New at Carnegie: Ford Farewell
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Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on May 10, 2000. All rights
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RCN to Build in Lawrence
E-mail: BarbaraFox@princetoninfo.com
RCN has chosen Lawrence over Ewing and West Windsor
and plans to build more than a half million square feet, at the former
Union Camp site on Princeton Pike, and move in within two years.
The announcement ended a derby that pitted New Jersey against
Pennsylvania
and three New Jersey townships against each other, but it all seemed
to end amicably, especially for RCN, which is getting the space it
needs for growth plus some projected savings in real estate costs.
“Having our own facility will save us $70 million over 10
years,”
said CEO David McCourt at a press conference last week.
Located on 134 acres at Princeton Pike and Lewisville Road, the site
has room for a total of 1.5 million square feet, according to a design
by the Hillier Group that calls for 50 percent of the property to
remain open space. The old Union Camp building will be torn down,
a large circular pond will be dug near the main entrance, and the
historic tree on the property will be preserved.
If the company grows at its current pace — creating 1,960 jobs
in two years — relocating within New Jersey will earn the company
more than $15 million under the Business Employment Incentive Program
and another $12 million under other programs. (As did Merrill Lynch,
RCN negotiated a lease back program so the state pays for its building
and equipment and leases it, free of sales tax, to RCN.)
RCN offers local phone, long distance phone, cable, and Internet
access,
and — with more than 4,300 employees nationally — it builds
a new building the size of a McDonald’s every six days. It has nearly
1 million customer connections and expects to triple that in the next
several years.
“Only three years ago we had a little corner office with four
of us at 202 Carnegie Center,” said McCourt. “Now we have
three entire buildings here and a need for a fourth. We are doing
something no one else has ever done — we are building a new
telecommunications
system — and we don’t know how many we will need. We are hiring
18 people a day.”
RCN now has 600 workers in 225,000 square feet at the Carnegie Center,
and several of these leases expire over the next two to four years.
Phase I of the construction will double RCN’s current office space
and put an anticipated 1,200 people in four buildings to be completed
by 2002. From 1,500 to 2,000 new jobs will be created between 2002
and 2004. Phase II will be 960,000 square feet and another six
buildings,
including a conference center-hotel.
Construction of the first phase will cost $230 per foot or $110
million,
not including the cost of the land, which had been owned by
International
Paper (Union Camp’s buyer) and a residual partnership from DKM
Properties.
The 560,000 square feet will include five parking garages.
In the final analysis, RCN wanted to own its own space and that
excluded
the Carnegie Center. And though Ewing Township didn’t get the brass
ring, the township’s participation in the site selection process
offered
a chance to put a good spin on a site that had gotten a bad rap from
a previous failed deal. McCourt went out of his way to praise Ewing
as a “fine township” and a potential “great home for our
company,” but said that RCN needed more space than the 900,000
feet the Ewing site provided. (Ewing will continue that spin with
its Economic Forum 2000 scheduled for Thursday, May 18, at 5:30 p.m.
at the College of New Jersey’s music building.)
“I have every reason to believe this will be a first class site
— one that is very appropriate for this piece of land,” says
Gregory Puliti, Lawrence Township mayor. Richard F.X. Johnson is in
charge of the project for Matrix Development Group, which represented
RCN in the land negotiations, as did attorney Christopher Tarr of
Smith Stratton Wise Heher & Brennan. James Herring is RCN’s vice
president
of real estate, and the King Interests helped with the site selection
process.
At the press conference a video presentation to the
tune of “Come On Over” demonstrated the images that were
supposedly
important to RCN, and most were of Princeton. The most crucial
criterion,
nevertheless, was represented by a sign at the intersection of I-95
and I-295. Most of the critical factors for site selection were
predictable:
proximity to employees, proximity to the Hamilton train station (and
hence New York), increased on-site parking, and sufficient space to
support a campus environment — plus one surprising factor,
proximity
to a multiplex movie theater.
The CEO professed not to worry about RCN’s stock prices. “We never
start anything we don’t intend to finish and we always have enough
money in the bank to finish what we start,” he says. “If the
capital market stays closed we will use the money we have. The
fundamental
value of the company has not changed. Over time this company will
be worth much more than it is today. If we keep doing what we are
doing you will be back in this room in couple of years and the stock
will be worth $200 a share,” said McCourt, explaining why he moved
the company to Princeton in the first place: “Originally we bought
a company, C-Tech, in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and I had the hope
of growing that company. I began to look around for places where we
would have access to New York and a good pool of people. Boston came
up at the top of my list, and I’m a Boston guy. But here I was telling
my employees that they would work long hours and travel a lot, and
that they would have to make a move to my home town.”
Instead, he picked a neutral location. “Coming down here to New
Jersey was the best business decision I ever made,” said McCourt.
