Corrections or additions?
These articles were prepared for the April 4, 2001 edition of U.S.
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Sold to SES Global: GE Americom
A company in Luxembourg has bought GE American
Communications,
the satellite operations company, for $5 billion in cash and stock.
That includes $2.7 billion in cash, a 25 percent stake, and a 20
percent
voting interest in the new company, to be called SES Global. None
of GE Americom’s 325 employees — including 200 on Research Way
— are expected to be laid off.
GE Americom has 17 satellites, and its core business is transmission
support for cable and television, radio broadcast, and data services.
It had $522 million in revenue last year, and its chief investor,
GE Capital, is based in Stamford, Connecticut. Lockheed Martin and
Alcatel manufacture the firm’s satellites.
The buyer, Society Europeene des Satellites SA, has been looking for
an American partner for more than a year; it focuses on direct-to-home
transmissions and has 41 communications satellites — 11 wholly
owned — in space. It has revenues of $740.94 million and serves
87.5 million European households.
GE’s satellites are in a geosynchronous orbit mode at 22,500 miles
around the earth. Its clients are broadcasters, cable, NYT, federal
government agencies, and major radio broadcasters, but it offers some
telecommunications services, primarily in remote locations such as
Alaska and other spots where vast distances exist between population
areas. "If you are geographically dispersed, the economics of
satellite transmission play in your favor," says Monica Morgan,
spokesperson. "It is a question of economics — what kind of
content you will send, how often, and where. A lot of companies have
found the Internet not as speedy as it needs to be, because bandwidth
is constrained by the smallest link in the chain. Whereas the
satellite
transmission can scale to your requirements at no extra cost."
08540. John F. Connelly, chairman and CEO. 609-987-4000; fax,
609-987-4517.
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NonProfit Sells Shared Office
Community Options is selling what was its jewel in the
crown, the Daily Plan It Office Center on Alexander Road. "We
have a debt service of $700,000," says Robert Stack, CEO of the
1,300-person nonprofit agency on Farber Road, "and the board of
directors thought it would be better to find other jobs for people
we serve and sell the property. If somebody bought it and ran it
themselves
they would make a nice living with it. It is very beautifully fitted
out."
Five years ago, he bought and opened this shared office space in order
to employ people with disabilities. The agency paid $1,050,000 for
the space and the fit-out and it is asking $1.2 million. Tim Norris
of Callaway Commercial has the listing.
The property is 7,300 square feet with "marble floors, great
parking,
and the cachet of Alexander Road," says Stack. The smallest office
is 150 square feet and the rent runs from $800 to $1,000 a month.
Stack had hoped to raise $800,000 to cover the debt service on the
high percentage mortgage, held by the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. But only $300,000 in donations was raised. With such
heavy debt service, the center was losing $100,000 annually. Donations
comprise only three percent or $700,000 of the agency’s total budget
of $35.5 million (www.comop.org).
Stack thinks a new owner could indeed make a profit, in part because
of a favorable mortgage. "Because we are losing money we can’t
get financed through any bank." Also because, without Community
Options workers, the center can be run with fewer employees. By agency
policy, each of the 16 Community Options employees earns minimum wage
or better.
"Our expectations with the fundraising work were not fulfilled.
But we have had a significant track record of doing fundraising in
other respects. If we had raised $500,000, I don’t think we would
have bit the bullet to sell it." Other properties that Community
Options owns, he says, "we were able to negotiate various
amortizations
with various state and private entities."
"If we didn’t own the mortgage, all the people could continue
to work there," says Stack. "We are working on finding them
jobs in other parts of the area."
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New in Cranbury
When Kerzner Associates opened Cranbury Gates Office
Park last November, most of its tenants came from the Cranbury area
— insurance consultants, a broker, a lab, and a professional
services
agency. "It was leased up before it opened," says Sandy
Kerzner.
But the project was a long time in coming. The property was bought
15 years ago. "It probably 10 years to get the project approved
because it needed a change of zoning," says Kerzner. Though the
property is located at the traffic circle, it was zoned residential
and is now zoned for professional office. The spaces range from 830
to 2,7000 square feet, each with its own entrance. "The whole
park is 18 acres, and eventually we will build out the rest of the
park," he says. "We have gotten a lot of interest from day
care centers, but we didn’t want day care at the front of the park.
Irving Kerzner, Sandy’s father, started in the construction business
in Jersey City 65 years ago, and the firm still does some general
construction, including the work for this park. Sandy Kerzner was
brought up in West Orange, majored in business at American University,
Class of 1976, and was an industrial broker. He has one brother, a
marketing MBA, and is married to a preschool teacher; they have two
school-age children.
"We were the first developers in Cranbury," says Kerzner.
