Written by Magda Szalajko on . Posted in Announcements, Around Central New Jersey, Incentives.
Billtrust, a provider of outsourced billing services, has announced plans to move its headquarters to Lawrence, just 5 miles from its current home in Hamilton, after receiving more than $12 million in tax credits from the state.
Written by caitie on . Posted in Around Central New Jersey, Conversations, Incentives, News.
The phrase “mixed-use” has been around for a long time, but seems to be growing more prominent in conversations, news articles and online discussions each day. We’ve mentioned a few mixed-use projects in this news section in the past and have had many conversations in the office voicing different viewpoints and imagining possibilities for here in Mercer County.
We can point to a few examples of existing mixed-use environments in our backyard: downtown Princeton (Mercer Co, NJ) and Lambertville and New Hope (Hunterdon Co, NJ and Bucks Co, PA, respectively) that have been around for a long time and are very successful at being what mixed-use plans hope to be: any urban, suburban or village development (even a single building) that blends a combination of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or industrial uses where those functions are physically and functionally integrated, and that provides pedestrian connections. Mixed-use has had a variety of exact definitions over the years and still gets used in different ways from time to time- if you are interested in digging a little deeper, this article provided by Placemakers is a good place to start to understand the nuances.
We recently attended the Princeton Chamber of Commerce’s REBA (Real Estate Business Alliance) breakfast event (Bringing Positive Change to the Princeton Region) that was centered around planning concepts that would attract millennials and empty nesters to the Princeton/Mercer region- in particular Trenton. The mixed-use concept was spoke about at length- looking at demographics and trends around the country for the targeted age groups and considering how to apply them to our backyard.
Here is an article about the sale of a long vacant building in Hightstown that hints that a mixed-use redevelopment may be in the cards. An article from earlier in the month follows the possible redevelopment of the Ocean Spray site in Bordentown into a possible “gateway into town” mixing loft style office space and possibly a brewery, yoga studio, etc.
What does this mean for the real estate landscape in Mercer County (commercial, residential, retail, industrial)? Do you see this type of project taking hold and changing our area? Or is this another fad that will pass?
We’d love to hear your thoughts and continue the conversation. You can find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Written by caitie on . Posted in News.
It has taken 3 years, but Princetel’s 41,500 square foot repurposing project is finished and just received its LEED Platinum rating, making it the first LEED Platinum industrial building in New Jersey.
LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is a certification program established by the US Green Building Council that requires buildings to satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of “green” certification. The program supports efforts to promote building practices that have sustainability, health of future occupants, renewable and clean energy use and long-term money savings at the forefront. There are 4 levels of certification: Certified, Silver, Gold & Platinum.
As of August 1, 2014 there are 934 LEED Registered Commercial projects and 343 LEED Certified Commercial projects in the state of New Jersey; Princeton is home to 6 of those. Before this project, Hamilton had 2.
Princetel was founded in Pennington in 2000 and manufactures fiber optic rotary joints. The company moved to Hamilton in 2011 and has doubled its staff since then. CEO Barry Zhang says that the company’s mission is to remain sustainable, and explained that their Hamilton building has turned into a “passion project.”
Read a full story on the LEED Platinum Princetel building here, on nj.com.
Written by caitie on . Posted in News.
On Wednesday, Hamilton township officials announced that the 1-million square foot Congoleum plant on Sloan Avenue in Hamilton, NJ was sold.
The plant’s location makes it an interesting opportunity to develop. It is situated very close to major highways, creating easy access and also extremely close to the Hamilton Train Station, leading some to wonder if the plan will include attempts to created a mixed-use, rail oriented space.
Read the full story on the Congoleum factory sale at nj.com, here.