“It’s been great for me, great for my family, and great for my
employees.”
Top Of PageNew at Carnegie: Ford Farewell
Ford Farewell Mills and Gatsch, Architects, Suite301, Carnegie 103, Princeton 08540-6235. James A. Gatsch, managingpartner. 609-452-1777; fax, 609-452-7192. Home page:www.ffmg.com.Carnegie Center is losing one good tenant but new onesseem always ready to move in. On Monday, May 15, the architecturefirm of Ford Farewell Mills and Gatsch is moving 40 people from the6,500 square foot building it owns but has outgrown at 864 MapletonRoad. It will lease 8,000 feet at Carnegie 103 for two years. Duringthat time it plans to construct its own new headquarters.Of that permanent location, spokesperson Alison Harris will say onlythat the firm is committed to staying in the greater Princeton areaand that negotiations are not final. The firm does architecturaldesignand planning, historic preservation, and interior design.Top Of PageTMF Follow-Up: Tony WarrenWhen Anthony Warren left Technology Management & Funding(TMF) late last fall, he moved a couple of blocks down on State Roadand opened up a different kind of business. TMF was unusual in thatit took an equity stake in early-stage technology companies bycontributingexpertise in how to create and manage commercialization partnerships.Warren is doing similar work but is now able to contribute cash aswell. He has been named a venture partner with Pittsburgh-based AdamsCapital Management.Warren says that the sweat equity offered by TMF, or any businessadvisor at the early stage, is very valuable. “The problem isthat the entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’t know. They recognizethe check hitting the bank — they see angel money as more valuablethan getting the right piece of advice.”His most successful deal for Adams Capital (ACM) was a Boston-basedfirm CoreTek Inc. (www.coretekinc.com). ACM was looking for a companythat worked in the optical data network area. Warren found CoreTekin 1998 and ACM led an initial round of equity financing in January,1999. Nortel Networks has just bought this company in a stocktransactionthat was valued — at the height of the market, to be sure —at $1.43 billion.The significant factor that piques Warren’s current interest is thatthe target company has “proof of principle” research (it hasproved it can do what it says it can do) and an SBIR grant from thefederal government. SBIR grants provide more than $1 billion annuallyto fund research in small companies. CoreTek’s work in “tunablelasers” and MEM (miniature) devices for optical networks werepartly funded by an SBIR grant from the defense department’s BallisticMissile Defense Organization.”I’ve always thought there has been a gap in early stage moneybetween federal R&D funding and later-stage venture capital,”says Warren. “This gap has been a major barrier preventing theresult of the SBIR program transferring to the private sector. Whatthese guys at Adams do, and I have known them for a number of years,is to be willing to take a seed investment at an early stage and workhands-on with the company. What I do is identify the company beforethe entrepreneur has thought about venture capital.”Warren went to the University of Birmingham, Class of 1962, and afterearning his PhD there did postdoctoral work at the University ofIllinoisat Champaign and the University of Toronto. Before co-founding TMFin 1992 he had been North American president of PA Technologies. Lastyear he opened Strategic Technologies LLC to help technologists defineand complete transactions based on their intellectual property.Adams Capital has two partners in Sewickley, a suburb of Pittsburgh,one in the Silicon Valley, one in Texas, and one near Philadelphia.Warren says he has found deals in Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut,Massachusetts, California, and Minnesota, but has never found a dealin New Jersey. “It’s not that we are not doing the research. Wehave a full time researcher here looking for that stage.””What I provide is that help at that stage. You can’t afford,when you are managing a fund, to help a lot of little small companies,and if you just put money in you are taking extreme risks,” hesays.A “preseed deal” might amount to $600,000, says Warren. Adamsputs in a minimum of $500,000 and prefers $2 million, says Warren,but there is a need for earlier stage money. “We are thinkingof putting a fund together. The advantage to me is that it enablesme to work with some of these companies. Putting in very small amountsis very difficult, because you have to do so much due diligence.”Says Warren: “It was time to do something new. Being tied up withAdams and having the capital to put into a deal does make adifference.”Strategic Technologies LLC, 947 State Road, Suite104, Princeton 08540. Anthony C. Warren. 609-688-9990; fax,609-688-9988.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesTMF: Technology Management & Funding LP, 335 WallStreet, Princeton 08540. Harry Brener, chairman. 