Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper
on May 27, 1998. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
The Traiman auctioneers said they would be pleased
if the land fetched as high as $1.5 million. Sure enough, last
Wednesday,
May 20, auction fever grabbed some of the buyers and the final total
was $1.7 million for 23 acres of land in two parcels on Brunswick
Pike (Alternate Route 1) next to Greenfield Dodge.
That three auto dealers bid against each other helped to rev up the
price. Bob Maguire, Al Haldeman, and Dick Coleman vied for the first
and most valuable parcel of 10.4 acres. At the last gavel, Maguire,
who owns Saturn dealerships in Bordentown Township and Toms River,
found he had paid $1.1 million or just over $100,000 an acre to bring
a Saturn dealership to Princeton.
Maguire’s purchase casts a shadow on the development of a flagship
General Motors auto mall, one of the first in GM’s Project 2000, which
aims to consolidate dealer locations. Maguire was being urged by GM
to move into that mall, near the Department of Motor Vehicles and
Quakerbridge Mall, but he strenuously disliked the idea of paying
$40,000 per month as a tenant, and he resented being shunted to the
back with no highway frontage. Earlier, he had rejected the current
Lexus site at the Mercer Mall because it did not have highway
frontage.
Haldeman and Coleman bid on the second parcel to be auctioned, the
slightly less desirable 12.8 acre site between Maguire’s territory
and Greenfield Dodge. It contains some wetlands and the Marroe Inn
restaurant and bar. Haldeman now has the Lawrence Lexus dealership
at the Mercer Mall and Coleman owns Coleman Buick-Pontiac-GMC on
Spruce
Street in Ewing. Coleman is also among the dealers being pushed by
General Motors to move to its planned Route 1 auto mall.
Haldeman won, paying $606,000 for 12.8 acres and will
abandon his one-acre site at Mercer Mall in favor of more room and
more visibility. He has not commented on whether the Marroe Inn will
be allowed to stay.
“These things take on a different personality with each
auction,”
says Doug Clemens, the Traiman auctioneer for Lawrence Holdings Inc.,
formed to manage and eventually dispose of the holdings of Heinemann
Electric (U.S. 1, May 13). “People come there with a set figure
in their minds, and the auction psychology works, and maybe they end
up spending more than they had expected.”
Eighteen potential buyers had obtained a bidders’ package and 14
registered
on the auction day. “I saw all those people,” says Maguire,
“and my jaw dropped, and I thought `It is going to be a tough
day. I hope I prevail.'”
Maguire has been trying for five years to find highway frontage in
the neighborhood of Princeton, where he lives with his wife, Marcy,
who is also in the Saturn business, and their son, who attends
Lawrenceville
School. The Maguires built the first Saturn dealership in Bordentown
in 1990 and opened in Toms River in 1993.
Maguire had already looked at the Heinemann site, “but they were
asking $3 million, or $300,000 an acre, for the land I paid $1.1
million
for.”
Was that still too much for the future site of Saturn of
Lawrenceville?
“No,” says Maguire, “in fact I had budgeted $1 million
for the purchase.” He compares it to what General Motors paid:
$5.6 million or $250,000 an acre for land with a traffic count of
45,000 vehicles a day. “At the site I purchased the traffic count
is 22,000, or about half. Take $250,000 and halve it and I guess I
came pretty close to what GM paid.”
Maguire hopes to open by next year and considers himself in good
company,
next to the largest Dodge dealer in the country and a new Lexus
location.
Just north is a recently built Mercedes Benz dealership, plus Lawrence
Lincoln Mercury, and Volvo and Porsche Acura dealerships. “My
complements to Lawrence Township to have had the foresight to plan
for auto dealerships in their municipality,” says Maguire.
“They
have developed a very handsome automotive row. It is nice to do
business
in a community that welcomes your business.”
— Barbara Fox
Mikros Systems Corp., 5 Vaughn Drive, Box 7189,Princeton 08543. Steve Denty, president. 609-987-1513; fax,609-987-8114.The computer research and development firm quietly moved last monthfrom Princeton Service Center to 5 Vaughn Drive. So quietly that thelandlords, Cali Realty, have not yet been informed that Mikros issubletting from another tenant, Princeton Venture Research. SteveDenty, the president, was traveling and was not available to answera reporter’s calls.Five years ago, when Mikros focused on making high tech communicationand control systems for the defense department, it was the recipientof New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology’s first SmallBusinessInnovation Research loan in 1993.PrimaTech Inc., 445 Hutchinson Avenue, Suite 200,Columbus 43235. Paul Baybutt, president. 614-841-9800; fax,614-841-9805.Home page: https://www.primatech.com.PrimaTech closed its six-person office on 5 Vaughn Drive and callsare being answered by its headquarters in Columbus. It does software,training, and consultation to aid compliance with state and federalprocess safety management regulations.Top Of PageLeaving TownPrimalCast, 601 Ewing Street, Suite C-12, Princeton08540. Steven Barth, president. 