-employee call center in Colorado Springs, Col. The bank is also reportedly planning to outsource mortgage operations it inherited from MBNA in Cleveland.
BofA is one of the world's largest financial institutions, with more than 5,800 retail branches and 16,700 ATMs.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:46 AM
DOT plan calls for delaying Rt. 206 bypass until 2008 By PAMELA SROKA Staff Writer
HILLSBOROUGH -- The state is still committed to completing the Route 206 bypass, but construction may not start until 2008, it was revealed Tuesday.
The project from Old Somerville Road in Hillsborough to Belle Meade-Griggstown Road is included in the state's $3.2 billion transportation capital plan released Tuesday.
"The road is going through, and they (DOT officials) are committed," Assemblyman Peter Biondi, R-Hillsborough, said about the bypass.
Construction is now scheduled to begin in 2008 because the state is still in the process of acquiring properties for the project, Biondi said.
The replacement of the Route 206 bridge over the CSX railroad in the Belle Mead section of Montgomery also is slated for 2008. That project calls for $17 million to replace the existing 85-foot span with a new 138-foot bridge, plus realignments to Route 206 and County Route 601. The bypass would reroute traffic on the present stretch of Route 206 south of Somerville Road to a new highway to the east. The bypass would divert traffic from the present Route 206 through downtown Hillsborough and open up industrial development in the eastern part of the township.
Total design cost of the four-lane bypass is $11,625,000, and total construction funding is $100,806,000. In 2008, funding will total $21 million; in 2009, $55 million; and in 2010, $61 million.
On Tuesday, Hillsborough Mayor Carl Suraci wrote a letter to Department of Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri expressing dismay about moving the project to 2008.
"The Township Committee and citizens of Hillsborough have a great concern regarding the recent announcement by NJDOT regarding pushing construction funding for the Route 206 bypass to fy 2008," Suraci wrote. "Interests outside of our community have suggested that the decision reflects the DOT's willingness to alter the design of the project and delay its ultimate construction. We do not believe that, as it is contrary to our discussions on March 21."
Suraci requested a DOT representative attend the Township Committee meeting April 25 to explain the reasoning for the change and its impact on the construction.
Montgomery officials are opposed to the plan and have proposed alternatives to the bypass's terminus on Belle Meade-Griggstown Road.
Consultants hired by Montgomery had proposed several solutions, such as ending the bypass one-third to one-half a mile sooner, north of Pike Run Road and closer to Route 601.
"With DOT's blessing, Montgomery researched and suggested alternative plans that are much less expensive and that would still serve the congestion-relieve objectives that are so important to Hillsborough," Montgomery Mayor Louise Wilson said in an e-mail. "Dumping thousands of additional cars onto 206 at Belle Mead-Griggstown would create a crushing congestion problem in much of Montgomery and would also severely impact Rocky Hill, Princeton, Hopewell and Lawrenceville."
Other Somerset County construction projects scheduled for 2008 include:
Amwell Bridge over the Neshanic River in Hillsborough.
Route 206 Crusers Brook Bridge in Bridgewater.
The Somerset/Morris drainage improvements: In Far Hills, Bernardsville and Morris Township, work includes $3.8 million at Sunny Branch Road for clearing the culvert, headwall configuration, installation of a longitudinal system along the southbound shoulders and construction of a rip-rap lined outlet channel to Mine Brook. Work also is expected at the Harter Road location.
Geraud Avenue Bridge over the Green Brook in Green Brook.
The 2007 capital plan also includes money for initial engineering of a $5 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
"This capital program reflects the governor's commitment to not only the Transportation Trust Fund but to grow and prosper the economy," Kolluri said.
The state's share of the money, $1.6 billion, comes from $6.4 billion of borrowing recently approved by the Legislature to replenish the state's Transportation Trust Fund. Most of the rest comes from the federal government.
Nearly half of the money, $1.3 billion, will go to NJ Transit projects, winning praise from transportation advocates who have urged ways to reduce the numbers of cars and trucks on the roads.
"Congestion relief is not just what we can do on our roadways. It's what alternative modes of transportation we can provide our residents," Kolluri said.
The proposed projects will be reviewed by the Legislature and must be approved as part of the state budget, which takes effect July 1.
Mass transit projects include new rail cars and buses, expanded parking at train stations, engineering work for a new station in North or South Brunswick and plans to make it easier for commuters to walk to public transportation.
"From what we're hearing, this is a very positive step," said Tom Dallessio, New Jersey director for the Regional Plan Association.
Damien Newton, a spokesman for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, pointed approvingly to increased funding for walking and bicycle projects.
"The average New Jersey family takes 12 trips per day, almost all in cars. When you have bikeable, walkable communities you can cut down on those trips significantly," Newton said. But the head of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club said some of the projects, including adding parking at some rail sites and plans for a light rail connection to the Meadowlands, are only helping developers bring more housing.
"The developers should be paying for it, not the taxpayers," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter.
