PLAINSBORO — The former home of Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company that has sat vacant along Route 1 for more than a year, will soon have a new tenant and new job opportunities.
Sandoz Inc., a major pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets generic prescription drugs, will be relocating its U.S. headquarters to the 154,000-square-foot space at 100 College Road West.
The move for Sandoz to Plainsboro will be from the company’s current 136,000-square-foot location in Carnegie Center in West Windsor.
State officials announced in February that the company would move to Plainsboro rather than relocate to Pennsylvania, based on a $9.1 incentive package of grants and corporate assistance from the state, but the Plainsboro location was not disclosed at the time.
The incentives approved by the Economic Development Authority are through the Grow New Jersey Assistance (Grow NJ) Program, which is meant to spur job growth in the state. The $9.1 million award to Sandoz will be spaced over 10 years.
The relocation and expansion will retain 292 existing in-state jobs as well as create 70 new full-time positions, according to the EDA.
Essential Power Services, a power generating company, has taken space in the adjacent building at 150 College Road West, officials said.
The company is currently occupying 20 percent of the 71,000-square-foot building, and brokers said that pharmaceutical companies and financial consultants in particular have shown a strong interest in the remaining 80 percent of the space.
“Because of the frontage on Route 1 offering great identity and being in walking distance to a host of amenities, we expect that we will have a lot of interest,” said Paul Giannone, executive vice president of Cushman & Wakefield, the leasing agent for the building.
Jerry Fennelly, owner of the NAI Fennelly commercial real estate brokerage of West Windsor, said that the leasing activity at the Plainsboro complex is a great sign for the market.
“It’s a great asset, it’s a great property and it’s a great real estate story,” he said. “Real estate is moving up and let’s see how fast it moves up.”
While business recovery in Central New Jersey has been slow-moving, large leasing transactions of 10,000 to 25,000 square feet accounted for 27 percent of the commercial space leasing volume in the region in April, May and June, according to a Cushman & Wakefield press release on July 1.
Kim Brennan, Cushman & Wakefield’s New Jersey senior managing director, said that Central New Jersey is a good location for business growth because of the combination of highways and mass transit.
“These commuter hubs will continue to be sought out by companies looking for new talent, and the activity will continue to flourish,” she said. “The Princeton/Route 1 corridor also is enjoying healthy demand that can be traced to the strength of the pharmaceutical and health care industries there.”
Both buildings will also undergo a multimillion dollar capital improvement project by Princeton Property Partners that includes new lobbies, bathrooms, entrances and landscape.
Giannone said that construction should start this month and end in November.
The state’s practice of paying companies to relocate to New Jersey or to not leave the state has come under attack. In June the state announced a controversial agreement to pay the Philadelphia 76ers organization $82 million over 10 years to move from the Pennsylvania city to Camden, in the process bringing 250 existing jobs and creating 50 new ones. Critics say such incentives deprive the state of essential revenues.