609-921-2001; fax,609-497-0998. Home page: www.tmflp.com.TMF has made a temporary move from 770 State Road to Research Park.The phone and fax remain the same. It is a private limited partnershipthat builds equity value in portfolio of early-stage technologycompaniesby creating and managing commercialization partnerships.Web 401K, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 1020,PrincetonMeadows Office Center, Plainsboro 08536. Dan Klein, president/CEO.609-275-2909; fax, 609-275-8887. Home page: www.web401k.com.This pension plan administration firm used to be known as Johnson& Farago, but Peter Farago retired and sold it last year to Dan Klein,Leyla Howarth, and Ronald Cohen. Now Web401K administers 401K plansfor medium to large companies, ranging from 100 to 6,000 employeesand including several publicly traded companies, says Klein, who isa 1990 alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh.By coincidence, he says, many of the clients are law firms. it doesday to day administration and statements, compliance testing, andfiling of IRS documents, mostly for “defined contribution”plans — in other words, plans that do not require actuarialservicesbecause they are not dependent on life expectancy. It moved from Suite1171 last month.Top Of PageBrian Breuel’s PathWealth Strategies LLC, 116 Village Boulevard,Princeton08540. Brian Breuel. 609-951-2249.Brian Breuel has left the Edward D. Jones stockbrokers’ office thathe established at Princeton Shopping Center to open an office at HQthat will work closely with wealthy clients and their families.”Afterfour and a half years in a storefront, I am looking to provide moreservices to fewer clients,” says Breuel. “I’m doing the totalplanning needs for a smaller number of clients. I’ve got clients withlow six figures to invest, but I know the potential is seven. Forsome that need just the financial planning, I am doing some fee-onlyfinancial plans.”Thanks to his own good investments, Breuel had been able to take afive-year mid-life sabbatical — traveling, living on a sailboat,and writing novels — before becoming a stockbroker. He hasretainedhis stockbroker license, is affiliated with Quantum Alliance as thebroker dealer, is a registered investment advisor, and belongs toa network of CPAs and estate planning attorneys. An alumnus ofLawrencevilleSchool and a 1966 graduate of Princeton University, where he is onthe advisory board for the Center for Human Values, he has a lawdegree,a master’s in science in management, master’s in financial sciences,a CFP, a CLU, and a CHFC. He has written several financial books,including “Staying Wealthy” for Bloomberg Press.”We will work on whatever basis is most comfortable for theclient,whether on a fee basis, commission, or retainer,” says Breuel.Edward D. Jones & Co., 301 North Harrison Street,Princeton Shopping Center, Princeton 08540. Harvey Field, investmentrepresentative. 609-497-4533; fax, 888-232-3752. Home page:www.edwardjones.com.Harvey Field is the temporary replacement for Brian Breuel, who leftthe firm in early March. “I’m part of a cadre of people on callso that when there is an opening of this magnitude we go in and holddown the fort,” says Field, a retired broker who lives in BucksCounty. Edward Jones is the largest brokerage firm organized as apartnership in the nation. This is an affiliate of St. Louis-basedbrokerage with 3,300 offices in 50 states.Steginsky Capital LLC, 1 Palmer Square, Suite 437,Princeton 08542. Andrew D. Steginsky CFA. 609-252-9980; fax,609-252-9981.After ten years as a director at Schroders, an investment bank inManhattan, Andrew Steginsky opened an investment advisory firm tomanage the portfolios of 65 clients. He holds a BA in economics andfinance from Ohio State University, Class of 1981, and recently movedfrom Princeton to Skillman with his wife.Top Of PageNew in Town: SysNetSysNet Consulting, 650 College Road, Princeton08540. Romi Raj Singh, president, CEO. Home page:www.sysnetconsulting.com.A software firm is moving 18 employees from Yardley, Pennsylvaniato establish a headquarters on College Road and, not coincidentally,acquire a Princeton address. Move-in date is June 15. SysNetConsultingdevelops software as well as doing consulting and providing short-termplacement. It has branch offices in Connecticut and Chicago plus adozen employees in New Delhi. “Ninety percent of our Yardleyemployeeslive in Plainsboro, says Romi Raj Singh, president and CEO.”We don’t specialize in any one field but have a range of clientsfrom small to small and medium businesses, to Fortune 5s and500s,”says Raj. Some of the clients are Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs,HewlettPackard, and Oracle. The website www.sysnetcorp.com will be launchedwith the new office.Peter Dodds of Keller Dodds & Woodworth helped Sysnet find the spacein the Aegis Group’s new building. Also in the running was space atthe Carnegie Center (which would provide the Princeton address butwas only a sublet) and at Brandywine Realty Trust’s Princeton PikeCorporate Center (which lacked the Princeton address.) Currentquartersare at 301 Oxford Valley Road, Suite 101-B, Yardley 19060,215-369-8009;fax, 215-369-1009.Office Furniture by Barringer’s is doing the furnishings and thecompanyis using Princeton-based contractors for all his other services aswell. “We want everything from that area,” says CEO Raj.Top Of PageExpansions: CaxtonCaxton Corp., 315 Enterprise Drive, Plainsboro08536. Peter D’Angelo, president. 