For commuters to New York, there will be money for an ongoing effort to increase rail capacity to midtown Manhattan and begin expansion of platforms at New York Penn Station, in anticipation of the new rail tunnel, Kolluri said. Motorists will see money for rehabilitation work on the road leading to the Holland Tunnel.
Pamela Sroka can be reached at (908) 707-3155 or psroka@c-n.com.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:39 AM
Hovnanian, partner buying Hartz land, plan to build two residential towers Tuesday, April 11, 2006 By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
K. Hovnanian and Equity Residential will pay more than $65 million to buy land on the Jersey City waterfront for two residential towers, two officials with knowledge of the deal said yesterday.
The deal to buy the land at 77 Hudson St. from Secaucus-based Hartz Mountain Industries and build two 48-story buildings is the latest in a series of major residential projects for the Jersey City waterfront.
It marks a major shift for Hovnanian, which has built thousands of houses and smaller, multifamily developments but never a major tower like the ones planned for Jersey City. Red Bank-based K. Hovnanian, a unit of Hovnanian Enterprises, is one of the most successful home builders in the country, while Equity Residential is a top developer of rental apartments. Doug Fenichel, a spokesman for Hovnanian, confirmed the plans for the project but declined to discuss the cost.
"It represents how K. Hovnanian remains young by taking on new markets," said Doug Fenichel, a company spokesman. "This is the largest thing we've done in the Northeast."
Officials from Equity Residential in Chicago did not return phone calls.
Carl Goldberg, principal of Roseland Property, a residential real estate firm, said Jersey City merited the intense competition.
"Its proximity to mass transit facilities, coupled with an adjacency to some of the most important employment centers gives Jersey City all the quality-of-life components you look for in urban redevelopment," he said.
On the other hand, Hartz Mountain's decision to sell yet another prime location shows the office market, even on the waterfront, has dropped substantially since the late 1990s when Hartz built three major office towers that have been nearly 100 percent leased since they opened.
Hartz owns nearly 40 million square feet of property in New Jersey and New York, including the Mill Creek Mall in Secaucus and Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand hotels in New York.
But the company specializes in industrial, commercial and hotel space, and views the office market as too soft to absorb what it had once planned for the site - a 32-story office tower.
Also, most successful developers make a habit of sticking to the parts of the business they know best, rather than venturing into a new market.
Hartz President Emanuel Stern declined to comment.
Planning documents show the towers proposed by Hovnanian and Equity would total 925,000 square feet and have 901 units.
An East Tower would have 420 condominiums, including studios and one-, two-and three-bedroom apartments. A West Tower would have 481 rental apartments, including studios and one-and two-bedroom apartments.
There will also be a parking garage with 896 spaces and about 20,000 square feet of retail space.
$10M Takes 57,000-SF Office Building By Eric Peterson Last updated: April 7, 2006 11:22am
DAYTON, NJ-Corporate Office Properties Trust has sold 68 Culver Rd., a 57,000-sf office building located within the Princeton Technology Center, for $9.7 million, or $170 per sf. The Columbia, MD-based COPT continues to own the remaining three buildings, totaling 342,000 sf, that make up the Princeton Technology Center.
"This sale represents the continuation of our strategy to dispose of assets located outside of core markets and provides the opportunity to recycle capital into acquisitions and development in our higher growth markets," says Randall M. Griffin, COPT’s president/CEO. "We’ve sold $27 million in properties year-to-date versus our stated annual goal of $100 million." The identity of the buyer was not disclosed.
Built in 1967, 68 Culver Rd. was acquired by COPT in 2000. Formerly occupied by soap manufacturer Miranol Inc., the property was remediated as a superfund site and subsequently converted to offices. The location was occupied, for a time, by AT&T.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:31 PM
DOV Pharma Set to Move HQ By Eric Peterson Last updated: April 10, 2006 08:46am
FRANKLIN TWP., NJ-DOV Pharmaceutical Inc. is set to move its headquarters from Hackensack to the 133,686-sf former Unilever Bestfoods R&D center at 150 Pierce St. here. The sale of the building and the simultaneous full-building lease were reported last week by GlobeSt.com, but the parties involved in the two related transactions declined to identify the new tenant pending a formal announcement of its relocation. The tenant was described by a broker involved in the building sale only as "a specialty pharmaceutical company that is relocating from Bergen County."
Details of DOV Pharmaceutical’s pending relocation have emerged, however, regarding a financing package for the building’s acquisition. Paragon 150 Pierce Street LLC, an affiliate of the Montvale-based Paragon Realty Group, bought the building from Unilever for undisclosed price in a transaction brokered by GVA Williams of NJ. However, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s Florham Park office has announced that it has arranged a $13.2-million loan for Paragon relating to the acquisition, reporting the deal as a 10-year, fixed-rate package provided by CIBC World Markets.
