Coalition Rallies for Bell Labs Complex

HOLMDEL, NJ-It encompasses two million sf on six floors, has 330,000-sf floorplates and occupies more than 470 valuable acres in Monmouth County. And a coalition of organizations has lined up to preserve it pretty much as is. The object of such attention is the now-vacant Bell Labs complex here, currently owned by Bell Labs’ successor Alcatel-Lucent.

While it held 6,000 Bell Labs staffers at its peak, it went completely vacant in 2005 after Alcatel bought Bell Labs’ successor company, Lucent, and the remaining 1,000 or so employees were relocated to sites in Murray Hill and Whippany. Lucent agreed to sell it to Conshohocken, PA-based Preferred Real Estate Investments in early 2006 for a reported $250 million, but the deal fell apart this past November after PREI failed to get a redevelopment plan approved.

At issue was that the original building was designed by renowned Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, his only New Jersey building, and that most of Bell Labs’ innovations over a 50-year period came out of the site. PREI’s various proposals including demolishing most or all of the historic complex. And a proposal to add 300 housing units to the redevelopment mix drew significant opposition.