BRIDGEWATER, NJ-A chemical company based in Wayne will move its specialty ingredients unit to a new and vacant 200,000-square-foot lab and office space at the Sanofi-Aventis complex U.S. here, the lieutenant governor announced Monday.
Sanofi-Aventis maintains its North American corporate headquarters and global services division at 55 Corporate Drive in Bridgewater. Last summer, though, it emptied out 1.2 million square feet in a company restructuring and moved 135 research and development employees to Cambridge, MA.
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said Ashland Inc. was wooed to relocate its specialty ingredients unit from its Wayne location to the Sanofi lab/office space after Ashland said it was actively considering moving the unit out of state. The state's New Jersey Partnership for Action, which is a coalition of the state's Economic Development Authority, Business Action Center and Choose New Jersey, swung into action an helped negotiate incentives for the Ashland unit to stay.
The company will move about 180 of its 300 employees now working in Wayne as soon as possible. The remaining employees will temporarily be housed elsewhere in northern New Jersey while the move ensues, Ashland executives said. Then, they too will be relocated to Bridgewater.
“Nowhere in America is there such access to highly skilled and educated workers, the very workers critical to the success of technology and science companies, than right here in New Jersey,” Guadagno said in a release, explaining the aggressive push to keep Ashland in state.
John Panichella, the president of Ashland's specialty ingredients business, said in his statement that, “The state of New Jersey has demonstrated its sincere commitment to working with Ashland as we pursue growth opportunities.” The Kentucky-based company purchased the former International Special Products of Wayne in August 2011.
“At that time, we had shared with employees our intent to eventually relocate operations from the current space, where our lease expires this year, to a new site that will help establish a strong, independent Ashland business and brand identity separate from the historical presence of ISP operations and ownership,” Rhodes said.
He said the Bridgewater space is designed to accommodate expansion, which was important because the specialty ingredients business is experiencing rapid growth.
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