Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox were prepared for the September 8,
2004 issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
On the Move
Wyeth has sold the former American Cyanamid property at Route 1 and
Quakerbridge Road to the Rouse Corporation at a bargain price – $35
million or about $53,600 per acre, significantly less than the $160
million that had been predicted.
On the 653 acres are buildings amounting to 886,000 square feet, but
current zoning would allow as much as 1.5 million square feet of
research, office, and manufacturing space – but no residential space.
Factors affecting the lower price include potential zoning problems in
West Windsor Township, a constrained economy, limited highway access,
and renovation costs that will probably begin with razing the existing
buildings. The deal went through in late June.
American Home Products had bought the agricultural division of
American Cyanamid in 1994. It changed its name to the name of its
pharmaceutical division, Wyeth. Wyeth sold the division to
Germany-based BASF in 2000 but kept the valuable real estate. When
BASF closed the facility in 2002, Wyeth began to work with Rouse to
develop the property.
Meanwhile Rouse itself is being sold for $12.6 billion to what will be
the biggest shopping center company in the United States, General
Growth Properties. The purchase of Rouse adds 37 malls to General
Growth’s portfolio of 170 regional shopping malls. Rouse also comes
with six mixed-use projects and four community centers.
The Rouse Corporation has been influencing Princeton real estate for
more than 20 years. Princeton University commissioned Rouse analysts
to study Palmer Square before it sold its interest in the Square to a
university alumnus, Arthur Collins, in 1982. Recently Barry Rabner,
CEO of the University Medical Center at Princeton, had talked to Rouse
about the possibility of relocating the hospital to part of the
653-acre Wyeth property.
Top Of PageCommodities Traders
Rene Francoeur and Serge Picard moved their commodities trading firm
from Hoboken to 1,200 square feet at 103 Carnegie Center in August.
The five-person firm trades power and natural gas, mainly in the
northeast. It is among the 500 firms in this field that are listed
with the Federal Energy Regulation Commission. The third managing
director, David Holder, works from the Pittsburgh office.
Both managers in Princeton are 1995 graduates of the University Laval
in Quebec City. When their company began in 2003, they came to the
United States to have better access to capital, a better tax climate,
and an open market. Determined to be at the Carnegie Center, they
negotiated directly with the landlord, Mack Cali.
Princeton happens to have several important energy firms – North
American Electric Reliability Council, for instance, and the newly
arriving NRG Energy, which has just occupied the first floor at 104
Carnegie Center as it waits for its own building to be ready – but the
real reason the pair moved out of Hoboken was to get a more suburban
environment for their children. As French-speaking Canadians, they are
looking forward to enrolling their children in the bilingual school,
Ecole Francais de Princeton, and in hockey leagues at Iceland.
The company name, Black Oak, came from the name of a transformer
station that comes to the attention of Francoeur and Picard on a daily
basis. But unlike entrepreneurs who spend months comparing and
deciding on a name and a logo, they made this decision quickly.
“Instead, we spent our time focusing on our business plan and the real
issues for a start-up company,” says Picard.
