Fiberoptic, Finance, Telecom on the Move
Corrections or additions?
These articles were prepared for the March 14, 2001
edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane: Millstone Bypass
Faced with obstinate opposition on both sides, the
state Department of Transportation has proposed a new approach to
studying the Millstone Bypass controversy — mediation. DOT
commissioner
James Weinstein says his agency will try to work out differences with
opponents through third-party mediation provided by Rutgers
University.
This new "community-based approach" toward construction of
the roadway could smooth opposition to the project, but it would not
reduce the timeline for getting it started.
"The NJDOT is committed to taking an entirely fresh look at this
project. Everything is on the table and we intend to proceed by
bringing
everyone who has a stake in this project’s future to the table,"
says Weinstein. "The difference here is that we are shifting the
lead of this process to our environmental and public policy
professionals,
and using our engineering staff to provide the technical support.
"What we will attempt to do is develop the future of this project
in a way that is sensitive to the concerns of the local communities
while still addressing an important need on a very congested section
of the Route 1 corridor," says Weinstein.
The proposed bypass would eliminate the circle at Washington Road
and Route 1 and allow cars to travel signal-free from the Carnegie
Center to College Road. As planned, cars would cut through Sarnoff
Center property from the Princeton Junction railroad tracks to Route
1 and cross the highway on an overpass at Harrison Street. Some
traffic
would enter Princeton at Harrison Street, and other cars would travel
south along the Delaware & Raritan Canal to enter Princeton along
Washington Road. Southbound traffic could exit Route 1 at Washington
Road, and Washington Road traffic could enter Route 1 from Washington
Road, but that intersection would have no traffic circle and no
traffic
signal.
Last October, in spite of vociferous opposition on the Princeton side
of the highway, the DOT was preparing to proceed with the project.
The agency was relying on an environmental assessment that supported
its preferred alignment. Several weeks later, in response to the
opposition,
then-Governor Christie Whitman put a stop to the process and ordered
the completion of a full environmental impact statement. Fervent
supporters
on both sides have not ceased their lobbying efforts.
Under the DOT’s new plan, the Rutgers University Transportation Policy
Institute and the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution have
been hired to act as "objective facilitators" to help manage
and conduct the two-year environmental impact statement (EIS) on the
project. Project objectives include:
steer and manage the process;
strategies and alternatives;
involvement
process with opportunities for participation in a variety of formats;
communication
between NJDOT, local officials, property owners, and interested groups
and individuals; and
professionals trained in public involvement, negotiation and conflict
resolution, as well as transportation policy.
interviews
with opponents and supporters of the project to get a better
understanding
of the issues to be addressed. In addition, the process will include
a series of smaller public "listening sessions," open houses
and workshops, Weinstein says.
The first phase of the EIS process is expected to take about six
months
to complete and will conclude with a report listing the conceptual
strategies and alternatives (including a no-build alternative) that
will be evaluated in the Draft EIS.
Once the alternatives have been identified, it is anticipated that
the remainder of the EIS process will take 18 months to complete.
The final EIS would be submitted to the Federal Highway
Administration,
which will determine whether the project can move forward.
This plan is the exact opposite of the DOT’s past practice: To present
a proposal and then seek community input. If this new method proves
successful, it could radically change DOT’s operations.
Top Of Page
One Up, Two Down:
One of Princeton’s rising stars is replacing a fallen
one. Princeton Optronics, formerly known as Princeton Electronics
Systems, will take over where Base Ten Systems left off at 1
Electronics
Drive in Hamilton. It will occupy half of the 84,000-square-feet
available.
Princeton Optronics — now in the Dataram complex on
Princeton-Hightstown
Road — has products for chemical and nuclear detection, video
communications, and voltage controlled oscillators. It also does R&D
for other electronic components and government/defense research.
Base Ten, once one of the Princeton area’s brightest manufacturing
stars, will be shut down by May. It was manufacturing execution
systems
and services for the international pharmaceutical and medical devices
industries. "It’s been a sad experience," says Kenneth Riley,
the CFO in charge of dismantling the firm. He has moved the dwindling
operation, renamed Prime Manufacturing, to temporary quarters in Belle
Mead.
"We are shutting down the New Jersey operations and plan to take
the shell of the company to Vero Beach, Florida, to get into contract
manufacturing," says Riley. Ed Klinsport, the former CEO of Base
Ten, has a business — Paragon Industries — in Vero Beach
(561-231-5125).
The space formerly occupied by Strategic Technology Systems remains
empty. Though Base Ten tried to get into the medical device business,
Strategic Technology Systems struggled to retain the military
contracts
— military devices, data recorders, and automatic target
recognition
units. Jerry Fennelly of NAI Fennelly, representing the owner, had
advertised the space at $8.50 gross rent per square foot last fall.
John Marks at
Cushman Wakefield and Hal Hoeland represented the tenant. Remaining
to be leased: 35,000 square feet.
Primrose Court, Belle Mead 08502. Kenneth Riley, CFO. 908-359-1867;
fax, 908-359-6403.
Hamilton
08690, Box 8627, Princeton 08543. Chuni Ghosh, CEO. 609-275-6500;
fax, 609-799-7743. Www.princetonoptronics.com.
Top Of Page
Fiberoptic, Finance, Telecom on the Move
Pennington-Hopewell
Road, Pennington 08534. Vladimir Ban, president. 609-564-7900; fax,
609-564-7901. Home page: www.pd-ld.com.
Another fiber optics company is growing fast. This one
doubled in size in both space and personnel with a move last week
from 6,000 square feet at Research Park to 12,500 feet, sharing space
with Kooltronics at the 100,000 square foot-site in Pennington. For
now, the old phone numbers (609-924-7979; fax, 609-924-7366) are the
ones that work.