609-275-7200; fax, 609-275-4500.Caxton Corp. will double its space this fall with an expansion from19,000 feet at Enterprise Drive to 40,000 feet at a two-story buildingbeing developed by Nexus at 731 Alexander Road, says Don Hawk,Caxton’sfacilities manager. Caxton will not bring jobs from its New Yorkofficebut will expand its Princeton operations, which employ 65 people.Caxton does commodities and securities trading and financial services.As with its current quarters, Caxton will have its name on thebuilding.It expects to take possession in October.Top Of PageName ChangesThe Hermes Group, 17 Hulfish Street, Suite 280,Princeton 08540. Mark I. Massad, partner. 609-924-7200; fax,609-924-7250.www.thehermesgroup.com.Kelly Massad LLP and David J. Ambrose have combined to form the HermesGroup.Top Of PageContracts Awarded: FactivaFactiva, a Dow Jones & Reuters Company, Box 300,Princeton 08543-0300. Clare Hart, president and CEO. 609-520-4000;fax, 609-520-4660. Home page: www.factiva.com.Factiva has signed a contract to house 500 employees at the newbuildingon the Dow Jones campus, finished in 1998 but never fully occupied.Some Factiva employees already work there and Factiva will take140,000square feet or nearly half of the available space by fall.Factiva has two stand-alone products from Dow Jones Interactive andReuters Business Briefing, and will launch two of its own products:Factiva Intranet, used by corporate computer networks, and Factivadot.com, sold to individuals. Soon, says a spokesperson, Factiva willbe the largest online revenue generator for Dow Jones.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesBooktrader of Hamilton, 2402 Nottingham Way,Hamilton08619. Carina Koesar, owner. 609-890-1455.The store has moved from 104 Flock Road to 2402 Nottingham Way.Resource New Jersey (IFSIA), 220 Evans Way,Branchburg08876. Timothy Bronish, vice president and sales manager.908-704-9777.This firm moved from 134 Stanhope Street to a larger office inBranchburgand changed its name fromm Source Sehadi. It sells carpeting and tilesupplies.Top Of PageLeaving TownbasysPrint, 745 Alexander Road, Unit 4, Princeton08540. Jeffrey Vargo, president. 609-419-8900; fax, 609-419-0678.The firm is in the process of moving to Atlanta, but will accept phonecalls at this number. It does networking and systems integration forprinting equipment manufacturers.Princeton University Population Index, 169 NassauStreet, Princeton 08540. Geraldine Hancock, business manager.609-258-4873;fax, 609-258-1655.The Population Index, a publication of Princeton University’s Officeof Population Research, printed its final issue in the winter of 1999and is shutting down. Inquiries can be directed to Carol Dyer at theUniversity’s Office of Population Research, 609-258-3556.Top Of PageManagement MovesNovo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NVO), 100OverlookCenter, Suite 200, Princeton 08540-6213. Bill Poole, president.609-987-5800;fax, 609-921-8082. Home page: www.novonordisk.com.Bent Johnsen has been named vice president of marketing for U.S.Diabetesdivision of Novo Nordisk, based in Denmark, a world leader in insulinand diabetes care. Johnsen went to the University of Aarhus inDenmark.Top Of PageIndictedConair Corp. executives CEO Leandro Rizzuto, 62, andimportsdirector Arthur Taylor have been indicted on charges that theyhid $4.3 million in kickbacks and defrauded the government of taxrevenues. Allegedly they pumped up the cost of shipping goods so thatshippers could funnel taxfree money into a Swiss bank account, a cashpayment, or a check to a third party. Rizzuto’s attorneys say he isinnocent and Taylor’s attorney had no comment.Arraignment, on charges of conspiracy and fraud over a seven yearperiod, was scheduled for Tuesday, June 9 in Uniondale, New York.Conair is based in Connecticut but the shipping depot, declared tobe a foreign trade zone, is in East Windsor.Top Of PageDeathsMargaret Stella, 62, on May 2. She was co-owner of theBlack Forest Inn and executive secretary at Norelco in Hightstown.Elsie DiBoise Mongiello, 75, on May 3. She owned Mom’sPeppermill, Old Yorke Inn, and the Coach & Four Restaurant.Marcia Sternberg, 65, on May 3. She worked in theadvertisingdepartment of the Princeton Packet and at the New Jersey State Museum.Patricia Thompson McManimoon, 70, on May 4. She was asupervisor at Educational Testing Service.Esther Arnhold Seligmann, 82, on May 5. She taught moderndance and Alexander Technique at Princeton Ballet School, the ArtsCouncil of Princeton, and Westminster Conservatory. A memorial servicewill be Friday, May 12, at 11 a.m. at Mountain Lakes.Charlotte Smithey Meschonat, 68, on May 6. She hadbeen an accountant at ETS.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