"The loan was used to acquire and renovate the vacant building for DOV Pharmaceutical," says Jon Mikula, senior managing director in HFF’s New Jersey office. The property hit the for-sale or sublease market in mid 2003 when the parent shuttered its Unilever Bestfoods North America R&D operation and relocated it to the company’s headquarters in Englewood Cliffs. Completed in the early ’90s, the asset features a 57,000-sf lab wing and a multi-function pilot plant area with 27-foot clear height. The 17-acre site also has the capability for the future expansion of the existing facility.
DOV Pharmaceutical develops treatments related to central nervous system disorders. A spokesman would not comment on the company’s pending move to this Somerset County location.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:31 PM
BOFFO MIDTOWN BUYS REFLECT HOT MARKET By STEVE CUOZZO
April 11, 2006 -- Two large investment-sale transactions powerfully display the strength of the Midtown market, where quality properties for sale are in short supply.
On Friday, Dubai investment company Istithmar - the same outfit that bought 230 Park Ave. last year - signed a contract to buy a 99-year leasehold on 450 Lexington Ave., the 32-story office tower on top of the Grand Central Post Office at 45th Street.
The sellers are a partnership including Norman Sturner's Murray Hill Properties, Westbrook and SITQ.
Marketplace sources said the sale price is "$600 million and change," or above $600 a square foot - nearly as costly as an outright "fee" purchase would be. The U.S. Postal Service owns the land under the tower.
CB Richard Ellis' global brokerage chief Stephen B. Siegel acted as an adviser to Istithmar, which was represented by Andrew Farkas' Island Capital. None of the participants in the deal could be reached yesterday.
Meanwhile, opportunistic investor Raymond Chalme's Broad Street Development and Dallas-based Crow Holdings Realty Partners IV were the winning bidders for 370 Lexington Ave. at 41st Street.
In a deal that closed last week, the Chalme team paid $97.2 million for the 296,000 square-foot brick tower. CB Richard Ellis' Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan negotiated the sale. Chalme and his partner Daniel M. Blanco plan to upgrade the building along the lines of a "boutique" office property, Chalme said.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:30 PM
NEWARK (AP) -- Three people were added as defendants Monday to a conspiracy and tax fraud case involving real estate partnerships controlled by Democratic donor and developer Charles Kushner.
A superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury added Richard Stadtmauer, 47, of Livingston, the vice chairman, managing partner, and vice president of the Kushner Companies, to the case.
It also added Stanley Bekritsky, 57, of Teaneck, a former partner at a Roseland accounting firm specializing in servicing the real estate industry; and Anne Amici, 44, of Point Pleasant, an accountant at the Roseland accounting firm. Stadtmauer is Kushner's brother-in-law, prosecutors said.
Robert Fink, Stadtmauer's attorney, said U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie "has twisted ordinary civil tax issues into a criminal indictment."
"For over three years, Mr. Christie has pursued Mr. Kushner, a well-known philanthropist, his family and his companies," Fink said. "That three-year investigation did not reveal any criminal wrongdoing by Mr. Stadtmauer, but that has not deterred Mr. Christie. Such a prosecution is vindictive and a shameful misuse of prosecutorial power that now, unfortunately, only a jury can stop."
Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, replied, "As we always do in this office, we will let our evidence and our record speak for itself."
The original indictment was returned on April 11, 2005, and charged only Marci Plotkin, 49, of North Caldwell, who was an accountant employed by the Roseland accounting firm. She faces the same 31 counts as in the original indictment.
It charges that all of the defendants conspired in a scheme to mischaracterize $5 million worth of charitable and political contributions, capital items and gift-and-entertainment charges as business expenses.
Kushner, a real estate mogul and national and state political contributor, was sentenced on March 4, 2005, to a 24-month prison term for his conviction on charges of assisting in the filing of false tax returns, retaliating against a cooperating witness and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. He was recently transferred from a federal prison camp in Alabama to a Newark halfway house.
Amici's lawyer, Edward Plaza, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:28 PM
Extra lanes to ease Edison-Woodbridge bottleneck Home News Tribune Online 04/11/06 By GINA VERGEL STAFF WRITER gvergel@thnt.com
EDISON — The long-awaited widening of Route 1 between Interstate 287 and the Garden State Parkway will get under way this summer.
The 2.3-mile stretch will get two extra lanes and new jughandles in an $85 million expansion that will take three years to complete.
"It's a major project that will widen a major roadway," said state Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Erin Phalon. "We anticipate that it will severly alleviate congestion and improve safety."
Phalon said the DOT will widen Route 1 from north of Interstate 287 to south of the Garden State Parkway's intersection with Route 1 in Woodbridge.
Construction should begin in July, she added.
The stretch of highway to be widened is the narrow section of an "hourglass." Route 1 north of the Parkway and south of I-287 has been widened to three lanes in each direction. The section in-between is two lanes in each direction.
Traffic backs up on the narrow section daily, creating a stop-and-go nightmare for motorists. It's particularly bad during heavy shopping seasons as motorists try to go from Woodbridge Center Mall to Menlo Park Mall — about one mile apart — along the congested highway.
Phalon said a travel lane with outside shoulders will be added to that stretch of Route 1 in both directions.
