New Jersey must be doing something right.
In 1997, The Governor's Council of Economic Advisors reported that over 78,000 jobs were created in the state, making it the best year for job growth since the late 1980s.
Last year New Jersey was honored for having the best state enterprise zone program in the nation by a panel of five judges at the National Association of State Development Agencies. In selecting New Jersey for the award, the Association cited the state's success in generating more than 39,000 jobs in the zones (as of 1997), as well as $6 billion in investments by participating businesses since the program began in 1984.
Blinds To Go, Inc. is one company that recently took advantage of this award-winning program.
HOW DOES NEW JERSEY RANK?
- BEST state enterprise zone
(--National Association of
State Development Agencies)
- SEVENTH in the nation in the number of high-tech jobs
- FIFTH in the percentage of high-tech workers
- FOURTH in the number of high-tech businesses
- SECOND in the average wage of high-tech workers
(--American Electronics Association) |
The Canadian manufacturer and retailer of window blinds and shades was approved by the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority for interest free loans of $3 million and a $1,050,000 grant from the Lakewood Urban Enterprise Zone Assistance Fund.
Blinds To Go will create 500 jobs in its new 100,000 square foot Lakewood assembly and distribution facility, expected to be completed later this year. It will employ 300 workers in its first year of operation and 200 more workers in its second year. The company was also approved for an $872,000 Business Employment Incentive Program grant form the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and a New Jersey Department of Labor customized training grant of $500,000 to help conduct a worker training program.
New Jersey has a clear focus on attracting high-tech companies and supplying the infrastructure to support them.
The Technology Centre, located in New Brunswick, was first unveiled in 1996 and is a collaborative effort by the state, private corporations and academia. It features state-of-the-art, affordable laboratory, office and production facilities for emerging and established technology companies.
Companies interested in acquiring space at the Centre can seek state assistance to finance their development and expansion plans through Economic Development Administration bond financing, loans or loan guarantees, and other financial incentives of the agency.
High-tech jobs
A recent study by the American Electronics Association reported that New Jersey is seventh in the nation in the number of high-tech jobs; fifth in the percentage of high-tech workers; fourth in the number of high-tech businesses; and second in the average wage of high-tech workers.
Some big-name companies have recently announced plans for state-of-the-art projects in New Jersey, creating hundreds of jobs.
In March, AT&T took a big step toward "future-proofing" its network by breaking ground for a new communications command and control center in Bedminster, in Somerset County.
"The new Network Operations Center will give AT&T unparalleled capabilities for managing the flow of any type of communications 'traffic' moving across its network, anywhere in the world, from one central location," said Frank Ianna, executive vice president for AT&T Network and Computing Services.
"We will be able to manage and coordinate the flow of domestic long distance, global long distance, data services, local service, wireless, and Internet traffic from this one facility, and that will improve efficiency and reliability," said Ianna. "Our new center will allow one team of talented employees to efficiently manage the full range of AT&T services from a single location."
AT&T said it plans to complete the new 198,000 square foot facility, three times the size of its current Bedmin- ster facility, by December of 1999. AT&T is investing $91 million in the new building, which will be set into a hillside on the company's 200-acre campus.
In June of last year, Ratheon Engineers & Constructors broke ground to estab- lish its Eastern Region Headquarters.
The project calls for the company to build a 500,000 square foot office site at the Carnegie Center at Princeton which is located in Mercer County. The 1,400 employees who will work at the new facility will include transfers from the company's Philadelphia and New York offices.
At the same time last spring, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. announced a plan to expand its research and development operations. The expansion is expected to increase the company's research staff by about 2,000 over the next five or so years.
Bristol-Myers Squibb employs more than 7,000 people in New Jersey, most of them at facilities in the Central Jersey area.
|
JERSEY CITY'S GOLD COAST
A real estate bust during the recession of the late '80s and early '90s left a lot of grandiose development promises unfulfilled along the west bank of the Hudson River.
But now, a building renaissance appears to be underway in Jersey City. New luxury rental units have been springing up for the past few years, offering a more affordable alternative to what is available in New York City.
And now, as Manhattan office space disappears in a robust economy, Jersey City's "Gold Coast" is poised to answer the growing demands for more options.
The new commercial property boom is being spearheaded by two speculative projects. In May, the Lefrak Organization broke ground on its $55 million, 14-story Newport Office Tower III. The 562,000 square foot building is the first major office building construction on the waterfront in a decade.
In December, Hartz Mountain Industries, the Secaucus-based real estate division of the giant pet food company, bought an acre of the Colgate-Palmolive Company's waterfront land on the Jersey City waterfront for $10 million.
In June, Hartz held a groundbreaking ceremony for a 420,000 square foot, Class A office building at the site.
At the same time, a third developer received approval from the Jersey City zoning board to convert a former Colgate-Palmolive warehouse into nearly 400,000 square feet of office space, plus almost 10,000 square feet of retail space. Plans are for the renovations to compliment the designs of the surrounding historic district and the colors of neighboring homes.
-- Kerrianne Monahan |
NEW JERSEY FACTS AND CONTACTS
DEMOGRAPHY AND ECONOMY
Population: 8,052,849
Capital: Trenton
Three Largest Cities: Newark, 267,849; Jersey City, 228,575; Paterson, 139,358
GSP: 254.945 billion
Per Capita Income: $31,334
Percentage of Durable Goods Manufacturing Labor Force Organized: 20.6%
Right to Work State: No
1997 Avg. Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
Average Hourly Manufacturing Wage: $14.48
Population Over 25 With Bachelor's Degree or More: Newark, 8.5%; Jersey, 21.4%; Paterson, 8.7%
EM's Education Quotient for the Largest School Districts:
Jersey, red; Newark, red
Corporate Income Tax Rate: 9.0%
Percentage Employment by Sector: Construction, 3.4%; manufacturing, 12.9%; mining, 0.05%; service industries, 31.5%; transportation/public utilities, 6.9%; wholesale/retail, 23.5%
Primary Industries: Pharmaceuticals/biotech, tourism, petrochemicals, agriculture food processing
& distribution
Targeted Industries: High tech:
telecommunications, research & development, computers/software, pharmaceuticals/biotech, FIRE, petrochemicals, food processing
BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
Major Financial Incentives:
Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP), tax incentives for high-tech businesses, corporate tax credits, urban enterprise zones, loan guarantees, tax-exempt bonds, taxable bonds, statewide loan pool for
small businesses
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Office of the Business Advocate, N.J. Dept. of Commerce & Econ. Dev., 20 West State St., P.O. Box 820, Trenton, NJ 08625, (609) 777-0885, fax (609) 777-4097
|
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