"Eight-A Corporate center is a 63-acre park, and we just finished
our fifth building. We could do three or four more buildings. Our
smallest tenant is 6,800 square feet, and our largest is 54,000."
The architects were Schroeder Perez in East Windsor.
Center, Cranbury 08512. Sandy Kerzner, partner. 609-655-3100; fax,
609-655-4801. Home page: www.kerznerassociates.com.
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Engineering Moves
When Lockheed Martin announced it would move out of
East Windsor, many hands were wrung. Now the aerospace company’s
former
site is on the upswing. It has a new address, 50 Millstone Road, and
is named Windsor Corporate Park.
One of its most recent tenants is Bala Consulting Engineers, which
has expanded from Clarksville Road to Windsor Corporate Park. This
is a second office for the firm based in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania,
and it focuses on research and development laboratories and
manufacturing
process facilities. Michael Anastasio is the president, CEO, and
founder.
One of its important clients is Merrill Lynch, and Joseph Russo was
the project manager for Merrill Lynch’s corporate campus. Gregory
DeMarco manages work for EMCORE in Somerset and Organan Inc., in West
Orange.
Windsor
Corporate Park, Building 300, Suite 100, Cranbury 08512-. Gregory
J. DeMarco PE, executive vice president. 609-490-8950; fax,
609-490-8955.
Home page: www.bala.com.
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Joint Venture
River Road, Suite 18, Jamesburg 08831-9725. C. Robert Lonshein, senior
vice president. 732-521-1400; fax, 732-521-5879.
The corporate real estate broker and developer has formed a joint
venture with Binswanger CBB to provide commercial and industrial real
estate brokerage, consulting, and development services. Klatzkin will
keep its Teterboro headquarters and also have an office in Edison.
Charles Klatskin will be chairman and CEO; Anthony Scaro, COO; and
David Knee, executive vice president. Two former Weichert Commercial
real estate agents, Joel Lubin and Charles Fern, will manage the
Edison
office. The two offices currently have a total of 20 employees.
Based in Philadelphia and founded in 1931, Binswanger CBB has 5,200
employees worldwide and 160 offices. Binswanger/Klatskin belongs to
Chesterton Blumenauer Binswanger, and international full-service real
estate organization.
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Expansions
Children’s
Hospital, 1 Robert Wood Johnson Place, Somerset and High streets,
New Brunswick. Steven Kairys, acting director, pediatrics department.
732-828-3000. Home page: www.rwjuh.edu.
The $62 million hospital is the first free-standing children’s
hospital
in the state. With 160,000 square feet and 70 private rooms —
in which parents can sleep overnight — its pediatric services
include a special intensive care unit.
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Management Moves
Skillman 08558. Barbara S. Jones MSW LCSW CADC, executive director.
908-874-5153; fax, 908-874-4733.
Barbara S. Jones is the new executive director of the 23-year-old
non-profit agency. It operates transitional living programs for women
recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. A licensed social worker and
a certified alcohol and drug counselor, Jones has a master’s degree
and nearly 20 years experience in social services.
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Down-Sizing
08540. Craig Muhlhauser, president and COO. 609-919-0817; fax,
609-919-4988.
Home page: www.exideworld.com.
Exide Technologies, a battery manufacturer with offices in Carnegie
Center, continues its ongoing downsizing in the wake of its
acquisition
of GNB Technologies. Five hundred employees will be affected as the
company closes plants in Burlington, Iowa and Dunmore, Pennsylvania.
The company previously announced the closings of two other plants.
The combined reduction in its manufacturing operations reduces Exide’s
automotive battery capacity in the United States by 20 percent. Cost
saving measures are also being undertaken in the company’s European
transportation business. They include a reorganization in the United
Kingdom, and layoffs in Germany. Staffing at the Carnegie Center is
expected to remain unchanged.
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Start-ups
08648.
Ruth Markoe and Hinda R. Haskell, co-directors. 609-895-9661; Home
page: www.clearlyspeaking.net.
Hinda Haskell and Ruth Markoe have opened a consulting firm to provide
speech and communications improvement for corporations and healthcare
institutions. "We’ll concentrate on foreign accent reduction,
helping people with voice quality and pronunciation, and cross
cultural
communication in the workplace," says Haskell.
Each is a speech and language pathologist with more than 20 years
experience. Haskell went to University of Hartford and New York
University
and is based in Villanova; Markoe went to City University of New York
and the University of Wisconsin and is also the producer of R&R
Productions
and Theater to Go. Their clientele includes, not just with foreign
nationals in corporations but also physicians. "Their accents
can impact productivity, communication, and safety," says Haskell.
Haskell’s advice on what to say if communications break down. The
English speaking person can say, "I know this is a second language
for you, but I am having trouble understanding you. Can you please
repeat it more slowly."
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Deaths
manager at Dow Jones & Company on Route 1 North.
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