"We're going to provide jughandles at three signal-light intersections already there," said Phalon.
Woodbridge Mayor Frank G. Pelzman said he welcomes a project that can provide traffic relief to an always-congested Ford Avenue intersection.
"We been waiting for sometime for that area to be widened and some of those jughandles to be taken care of," Pelzman said yesterday. "That is quite a bottleneck with the Parkway coming off into Route 1 South. Our understanding of the intersection change looks like it will be very good for Woodbridge."
The project, which Phalon said will cost approximately $85 million, is slated for completion in July 2009.
Edison Mayor Jun Choi, who recently announced a host of traffic improvements for the township, was also pleased the DOT is moving to start the project this summer.
"I'm thrilled that the state Department of Transportation and Edison government can work hand in hand to relieve congestion in our community and make life a bit more pleasant for all of us," Choi said.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:26 PM
Sanofi-Aventis Buys Land in Arizona for New Facility
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY), with U.S. headquarters in Bridgewater, announced today that it has bought 11.54 acres at a high-technology campus called Innovation Park in Arizona and will move its research and development center there. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The move keeps the facility in Oro Valley, Ariz. but with a shift from Hanley Boulevard to Innovation Park. The facility will be approximately 100,000 sq. ft., more than double the space of its current site. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2007. The 65 employees at the current facility are expected to move to the new location by the end of 2008. The company said it is also planning to recruit 20 more scientists over the next three to five years. Shares slid 13 cents to $45.26 in early trading. - Varsha Gupta
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:26 PM
MINUTE MAID PLANT IN HIGHTSTOWN EYED FOR DEVELOPMENT
The Minute Maid plant on the Hightstown-East Windsor border has been closed since 2003, but now may be the site of new residential and commercial development. Dornoch Management of Lakewood is nearing purchase of the 37-acre site, which includes the plant on about 17 acres in Hightstown and another 20 acres of undeveloped acreage in East Windsor. Minute Maid's parent company, Coca-Cola of North America, now owns the plant property.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:25 PM
The Federal Highway Administration has reversed course and said it would provide $150 million for six highway projects in New Jersey. The decision came after pressure from New Jersey's Congressional delegation and threats by US Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez to block President Bush's nomination of J. Richard Capka to head the highway administration.
The six projects are:
-Work on Interstate 280 and the Garden State Parkway interchange in East Orange. -Improvements to Interstate Route 78 in Union, Hillside, Irvington and Newark. -Widening Route 1 in Edison and Woodbridge. -Improvements to the Route 440-High Street connector in Perth Amboy. -Work on Interstate 295 in Greenwich, East Greenwich and West Deptford. -Shoring up the Delilah Road Bridges in Absecon and Pleasantville.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:24 PM
Learn which regions are offering the sweetest deals to attract your biotech business
Everybody knows where to find the big biotech clusters in the U.S.: Boston, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle make just about everyone's short list. Each of those cities offers a compelling set of reasons why an emerging drug developer would want to call it home. In quite a few cases, of course, a city grew a big biotech cluster because existing companies helped spin off new players that weren't really interested in moving.
But dozens of states--and some international zones outside our borders--are actively shoveling money and resources right at biotechnology. They're creating new, high-paying jobs for a well-educated work force. That's the future. So FierceBiotech set out to learn a little more about which areas of the country are working overtime to woo biotech companies their way. Which states have governors and legislatures willing to fork out cash incentives to create the biotech clusters of the future? Big vision issues aside, which areas also are going the extra mile to help managers just grow their companies?
We'll be the first to admit it's a subjective approach. There's no specific algorithm at work, but a certain kind of chemistry is required. And every year from now on we'll look at the fiercest economic development regions in the world. Of course, we'll be looking for regular feedback from all of you as well on which new areas to include.
-John Carroll
The Top Five Regions
California Maryland and the I-270 Tech Corridor New Jersey Singapore Biopolis Wisconsin
California
A little more than a year ago, when California voters overwhelmingly endorsed an initiative to provide $3 billion in support of stem cell work, they immediately put the state on the road to becoming a future leader in the field. Even some Massachusetts companies started scouting the state for lab space. And California's public support for stem cell research made it an issue around the country. Other states like Wisconsin and New Jersey scrambled to put together smaller stem-cell programs of their own. But even though conservative groups have managed to block California's money so far in the courts (a trial is scheduled to start in late February) the state has retained the lead in this enormously promising field.
The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine isn't waiting for a verdict to get started. It's gathering more than $50 million from philanthropic groups and supportive individuals to fully set up this year so it can unloose a "torrent" of funding once the litigation is over. Eventually the institute will dole out some $300 million in support. Betting that the state will become a center for stem cell work once the institute turns on the monetary taps, Stanford University, the University of Southern California and the University of California-Los Angeles have set aside millions of dollars for new lab space and recruited top scientists from around the world. With South Korea's humiliating concession that one of its top scientists faked work on cloning embryonic stem cells, this is one race that is still in its first lap. Of course, California is building on one of the biggest life sciences bases in the world. Amgen and Genentech are just two of the biotech stars based in the state, and Stanford recently announced plans to develop a new biotech center of its own.
