Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the September 26, 2001 edition of
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Life in the Fast Lane
Increased security is now the goal for many
corporations,
and sellers of at-the-door security devices are doing a brisk
business.
“We have received numerous requests for prices, quotes, and
details,
and we have also had some immediate sales,” says Sanjay Sabnani,
spokesperson for Metorex Security Products on Phillips Boulevard in
Ewing. Until now, most buyers of Metorex’ metal detectors were
governments
or international corporations, but commercial and private sector
buyers
are calling now.
Metorex Security Products sells walk-through and handheld metal
detectors
such as those installed at Continental Airlines’ terminal in Newark.
Carol Fox Shaltis is the head of Metorex Security Products and John
Patterson heads a sister company, Metorex Inc., which sells material
analyzers for chemical analysis. Both were founded in Finland, still
the site of the manufacturing operation, and have United States
offices
at Princeton Crossroads at Ewing (U.S. 1, January 22, 1997). Related
equipment is made in Hawthorne, Louisiana, and Malaysia.
Compared to such technologies as thermal imaging, Metorex’ metal
detection
equipment is fairly low-tech. But the company also has a body imaging
Secure 1000 product that is the equivalent of an X-ray strip search.
It is primarily used on a consent-only basis by customs or
correctional
officials.
Metorex was acquired in 1998 by California-based OSI, an
optoelectronics
manufacturing and components company that trades on Nasdaq. The 1,000
employee firm also owns an X-ray manufacturing company, RapidScan
Security Products, and X-ray and metal detection equipment accounted
for $50 million of its $110 million in annual sales.
Metorex’ walk-through and hand-held detectors may be more expensive
than some of the competition, such as Perkin Elmer Security Products.
But Sabnani says Metorex equipment offers more features, such as the
ability to pinpoint a particular zone to detect a potential threat.
Also, they can be marketed along with RapidScan’s X-ray machines as
part of a complete package. The least expensive metal detector by
itself might cost $25,000, and package prices are in the six-figure
range, depending on quantities.
“Since we are selling the baggage scanners, we can sell the
complete
solution for a particular gate,” says Sabnani, speaking from
California.
“When we go in with a complete package, pricing is not as big
of a deal as it might have been for just the metal detectors.”
“Our goal is to be a one-stop provider of security solutions,”
he says. Among the clients are embassies, correctional institutions,
customs offices, and airports in the United States and worldwide.
“You need to be able to provide mission critical support, and
we have a 24 by 7 support team.”
Metorex Inc./Metorex Security Products, 250PhillipsBoulevard, Suite 250, Princeton Crossroads at Ewing, Trenton08618-1425.John Patterson, president. 609-406-9000; fax, 609-530-9055. Homepage: www.metorex.comTop Of PageExpansionsOn Friday, September 14, U.S. Trust Company made adiagonalmove from the Mack-Cali building at 5 Vaughn Drive to its ownbuilding,at the corner of Vaughn and Alexander Road. “We’ve tripled oursize in the past five years,” says Harry O’Mealia, president andCEO of U.S. Trust Corporation. “Our new office providescomfortableclient service space, the latest technology, and room for futureexpansionneeds.” His company was represented by Buzz Woodworth of KellerDodds & Woodworth. Phone and fax stay the same.Designed in greens and golds, and cherry wood by New York-basedManciniDuffy, the 28,000 square-foot office was built by the landlord, NexusProperties. Of the 66 total employees at the wealth managementcompany,five people work at a satellite retail center on Hulfish Street indowntown Princeton, 14 people in Morristown, and 47 people at theheadquarters here. It offers investment management, fiduciary,financialplanning, and banking services to affluent individuals, families,and institutions.Somehow the company managed to make this move on schedule, just threedays after the World Trade Center disaster. “”We have a lotof people that depend on us,” says spokesperson Dana Lichtstrahl,”so we keep going while we are in the process of grieving.”U.S. Trust Company of New Jersey, 845 AlexanderRoad, Princeton 08543-5209. Harry O’Mealia, president and CEO.609-987-2300;fax, 609-734-7777.Top Of PageS.T. Peterson MovesS. T. Peterson, 4262 Route 1, Suite 5, MonmouthJunction 08852. Susan Wolstromer, executive vice president.732-329-1660;fax, 732-329-4165.This real estate development, design, and construction firm hadofficeson Route 1 North since 1946, but when it began to concentrate solelyon development, it moved to Trevose. In June it reestablished thecorporate office at one of its own properties. “We wanted to moveback because it is easier to manage properties and be on site,”says Susan Wolstromer, executive vice presidentThe company owns five buildings on Route 1 North totaling 130,000square feet: 4270, 4266, 4262, 4260, and 4250. In Hamilton, it ownsthe 40,000-foot Selective Insurance Building at 1 AAA Drive.Waddell & Reed Financial Services, 