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Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on July 26, 2000. All rights
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Big at University Square: Reckson
Princeton’s biggest current construction project, a
316,000-foot five-story granite building at University Square, is
expected to break ground by the end of August. The Reckson Associates
Realty Corp. building will face Route 1 but be accessible from
Alexander Road.
“It’s the best location and best construction of any product in
the marketplace in last 10 years,” vows Jeffrey Schotz of the
Short Hills office of Reckson, a real estate investment trust (REIT)
(E-mail: jschotz@reckson.com). Trading on the New York Stock Exchange
as RA, it is based in Melville,
Long Island, and owns 23 office buildings with 2.5 million square
feet in New Jersey. “This is the only new construction we
anticipate
at this time, other than pre-lease opportunities. We feel that this
product and marketplace is the right combination.”
Most of the current construction in this area, Schotz points out,
is for smaller requirements. For instance, the Commons (developed
by SJP Properties for 7/9 Roszel Road with lead tenant Merrill Lynch)
has a similar amount of space — 300,000 feet — but it is
distributed
between a three-story and a five-story building.
All of the parking will be on grade — none in garages — and
the access will be from Alexander Road. There will be a fitness
center, cafeteria, teleconferencing facilities, and all of the
expected
technology requirements. Current University Square tenants, such as
Princeton Softech, Deloitte & Touche, and Therics, are a short walk
away from the new construction and will be invited to use these
amenities.
This speculative development is a joint project with Matrix
Development,
which retains an interest in the three current buildings as well as
in the land, and Reckson as general partner and managing partner.
Reckson’s staff of 25 architects, plus those from the Cannon Group,
did the drawings.
Thanks to a design with one long swooping curve plus triangular
outjuttings,
this building will have no fewer than 12 corner offices per floor.
Top Of PageMerrill Lynch Job Cuts
Nearly 2,000 job cuts were announced at Merrill Lynch
on Tuesday, July 18, and they were made across the board — senior
and junior people. But the deepest cuts were among technology
professionals and headquarters support staff. No jobs will be lost
among brokers or those working in retail brokerages, and construction
on the new Hopewell campus has not been affected. The layoffs are
supposed to save $150 million.
“The Hopewell campus remains on the same schedule with the first
wave of employees slated to move in this fall,” says Merrill Lynch
spokesperson Joe Cohen. “The job reallocation that is under way
is fairly narrow and we expect to have, at the end of year 2000,
roughly
the same number or more employees in New Jersey that we had at the
start of the year.” The company has from 3,800 to 4,000 employees
in Central Jersey (www.merrill-lynch.ml.com).
Cohen says Merrill Lynch plans to cut a total of 1,800 jobs, many
at the Scudders Mill Road headquarters and at various sites on College
Road, but also from offices in Somerset, Denver, and Jacksonville.
Of that number, only 900 are supposed to be direct layoff. Some 500
will be through attrition, and 400 by dismissing contract and
consultant positions. “The firm is continuing to grow. In areas
other than where jobs
are being cut, there is hiring underway,” says Cohen.
Why the company would cut back on IT workers when everyone else is
hiring for IT skills can be explained, says the head of a company
that supplies computer technology workers to Merrill Lynch, by Merrill
Lynch’s haste to move to online trading. Much work had to be done
in a short time, and when the basics were completed, programs
proliferated.
Finally the brokers said their customers didn’t need any more bells
and whistles, such as fancy financial planning alternatives, they
just needed to do trades quickly and inexpensively.
So on the one hand, IT workers are no longer needed. On the other
hand, technology has made some jobs obsolete, so administrative
positions
are also being cut.
“Merrill is cutting at the time nobody else is,” says one
insider, who attributes the cuts to a “new broom sweeps clean”
strategy employed by E. Stanley O’Neal, the new president of the
private
client group. Ironically, Merrill Lynch has just posted a quarterly
earnings gain of 34 percent and planned a 2-for-1 stock split
effective
August 4.
“Some senior level people who have been around a long time are
in shock,” says the vendor. “They want people like us to sell
commitment and loyalty, and then they lay off 2,000 people.”
Parker, McCay & Criscuolo PC, 3131 Princeton Pike,Building 1B, Lawrenceville 08648. David W. Carroll. 609-896-4222;fax, 609-896-9023. Home page: www.pmclaw.com.Parker McCay & Criscuolo, headquartered in Marlton, has supplantedCarroll, Weiss & Josephson, a Lawrenceville firm which handledschool-boardlaw and labor negotiations. The merger has made Parker McCay one ofNew Jersey’s largest resources for school district legalrepresentation,and one of the largest law firms in central New Jersey, with morethan 60 attorneys.Parker McCay has represented a variety of school districts throughoutthe firm’s 85-year history. This is the second merger for the lawfirm in the past year. In August it merged with Barron & Gillespie,a prominent firm in Moorestown. In addition to school districtrepresentation,Parker McCay focuses on public finance, corporate law, and municipalrepresentation. The firm also represents clients on public finance,banking, real estate, land use, healthcare, creditors’ rights, andemployment issues. It also has another branch office in Cherry Hill.Barnaba & Marconi LLP, 2239 Whitehorse-MercervilleRoad, Trenton 08619. Dennis M. Marconi, partner. 609-584-1444;fax, 609-584-1555.Dennis M. Marconi has joined the law office of Mario L. Barnaba. Thenew firm, known as Barnaba & Marconi LLP, also has an office at 1040North Kings Highway in Cherry Hill. The firm does certified civiltrial work — personal injury, municipal court, and also realestate.Ann Marie Vaurio, Attorney at Law, 601 EwingStreet,Suite C-11, Princeton 08540. 609-924-4080; fax, 609-924-4123.Vaurio has opened an office at Princeton Professional Park.Top Of PageCorrectionDue to an editing error, the July 19 story on New Jersey AnalyticalLaboratories had two incorrect acronyms. NJAL is the name of thecompany, and an additive found in gasoline is known as MTBE, or methyltert-butylether (www.njal.com).Top Of PageDeathsAngelina “Angie” Campo, 76, on July 15. She wasa head operating room nurse at St. Francis Medical Center.Barbara J. Palefskky, 56, on July 19. She was an officemanager at Town and Country Animal Hospital in Rocky Hill.Raymond W. Bowers, 77, on July 19. Until 1998 he was acustodian at the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Schools, SouthCampus.Nicholas L. Altieri, 77, on July 19. He had owned TownHouse Motel/Coach & Four Restaurant in Hightstown and was a consultantfor Schroeder Architects.Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