Astronomical housing prices aside, fame, money and success all help spread that glittery look to the state's biotech prospects.
Maryland and the I-270 Tech Corridor When MedImmune went looking for a site for its second manufacturing plant, it stayed home. Or close to home. The biotech decided to build an office/lab/manufacturing complex in Frederick, MD, right next to its existing plant. That I-270 tech corridor has become a hot property in the biotech world, drawing in a big vaccine plants from BioPort and Nabi Biopharmaceuticals as well.
University of Maryland Baltimore's new $200 million BioPark has inked its first big tenant, while East Baltimore Biotechnology Park, located next to Johns Hopkins University's medical campus, hopes to tap in on the industry's expansion as well.
Biotech firms benefit from from Maryland's world-class medical research institutions. University of Maryland Balitmore's new $200 million BioPark has already inked its first big tenant.
Of course, biotechnology development doesn't happen in a vacuum, as Maryland officials know. So in addition to grants, tax credits, early stage backing from the state's venture fund and help from TEDCO, the region's economic development department also helps to set up relationships with big federal agencies like NIH and the FDA. A statewide consortium of universities provides further help on the training side.
The state legislature has yet to get on the stem cell bandwagon, but recent polls showing solid support for fostering that work in Maryland may help push lawmakers in that direction.
New Jersey
Few states are as gung-ho about biotechnology as New Jersey. It's got a feisty group of drug developers. It's attracting new companies with a tax credit transfer program (a standard description for an early-stage venture), which allows money-losing biotechs to sell their losses to profitable companies for cash. The state boasts tax credits, grants and loans; subsidizes office space; and offers research funding to boot. Also, in 2004 the state set up its own $10 million life sciences venture fund that offers seed capital to start-ups.
The state has cut the number of new jobs biotech companies must create to qualify for a state incentive program to 10 from 25 and extended tax credits for larger drug companies. It's added $50,000 bridge grants to help a biotech company move from Phase I to Phase II. Also, the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey has helped establish an umbrella group--The New Jersey Biotechnology Life Sciences Coalition--to help market the state to the industry.
By law, biotech companies can sell their unused net operating loss and R&D tax credit carry forwards to any state corporation for at least 75 percent of the benefit. That program was recently expanded from $40 million to $60 million. It has also recently expanded its Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies, a science incubator inside The Technology Center of New Jersey, a 50-acre research center opened in 1995.
The Legislature has helped by providing support for stem cell work. New Jersey has actually handed out $5 million in cold hard cash to help support stem cell research; not much, but the first real state money to flow in that direction. Now that Jon Corzine has been sworn in as governor, the industry expects him to pick up the stem cell banner he waved during the campaign and push for hundreds of millions more through the Edison Innovation Fund.
Singapore Biopolis Any biopharma company looking for a lot of help for drug development would do well to look closely at Singapore. Grants are available for R&D projects and technology training. Lower corporate taxes and even full tax exemption are available to the biopharma industry because it's considered a strategically important industry in the city-state. There's also an investment allowance to help pay for new technology.
Bio*One Capital operates four life sciences funds with a $1.2 billion portfolio. Bio*One also operates a separate group that offers seed funding and early-stage development funds that will dispatch scientists and entrepreneurs to help new managers grow their businesses. The Singapore Economic Development Board can match third-party investments in early-stage operations dollar for dollar, up to $300,000. Investments ranging from $250,000 to $2 million in equity and convertible loans don't hurt.
These are all good reasons why Singapore's Biopolis has been booming. Tenants have all but filled its Phase I development of 2 million sq. ft. of research and development space, and builders have broken ground on Phase II--400,000 sq. ft. of space for biopharma activities. That activity has drawn a lot of the big pharma companies--GSK, for example, recently started building a $115 million pilot plant for experimental drugs--but the tiny country may also prove a haven for smaller companies as well.
Wisconsin Wisconsin is not a state that makes a lot of relocation short lists in the biotech field, but the governor has given every indication that he intends to change that. Just weeks ago Governor Jim Doyle outlined ambitious plans for the life sciences sector totaling $750 million.
The bulk of that money is headed to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for new facilities and research in drug development and stem cells therapies. A whopping $375 million is earmarked for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, a public-private research institute that will occupy a full city block (it will support private biotech researchers as well). The Biostar Initiative--a building program started several years ago--has already pushed development of new facilities on the UW campus.
There are also new funds earmarked for life science companies. Most of Wisconsin's biotech companies have spun off from the University of Wisconsin in Madison or Milwaukee (there's a lot of competition between the two), and the state is clearly interested in leading with its strongest player in the field.
