NEWTON, NJ-J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc. has broken ground on a new 98,040-square-foot, three-story world headquarters for Thorlabs Inc. at 56 Sparta Ave. here. The project marks the commencement of a major redevelopment initiative of the town’s historic manufacturing and industrial hub and will serve as a benchmark for future redevelopment projects.
Thorlabs, a New Jersey born and bred company, is a global manufacturer of equipment for the photonics industry. Steady expansion of the 20-year old firm’s business eventually created a situation where Thorlabs’ headquarters facility at 435 Rt. 206 N., also in Newtown, could no longer meet its needs. State, county, local and business officials worked together to ensure the company stayed in the county rather than being enticed away by economic incentives of neighboring Pennsylvania.
Alex Cable, founder and president of Thorlabs, tells GlobeSt.com that the search for a new location began in 2007. Buoyed by a $4-million redevelopment area bond and payment in lieu of taxes by the town, in addition to $6.175 million in federal American Reinvestment & Recovery Act low-interest loans, the company decided to move three miles to the 5.6-acre former brownfield site on Sparta Avenue.
The $20-million building--which includes 48,000 square feet of first-floor production and warehouse space, 25,020 feet of second-floor manufacturing and research space and 25,020 feet of third-floor headquarters office space--is merely phase one of a complex that is expected to grow to 300,000 square feet over seven to 10 years. The Andover Township facility will remain open, Cable says. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
Newton Mayor Kristen Becker notes that the building also marks the return of manufacturing to what had been the industrial center of Newton. The site, blighted and vacant since 1993, was used from 1896 to the early 1960s by Sterling Silk Co. for processing silk and fabric manufacturing, after which plastic products were manufactured on the site until 1992.
“Redevelopment of this parcel is an integral piece of the realization of the Newton Urban Design Plan adopted in 2006, which calls for the district surrounding the area to become a neighborhood center,” Becker said at the groundbreaking. “By creation of this project, Thorlabs is the first step, indeed the most important step, in the revitalization of the Sparta Avenue corridor and all of Newton.”
What’s more, says Jim Petrucci, president of J.G. Petrucci Co., “this project will eventually retain and create more than 450 permanent jobs ranging from Ph.D. level to R&D positions to production floor jobs.”
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