609-921-1525; fax, 609-921-8982.E-mail:info@webaffinity. Home page: https://www.primalcast.com.In April, a year after opening a Web hosting services for localbusiness,Steve Barth and Stephen J. Dempsey closed this office and left noforwarding number. The pair also had another firm, Web@affinity, forWeb development for the nonprofit community on a national level. Barthand Dempsey had started a trade show firm, Atlantic InformationManagement,but that closed in February, 1997.Top Of PageStock NewsInterpool, 211 College Road East, Princeton 08540.Martin Tuchman, chairman and CEO. 609-452-8900; fax, 609-452-8211.Home page: https://www.interpool.com.Interpool bought half of San Francisco-based Container ApplicationsInternational for an undisclosed price. The transaction was announcedearlier this month. Interpool trades as IPX on the New York StockExchange and does chassis pool management, and chassis & containerleasing systems.RCN Corporation, 105 Carnegie Center, Suite 300,Princeton 08540. David C. McCourt, chairman and CEO. 609-734-3700;fax, 609-734-3875.To improve the liquidity and marketability of its shares, RCNannounceda a two-for-one stock split, payable in the form of a 100 percentstock dividend. Formerly known as C-Tec the telecommunications firmoffers local telephone, long-distance, cable, engineering, andinternetaccess.RCN Corporation plans to sell $250 million in common stock,according to an announcement made last Friday. Merrill Lynch, SalomonSmith Barney, NationsBanc Montgomery Securities, Donaldson Lufkin& Jenrette, and Prudential Securities will be the underwriters. Thefirm trades as RCNC on Nasdaq.Top Of PageExpansionsWant to figure out how your product’s name will standup in the consumer marketplace? Princeton Research & Consulting mighthave an answer for you.The market and litigation research firm just took 1,200 square feetat 12 Roszel Road. It moved from Princeton Service Center, 3490 Route1. Headed by Leon Kaplan, Ph.D., the firm specializes in litigationresearch, but also does a variety of other kinds of research. Thelist includes concept testing, name testing, idea generation, focusgroups, methodology review and evaluation, image research, and nametesting, says Terri Salat, vice president of field operations.Kaplan, 55, has an undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College (Classof 1966) and has several other degrees: a masters in generalindustrialpsychology from Purdue University and a Ph.D in consumer andindustrialpsychology, with a minor in social research methods and personnelselection, also from Purdue. Kaplan also has an MBA from Wharton,which he received in 1979, the year he started the company.Currently there are five fulltime employees.Princeton Research & Consulting Center Inc., 12Roszel Road, Suite C-103, Princeton 08540. Leon B. Kaplan, president.609-520-1141; fax, 609-520-1790.Top Of PageVenture WinnersThese four firms from Princeton were among 10 companiesthat received significant awards at the 1998 New Jersey Venture Fairon Wednesday, May 20, in Somerset. (U.S. 1 Newspaper’s articles onthese firms may be found in Princeton and Plainsboro public librariesand at https://www.princetoninfo.com.)Most Likely to Succeed: ITXC Internet Telephony ExchangeCarrier, 219 North Center Drive, North Brunswick 08902. Tom Evslin,CEO. 732-940-4333; fax, 732-940-4334. E-mail: maevslin@itxc.com.Home page: https://www.itxc.com. Internet telephonyservicesto the emerging industry — wholesale call routing, authorization,and settlement. (U.S. 1, September 17, 1997).Best Management Team: Delsys Pharmaceutical Corporation,Box 8738, Princeton 08543. Martyn Greenacre, president and CEO.609-720-0033;fax, 609-520-6692. Privately-held developer of automated drugmanufacturingand drug delivery systems through electrostatic dry powder, createdby Sarnoff Corporation and Healthcare Ventures (U.S. 1, September17, 1997).Most Innovative: Katrix Inc., 31 Airpark Road, Princeton08540. Stephen Lane, president. 609-921-7544; fax, 609-921-7547.E-mail:info@katrix.com. Technology development of interactive computeranimationtechnology for the computer and entertainment industries (U.S. 1,May 11, 1994).Most Likely to Go Public: Sycom Technologies Inc., 1239Parkway Avenue, Ewing 08628. Ari Naim, managing director.609-530-0200;fax, 609-530-0217. Total Recall digital voice recorders and PC AudioLink software (U.S. 1, October 9, 1996).These “runner-up” firms were among the 60 chosen from morethan 100 to be exhibitors at the Venture Fair.Etsee Soft Inc., 114 West Franklin Avenue, Straube Center,Suite K,2, Pennington 08534. Sheshadri Mantha, owner/president.609-730-9180;fax, 609-730-9663. Home page: https://www.etseesoft.com.The eight-person firm does software consulting for UNIX, DOS, andWindows specializing in field or sales force automation software andapplication localization for the Japanese market (U.S. 1, November6, 1996).SBX, 15 Normandy Court, Skillman 08558. Larry Shiller,chairman. 609-466-4005; fax, 609-466-6837. Home page:https://www.sbxnet.com.Web-based stock trading and automated bulletin board trading; seepage 14.STG International LLC, 4365 Route 1 South, Princeton08540.Thomas D’Innocenzi, president & CEO. 609-514-5005; fax, 609-514-9850.Home page: https://www.stgcorporate.com. Contracting ofIS professionals, managed care systems, development and implementationof Internet products and intranets, and virtual classrooms –buildingcognitive engines with artificial intelligence that make the conceptof virtual classrooms more versatile. (U.S. 1, March 12, 1997).Xlibris, 36 South Broad Street, Trenton 08608-2102. JohnFeldcamp, president. 609-278-0075; fax, 609-278-0445. Home page:https://www.XLIBRIS.com. Publishing on demand (U.S. 1, May 6).Top Of PageCrosstown MovesSignature Title Services, 47 Hulfish Street, Suite420, Princeton 08542. William A. Slover, president. 609-497-4800;fax, 609-497-4597. E-mail: courthouse@sprynet.com.Courthouse Abstract Company moved from 82 Nassau and has changed itsname to Signature Title Services/Survey.Top Of PageDeathsJoan Briscoe, 54, on May 18. She was a teacher’s aidein Princeton Regional Schools.James Sinnis, 62, on May 20. He did fusion research atPrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory.Grant Dickson Green III, 71, on May 22. As PrincetonUniversity’sreal estate director from 1970 to 1978 he helped plan the creationof the Forrestal Center. A memorial service is Thursday, May 28, at2 p.m., at the Unitarian Church of Princeton.nCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