But the state offers more than just improved access to its university facilities. Wisconsin recently approved new tax credits for tech companies with an eye to fostering development of its biotech industry. There's grant money for targeting federal research funds and early-stage investments. Cash-strapped biotechs struggling to stay afloat between Phase I and Phase II can qualify for bridge grants, and low-interest loans will be available to help start-ups. The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, armed with billions in pension cash, has also committed to investing another $50 million with venture funds on top of the $135 million it's already channeled in that direction.
Within an hour of hearing about FierceBiotech's interest, Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce Mary Burke was on the line to underscore the state's commitment. She was quick to mention the NIH's National Stem Cell Bank--awarded to the WiCell Research Institute in Wisconsin last October--and UW-Madison's international rep in research. Some venture fund groups have even been suggesting their young biotech companies in California should move to Wisconsin, asserts Secretary Burke.
Even the weather this winter, which has been balmy by the state's frigid standards, has been helping her make her case. "People were out golfing last weekend," she says.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:32 AM
As James departs, all eyes are on developers More investment expected, no matter who's the mayor Sunday, April 09, 2006 BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN Star-Ledger Staff
It's the kind of story that many developers say has been typical of Newark for too long.
Two years ago, Newark Mayor Sharpe James and the City Council put the Housing Authority in charge of building the downtown arena, arguing the agency had 50 years of experience in redevelopment
As part of the deal, the authority was responsible for buying up the land where the arena would sit. By last July, little of the property had been acquired -- and with a deadline looming -- the team took over the job. Finally, in February, the city pulled the project from the Housing Authority and gave it to a newly created agency dedicated to overseeing development of Newark's downtown core.
No one has ever accused outgoing Mayor Sharpe James of lack ing enthusiasm for reviving his city.
But despite spurts of progress, many developers say a perception of incompetence and suspicions of corruption have kept more than a handful of builders from attempt ing the kind of large-scale investment that can reshape the city.
Now, with James leaving and the 36-year-old, Ivy-league educated candidate Cory Booker holding a large lead over his challenger, State Sen. Ron Rice as the May 9 election approaches, developers say the city is primed to spark interest from builders eager to take advantage of its location, mass transit and the momentum James has been able to generate.
"The city doesn't have the intellectual assets that can handle the level of development that needs to happen," said Chris Paladino, executive director of the New Brunswick Development Corp., a non- profit group that is one of the state's leading urban redevelopers. "There isn't a sophistication in planning, engineering and economic development that other cities have.
"But there is a template. They know what they want to accomplish and they have a running start."
Booker and Rice have been vague about their plans to stimulate development.
But a report released this week by the Newark Alliance, which is a consortium of business interests in the city, and the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, urged the city to focus its redevelopment efforts on four areas that take advantage of the city's exist ing resources: transportation and distribution, health services, education and entertainment.
The goal is to change a troubling statistic: Just 25 percent of the jobs in Newark are held by city residents and the city of 250,000 has 77,400 people out of work.
Among the recommendations:
Promote Newark as a place for high-tech businesses and provide help for startups.
Create a visitors and conven tion bureau.
Train Newark residents for jobs in the tourism industry.
Expected improvements from a new administration, meanwhile, run the gamut from the small to the sublime. Major property owners say in the past their quarterly tax bills arrived three to five months late. Inspections and permitting have been sporadic and unpredictable.
Others expect Booker or Rice, both of whom declined to comment, to attract the best and the brightest minds in urban policy and create a national buzz about the state's largest city.
While those expectations may seem lofty, they illustrate the excitement of a development community eager for change.
"There will be new interest in Newark because there are many people who have shied away and don't realize the difference between the perception and the reality," said Joe Romano, principal with Accordia Realty Ventures, a developer based in West Orange.
Richard Monteilh, the city's business administrator who often leads Newark's redevelopment efforts, called the criticisms unfair. He said the city has cleaned up va cant, trash-strewn lots and made major progress in recent years at tracting construction.
He cited the arena project, Cogswell Realty's construction of a luxury apartment complex at Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard, thousands of new homes in the city's outlying neighborhoods, new dormitories for four universities and plans for a condominium complex on Mulberry Street.
Monteilh, whose future in city government is up in the air, said the core of the strategy was to re verse years of population decreases and attract more retail and commercial development, and that it takes time.
"Retail follows people, and in dustry follows smart people, which is why cities like Boston and Atlanta have done well recently," Monteilh said. "Anyone with a brain believes Newark will succeed. You'd have to be a fool to miss that."
To many, Monteilh symbolizes the best and worst of the James administration.
He gets terrific reviews from the development community, but he is essentially a one-man economic development office and the point man on nearly every big project.
The problem is, that's not actually his job. His focus is supposed to be on the city's finances. But developers say he is the only major figure in city government who has cultivated their trust.
Despite those numbers, Richard Charles, a real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis whose prac tice is focused on Newark, said a new administration can create a national buzz simply by creating a more civil atmosphere -- with cleaner streets, less crime and the goal of making the city more friendly to outsiders.