DesignBuild designed and built two new clean rooms — one for R&D
and one for production. PD/LD has 51 employees and is hiring as fast
as it can. Especially needed are assembly manufacturing personnel,
with pay based on experience.
CEO Vladimir Ban, a Croatian emigre, had helped found Epitaxx, the
successful fiber optics firm that was sold in 1990 and now, as JD
Uniphase, has 1,000 employees on Graphics Drive.
08534. 609-274-1000.
More than 3,000 workers have now moved to the new Merrill Lynch campus
in Hopewell. John Barbano heads the Private Client Technology group
at the new facility, and John Cummings heads U.S. Private Client
Services.
By next year, this campus will also have a branch office.
Many of the employees moved from Somerset and from College Road.
Merrill
Lynch had totally occupied the 72,000 square-foot building at 400
College Road, which is now being taken over by Bloomberg Financial
Services. Merrill Lynch also had space at 500 College Road and 3
Independence
Way.
(ITXC),
600 College Road East, Princeton 08540. Tom Evslin, CEO. 609-419-1500;
fax, 609-419-1511. Home page: www.itxc.com.
By this summer the Internet telephony services carrier will move
from
just under 30,000 square feet at 600 College Road to 70,000 feet in
the new building under construction at 750 College Road. ITXC was
named the second fastest growing technology company in the United
States, based on growth over the last three years, by Deloitte &
Touche.
The new building, being developed by Aegis Property Group and Berwind
Property Group, was "topped out" (saw its final piece of steel
erected) last month. Berwind owned the North Brunswick building where
ITXC got its start; it also developed State Street Square in downtown
Princeton and owns two other buildings at the Forrestal Center.
Top Of Page
Nicholson Expands
<D>Nicholson International is nearly doubling its space
this month with a move from 3,500 square feet at Carnegie Center to
6,500 square feet at 100 Overlook Center.
This executive search and human resources consulting company is based
in the United Kingdom and has 34 offices in 25 countries. This branch
opened at 206 Carnegie Center in August, 1998. At that time there
were just three New Jersey employees. The office has grown to 12
people.
The company also has an office in New York City, and, says Gilbert
Carrera, managing director of the company’s North American healthcare
practice, is planning for significant growth within the next 12 to
18 months.
The bulk of Nicholson’s business in central New Jersey comes from
placing executives at healthcare companies, including pharmaceuticals,
biotechs, and medical device companies. Nicholson also targets clients
in other industries, including food and beverage, information
technology,
telecom, consumer goods, and entertainment, and is moving into
executive
recruiting for the insurance and financial services industries.
Nicholson consults on human resource issues, including employee
retention
and team building, and has a diversity practice through which it
advises
clients on multi-cultural workplace issues.
Millinger, who heads one of the new consulting departments, graduated
from George Washington University with a degree in English in 1992.
He also holds a master’s degree in social work from New York
University.
Barbara Butcher is manager of the office. A graduate of the University
of Tennessee, she was a consultant with The Stevenson Group, a
retainer-based
search and management consulting firm.
Carrera, who holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Drew University
(Class of 1982) and a medical degree from Ross University, worked
for executive search firm Korn Ferry for seven years. He says demand
for top employees in healthcare companies remains strong despite
mergers.
Among the most sought after employees in the pharmaceutical industry,
he says, are clinical and research personnel with specialties in
oncology,
central nervous system, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases.
Key managers are getting harder to find. "There has been a drain
at the top," Carrera says. In the expanding economy of the past
decade "executives made significant dollars," he says.
"Now
family issues and quality of life are important. They’re saying `I’ve
made enough, I’ll get out of the rat race.’"
08540. Barbara Butcher, manager. 609-720-1800; fax, 609-720-1850.
Home page: www.nicholsonintl.com.
Top Of Page
Expansions
125, Princeton 08542. Alan Brooks, president. 609-924-3838; fax,
609-924-0088.
The design firm expanded from the second floor to the first floor
at 20 Nassau Street after a 25 percent increase in sales last year.
"Up to now, we’ve been predominately a print shop," says
Christine
Hough, development director. "But we’re receiving more requests
to produce increasingly complex website work, and the solution is
to grow the company accordingly."
Brooks went to the School of Visual Arts, Class of 1977. The firm
does corporate identity, sales materials, and website design. Recent
hires include Dhana Green, who had spent six years as art director
for Merrill Lynch Financial Services, and Randy Brasov, new director
of interactive media.
Company,
125 Village Boulevard, Suite 330, Princeton 08540. Laurie Knafo,
regional
manager. 609-452-0287; fax, 609-452-0289.
This office of Corporate Staffing Solutions, along with six others,
has been acquired by A Staffing Now, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
Corporate
Staffing was founded in 1994 by Sally and Malcolm Schneider, based
in West Springfield, Massachusetts. With this acquisition — its
fifth in two years — the acquiring firm has 40 offices, with many
in Florida. It focuses on accounting, information technology, sales
and marketing, and administrative — permanent and temporary
divisions.
Top Of Page
Name Changes
Road, Suite A 104, Princeton 08540. Gary Shambaugh, branch manager.
609-243-9161; fax, 609-243-0127.
Maryland National Mortgage Corp. is now known as First Horizon Home
Loans Corp.
Top Of Page
Deaths
Food Markets at Nassau Park.
founded
and directed the Breast Cancer Resource Center.
guide at Morven and a museum technician for the state.
Corrections or additions?
This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com
— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
Facebook Comments