Black Oak Energy, 103 Carnegie Center, Suite 115,Princeton 08540. 609-275-7260; fax, 609-275-7263. Home page:www.blackoakenergy.comTop Of PageNRG Begins Move-InNRG has begun to occupy temporary offices at 104 Carnegie Center,though most of the staff are spending a lot of time in the sky,commuting between Minneapolis and Princeton. Later this fall theenergy company will occupy its headquarters building at 211 CarnegieCenter, once the home of the CUH2A architectural firm.NRG Energy Inc., 104 Carnegie Center, Suite 100,Princeton 08540. David Crane, president and CEO. 609-524-4500. Homepage: www.nrgenergy.comTop Of PageTrouble at MIIXConcerned that the Medical Inter-Insurance Exchange (MIIX) will nothave enough money to pay all the outstanding claims, the New JerseyDepartment of Banking and Insurance has asked the courts to let thestate take a more active role in the affairs of the flounderingmedical malpractice insurance firm.On August 24, says Mary Cozzolino, assistant commissioner of publicaffairs, the department asked for court intervention. The proposedintervention is not a liquidation, state officials say, and it wouldapply only to the 27-year-old MIIX. Superior Court Judge Neil H.Shuster of Mercer County’s Chancery Division named Commissioner HollyC. Bakke as the rehabilitator.Company officials issued a statement on August 24 that MIIX had notconsented to this plan. They have until September 14 to submit proofthat intervention is not needed.MIIX was founded as a reciprocal insurance exchange providing medicalmalpractice insurance for doctors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At atime when major insurance companies were leaving the market, theMedical Society of New Jersey worked with the state to create aphysician-supported insurance company to underwrite professionalliability insurance. In 1997 it went public on the New York StockExchange and made the largest distribution of stock to policyholdersof any medical professional liability insurer, with the averagephysician receiving stock worth $15,000 at that time (U.S. 1, November20, 2002).Then it expanded to other states. At its peak MIIX had 36 percent ofthe market share in New Jersey, but 50 percent of its business waswritten outside of the state. Meanwhile in the late 1990s the medianjury award more than doubled, and defense costs escalated.MIIX had to take a huge amount from its reserves in the fourth quarterof 2001 to pay claims and though it pledged to pay all existingclaims, it stopped selling new policies. A new company,MIIX/Advantage, was formed in 2002 to write policies just for NewJersey doctors. Neither MIIX/Advantage nor the MIIX Group would beaffected by the state’s intervention.Presumably, the state would try to cut costs at MIIX while stillpaying out on claims. As of last March, about 90 people worked at thecombined companies.The MIIX Group Inc. (MHU), 2 Princess Road, Lawrenceville08648-2382. Patricia Costante, CEO. 609-896-2404; fax, 609-896-2910.Www.miix.comTop Of PageCrosstown MovesPennington Post, 20 West Franklin Street, Box 703,Pennington 08534-0703. Mary McGill, editor. 609-737-3379; fax,609-737-8126. Home page: www.penningtonpost.comOn August 2 the Pennington Post moved from 4 South Main Street toanother location in Pennington. It belongs to the Journal Register,which also owns the Trentonian newspaper.Top Of PageDownsizingRandstad North America, 10 Corporate Place South,Piscataway 08854. Andy Tripoli, manager. 609-716-1122; fax,609-716-1706. Www.us.randstad.comThe staffing firm that was formerly owned by P.J. Dempsey has movedfrom 34 Washington Road to a temporary office in Piscataway.Meanwhile, a new office is being prepared at Forrestal Village. The609 area code phones still work during this transitional period.In 1984 Dempsey and a business partner founded Morgan Mercedes. In1996 she moved to 5,000 feet at 34 Washington Road so she would haveenough space to open a childcare center for temporary employees. Twoyears later she sold the business to Placers, a subsidiary of Acustaff(U.S. 1, January 21, 1998).Now it is owned by Randstad, currently has three employees, and doesnot need space for a child care center. The Randstad Group leads itsmarket in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and southeastern UnitedStates.Pennington Consulting Group, Yardley PA. Robert B. White,president. 215-493-8312; fax, 215-493-0664.Www.penningtonconsulting.comRobert White does executive search, consulting, and recruiting forwireless telecommunications firms. In response to the downturn in thatindustry, he moved his office from 65 South Main in Pennington to 68North Main in Yardley. Phone and fax are new. He founded his firm in1988.Altimatia LLC, 16 Elm Ridge Road, Pennington 08534. DavidM. Gange, president. 609-730-1800; fax, 609-730-1818. Home page:www.altimatia.comDavid Gange moved his office at 65 South Main Street in Pennington toa home office in Elm Ridge Park. “I wasn’t taking advantage of thespace,” he says. “At a national meeting, the consensus among patentagents was that it is not worth it to pay for office space. It isbetter to work with a wireless laptop and go where the customer is.”Gange started his firm in June, 2003. A chemistry major at Tulane,Class of 1977, with a PhD from Ohio State, he did postdoctoral studyat Columbia and spent 13 years at American Cyanamid. Then he workedfor a small biotech firm on Deer Park Drive and a software firm inParsippany. Among his first clients is a small biotech start-up, andhe also supports his new business by consulting to a couple of lawfirms.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