4250 Route 1North, Suite 5, Monmouth Junction 08852. Ramin Bahar, divisionmanager.732-274-8838; fax, 732-274-8879.On September 17 Waddell & Reed moved from 1,500 square feet onFranklinCorner Road in the Atrium at Lawrence to 2,235 square feet in theS.T. Peterson building. Phone and fax are new. Headquartered inKansas,the company offers financial services, mutual funds, variableannuities,and life and health insurance.Monarch Storage and Warehouse Corporation, 4260Route 1 North, Monmouth Junction 08852.To service a major client, this warehouse company has opened spacefor parts storage and distribution in the S.T. Peterson building.Its main locations are in Thorofare and Lyndhurst.Top Of PageExpansionsLifeCycle Ventures, 3150 Brunswick Pike, CrossroadsCorporate Center, Suite 230, Lawrenceville 08648. Chris Tama,executivevice president. 609-493-3000; fax, 609-493-3097. Home page:www.pdi-inc.comAfter just eight months in this new office, this pharmaceuticalmarketingfirm will expand to take space across the hall at the end of October,says Ann Bishop, administrative assistant to Chris Tama. The parentcompany, Pharmaceutical Detailing Inc. or PDI, is based in UpperSaddleRiver (201-258-8450).Vectramed Inc., Plainsboro Road & Route 1, FMCCampus Building B-10, Plainsboro 08536. James Pachence, president.609-919-1007; fax, 609-919-9407. Home page: www.vectramed.comThe five-year-old pharmaceutical firm moved in July from subleasedoffice space on Village Boulevard to the FMC campus, where it nowhas a working laboratory and nine employees.Vectramed is doing research and development of pharmaceuticalcompoundsfor site-directed drug delivery, and it has incubator lab space atRutgers. Vectramed was formerly known as Veritas Medical Technologies.Strich Law Firm LLC, 4105 Route 1, Wynwood OfficeCondominiums, Unit 9, Monmouth Junction 08852. Gabrielle L. Strich,attorney, mediator. 732-438-3880; fax, 732-438-3885.Gabrielle Strich expanded from a home office with the purchase ofa 1,000-foot office at Wynwood Office Condominiums and moved in onSeptember 5. The design features shades of pale green with Orientalrosewood furniture. “We moved walls, put in internal windows tomake a waiting room, and used every available space,” says Strich.”I even took the fireplace area and made a closet out of it.”Strich graduated from the University of South Florida, went toRutgers-CamdenLaw School, and is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Aftera stint with a large Philadelphia firm, she opened her own firm inNew Jersey in 1990. She is married to Jacob Katz, president of MatrixInc., a Princeton Service Center-based firm that does statisticalanalysis of market research.Her civil practice focuses on family law, and she also doesmediation/arbitration,elder law, employment/labor, estate, and business law. Acourt-appointedattorney in dependency mediation courses for a pilot program in MercerCounty, she is also a mediator for the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission. Associated with her practice are two “of counsel”attorneys — Ram Cheerath, who does immigration from his mainofficein New York, and Bonita Leadem, a former prosecuting attorney.Top Of PageName ChangesSchaeffer Lamont & Associates, 35-37 MontgomeryKnoll, Princeton.In an amicable parting, the principals at Schaeffer Lamont are goingtheir separate ways. Linda Schaeffer will offer her litigationconsultingservice as a shareholder at WithumSmith+Brown at Princeton Overlook,and Sharon Lamont is opening an accounting office in Hamilton.Sharon Lamont & Associates will be located at 2277 Route 33, Suite412, Hamilton 08690, 609-631-9969; fax, 609-631-9949. (E-mail:Sharon@slagroup.com).A graduate of Rider University, Lamont has three grown children —and two grandchildren — and has been a CPA for more than 25 years.She offers traditional accounting services as well as investmentservices;she has a broker’s license. Her client list focuses on smallbusinessesand nonprofits.Schaeffer went to Seton Hall, Class of 1973, attended the master’sprogram in taxation at Pace University and is both a certified fraudexaminer and a CPA. She worked as a field agent for the InternalRevenueService and in the tax departments of Deloitte Touche and Laventhal& Horvath. “I am looking forward to expanding my litigationconsultingservices, to have the backbone of a prestigious firm,” saysSchaeffer.Schaeffer’s mother was a bookkeeper, and when she began her majorin accounting she thought it would be just the first step to goingto law school. “Then I found out I loved accounting, and I couldpractice accounting in the courts.” Much of her work is forensicaccounting in divorce cases, looking into how and where a spouse mighthave concealed funds from the family exchequer.Top Of PageNew in TownGateway Locksmith Inc., 2277 Route 33 East, Suite407, Hamilton 08690. Mike DeSiccio, partner. 609-838-4700; fax,609-587-6281.The call center for locksmiths opened at Golden Crest Corporate Centerin August. It takes calls and faxes orders to locksmiths.Top Of PageDeathsWilliam Hill Kelly Jr. , 30, on September 11 at the WorldTrade Center. He worked for Bloomberg LP, first in Skillman, and mostrecently at the Tradebook LLC division in Manhattan.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