"Newark has been misunderstood for a long time, not just with this administration but going back really to the 1967 riots," said Greg Senkevitch, chief operating officer of Advance Realty of Bedminster, which owns a portion of the Gateway complex near Penn Station. "Any time there is a change after someone has been in office for a while, it is perceived as good. It shakes things up."
Even Monteilh acknowledged the next administration may make more tangible progress in development than James has.
"Every time you have a kid, there is no guarantee you're going to be able to walk it down the aisle," he said. "That's life. But if you know the baby is safe and the future looks good, that means it was as good a time as any for Sharpe to step aside."
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 3:48 PM
Requiem for New Jersey's telecom glory days Sunday, April 09, 2006 BY TOM JOHNSON Star-Ledger Staff
Not too long ago, the telecom munications sector was a driver for New Jersey's economy. Industry behemoths such as AT&T and Lu cent Technologies provided tens of thousands of high-paying jobs to talented professionals. And many of these professionals were wooed away by potentially more lucrative work at startups scattered around the state's leafy suburbs.
But that was all before the meltdown of the sector in 2000.
Now, the pending acquisition of Lucent by French telecom-equip ment maker Alcatel puts an excla mation point to a telecom saga: the steady erosion of well-paying jobs as consolidation sweeps through the sector.
The expected $13.4 billion merger, coming on the heels of last year's acquisition of AT&T by SBC Communications, means more lost jobs in a sector pummeled by layoffs and firings over the past 10 years. Lucent and Alcatel said 8,880 jobs will be eliminated as a result of their deal.
It is unlikely any of the few remaining players will fill the void, analysts and economists say.
"There never was a better economic engine than AT&T," said James Hughes, dean of the Blous tein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. "It brought wealth into the state." In AT&T's heyday as a long-distance carrier, 97 percent of its revenue came from out of state, he noted.
To be sure, some telecoms are weathering the downturn.
Vonage, the Internet phone company based in Holmdel, is continuing to grow even while posting more than $300 million in losses since 2002.
Newark-based IDT, which has carved a niche selling prepaid calling cards and Internet phone service, is seeking to diversify by branching out into the entertain ment business.
And Lucent spinoff Avaya has righted itself after going through its own round of job cuts. It looks to capitalize on the growing migration to Internet phone service.
All of which is positive, Hughes said, but those developments -- and even the move of Verizon Communications into AT&T's massive corporate stronghold in Basking Ridge -- aren't enough to compen sate for the jobs lost in the downturn.
Consider this: It took the state's manufacturing sector 32 years to halve its work force, going from a peak of 900,000 in 1970 to 450,000 in 2004. The state's wired telecommu nications sector collapsed in only nine years, from a high of 50,000 workers in 1995 to 25,000 in 2004.
Furthermore, New Jersey hasn't benefited from the shift from wired to wireless communications, Hughes said. In 1990, 4.2 percent of the state's work force was employed by wireless companies. Two years ago, that number dropped to 2.8 percent.
New Jersey was the 20th century's pre-eminent provider of telecommunications infrastructure for the nation, but "clearly the future of telecommunications is not going to be written in New Jersey," said Robert Rosenberg, president of the Insight Research, a technology research firm based in Boonton.
"It is going to move to where in novative software is developed and optical-chip-making takes place. It won't ever come back to what it once was."
Michael Noll, a communications professor at the University of Southern California, worked at Basking Ridge in the 1970s. He blames the collapse of the sector partly on the erosion of investment in industrial research. In the days when companies such as AT&T, DuPont and Kodak were monopolies or near-monopolies in their sec tors, they had the wisdom as well as the wherewithal to invest in such research, Noll said.
With today's focus on the short- term bottom line, that just is no longer viable, Noll said. "Industrial research is a relic of the past," he said.
Former Lucent employee Tom Lauria, an analyst for Avtera Management, said the latest merger may result in more changes at Bell Labs, birthplace of the transistor, solar cell and fiber optics.
"It's sad, because we had extremely talented people and these facilities are much less than what they once were," Lauria said. "Long term, we will lose that edge."
It is difficult to gauge where the latest round of job cuts will fall in the two companies, he said, be cause there are duplicative functions on both sides of the Atlantic. The Lucent work force may be somewhat spared because the new company will need to keep some corporate functions in the United States.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 3:47 PM
Building a Work Space That Inspires Good Health By CLAIRE WILSON
MICHAEL A. SUDIK, director of operations at Rodale, the media company that publishes magazines including Men's Health and books including "The South Beach Diet," remembers the day last September when the company moved into its newly renovated offices in Midtown Manhattan.
Only three of the five floors had been completed. But looking around at the way the glass admitted light from the outside, the way the light played with the colors and textures of the interior and the sense of calm that prevailed, Mr. Sudik said he knew that the project had achieved its goal.
"Everyone had gone home for the day, it was quiet, the lights were low and I was standing in the yoga room watching the sun filter through the city at dusk," he recalled. "It was an amazing feeling."
Rodale will eventually occupy floors 6 to 10 in the 24-story building, at 733 Third Avenue at 46th Street, and have an option to lease floors 4, 5 and 11, according to Mr. Sudik. Rodale had been in the building since 1993, occupying three noncontiguous floors — 12, 15 and 16.
The two-story glass yoga studio in the main reception area on the eighth floor may seem a quirky addition to a work environment defined by the stress of deadlines. In fact, it is intended to offer a sense of the health and wellness philosophy that Rodale promotes in its stable of magazines, which also includes Prevention, Runner's World and Women's Health.
Rodale's renovated space, measuring 160,000 square feet over all, is also meant to inspire employees to live that healthy lifestyle, too — for example, by taking the yoga classes provided by the company or the salsa dance classes that are also conducted there.
The idea, Mr. Sudik says, was to try to duplicate the atmosphere of the company's headquarters in rural Emmaus, Pa., just south of Allentown. And with a nod to the company's founder, J. I. Rodale, a pioneer in the organic movement in the United States, it also had to be "green."
"We wanted to take the look and feel of Emmaus and put it in Midtown without it looking contrived," Mr. Sudik said.
Stepping off the elevator on the company's new main level, visitors will see the contrast of an all-white foyer, with the name Rodale spelled in relief on the opposite wall, and darker hues and wood finishes of the reception area at one end. Turn into it, and you find a vast open space, with a two-story expanse of glass walls, that includes the yoga studio in the rear.
"The idea was that you turn the corner, see the windows and the expansiveness beyond and just feel good," said Susan A. Dougherty, a partner in the Manhattan architectural firm Suben/Dougherty Partnership, which is the principal designer for the renovation. The firm is also working with the engineers Bard, Rao & Athenas of Boston.
Hardwood floors are unusual in high-traffic corporate environments, but Rodale's floor in the entryway is a honey-colored bamboo. Above it, a dark bamboo panel is suspended from the ceiling and illuminated from behind. A stripped ceiling exposing basic cement slabs adds height all around.
The lines of the floorboards and the hanging bamboo panel steer the gaze toward a Shaker-inspired cherry wood staircase with gray stone steps. The staircase cuts through the windowed area at an angle to break with the many right angles of the building, but it also has another function. "We see the stair as an art piece that encourages the exercise element as well," Ms. Dougherty said. "It also fosters a sense of community with people running up and down and sharing ideas."
There are three such decorative staircases; two others, not quite as elaborate, will be a feature of the last two floors when they are completed over the next several months.
The glass outer wall that is the backdrop for the three staircases brings natural light to all meeting rooms — whether they are glass-enclosed, like the 30-foot-long primary conference room, or an open common area, like the informal coffee bar on the main level.
These types of rooms in corporate spaces are typically afterthoughts, relegated to areas of the floor plan where few may want to congregate, Ms. Dougherty noted, but the natural light makes them more welcoming. Some rooms have walls of screens for video presentations.
Natural light also dictated the layout of the offices and cubicles on the floor plan. Executives like Steve Murphy, the president and chief executive, have offices along the windowed periphery, but so do many staff members. Clusters of cubicles are near windows whenever practical, with glass panels on each to further admit natural light.
Sensors regulate light levels according to available natural light, saving energy costs. (Cynthia Tollo, senior project manager at Suben/Dougherty, says the savings could total up to 75 percent on the lighting bill.) Other energy-saving measures include temperature zones that can be regulated individually, reducing extreme hot and cold spots that can be so common in large offices. As the company philosophy dictates, so-called green materials like fabrics and carpet tiles used in the renovation are organic, energy-saving and as free as possible of volatile organic compounds, or V.O.C.'s, a family of chemicals found in common industrial products. Bamboo was chosen for the floors because it is plentiful, and supplies can be easily replenished.
The cost for "green" material "is coming down quite a bit and it is a lot easier to find things because so many manufacturers are getting on the green bandwagon," Ms. Dougherty said. "Green has become the buzzword in architecture," she said. "No one wants to contribute to hurting the environment."
A willow green color, not surprisingly, was chosen for the carpets and fabrics used for the upholstery and cubicle panels. It contrasts with the gray of the aluminum finishes on the cubicles and file cabinets for each staff member. (The cabinets have miniature coat closets built into them.) Around the common areas, furniture like the Windsor-style chairs in the coffee bar has a traditional feel to it. Furniture for the staff includes ergonomic "Life" chairs by Knoll.
"They are not inexpensive chairs and I have to give the Rodales credit," Ms. Dougherty said. She noted that Ardath Rodale, the company's chairwoman, had insisted that all employees have the same type of chair.
"Chairs are the one thing clients love to cheap out on and they are the most important thing," Ms. Dougherty said.
To Kristen Dollard, an editor in the new product development department who also takes yoga classes in the office, the chairs say as much about the company's commitment to its healthy philosophy as does the yoga studio, which was an idea of Mr. Murphy, the chief executive.
"They are considering your overall well-being as opposed to the bottom line," Ms. Dollard said. "It's a company that stands for something."
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 3:46 PM
