Much like the Meadowlands Regional Commission, which oversees development activity within the Meadowlands, Pittenger says the New Jersey legislature should “determine which industries are key to New Jersey's economy, like pharma, finance, pick whatever you want, and then say, 'ok, if you are in that industry, you do not go to the local town planning board, that's now a statewide interest, a regional interest.'”

“These are your core businesses in New Jersey,” he says. “We are preventing these companies from coming here, from expanding here.”

Zoning and planning standards would not be relaxed under such a regional concept, Pittenger explains, but company applications would be expedited and not subject to the frequent delays plaguing the municipal zoning process.

“We have to recognize that if that industry is the key to New Jersey's cash flow, you'd better start catering to pharma and bioresearch,” he says.

Multifamily builders face expensive uncertainty about the state's affordable housing expectations following the collapse of the Council on Affordable Housing and the state Supreme Court's order last year returning control of affordable housing requirements to the court system. The uncertainty makes it next to impossible for developers to get meaningful site plans prepared, let alone approved, he says.

“We have roughly 60 acres of raw land that I can't design yet,” he says. “With the uncertainties of COAH, I can't tell an engineer what to design. The challenge is, what exactly do you tell your engineer to design for submission to a zoning board? The towns at this point don't know exactly what their requirements are going to be. And you're talking six figures of engineering and architectural renderings. That's a huge sum of money for a guess.”

Pittenger also thinks that building inspections take too long to complete in New Jersey.

“We're fragmented with all these different towns. Building departments are overloaded. I've heard of people waiting six weeks for a plumbing inspection,” he says. “It's not big picture, but it's meat and potatoes. You're trying to run a job, you're trying to move people into a house, and you can't get inspections done on a timely basis.”

The state should consider bringing retired building inspectors back to work to help clear the backlogs, Pittenger suggests. “That's a manageable problem but it's got to be addressed.”

Stranded assets, office buildings that are in desperate need of redevelopment as mixed use facilities, possibly even including a multifamily residential component, also need to be addressed, he says.

“We're not making any more land, so we've got to be somewhat forward-looking as to the reuse of land,” he says. “There'll be push-back because people don't want things to change.”

Pittenger is a fourth-generation builder in a company his great-grandfather started in Asbury Park in 1905. When he was 14, his father, who by that time was running the business, put Pittenger to work with a masonry crew for 25 cents an hour.

He later decided he didn't want to work “with my muscles” his entire career, so he earned a degree in chemistry, to which he added an MBA and law degree before coming back to help run the family company.

Having the practical experience working in the business, coupled with his business and legal background, has enabled him to be the firm's economic forecaster, Pittenger says.

“Effectively, what I do best is forecasting for my company,” he says. “I'm the one who's going to buy land, get it approved, start the process, or shut it down if I see that there are some dark clouds moving in.”

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ—A more regionally focused approach to zoning and planning for commercial construction is probably the most critical issue facing New Jersey's commercial real estate industry, says incoming New Jersey Builders Association president Dwight Pittenger, president of Neptune, NJ-based Pittenger Builders.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with GlobeSt.com during the Atlantic Builders Convention in Atlantic City, Pittenger suggested that the state consider identifying industries that are critical to the state's development objectives, such as pharmaceuticals or technology, and then organize regional planning and zoning processes so that those industries could gain faster approval of new business locations that is currently possible at the municipal level.

Pointing to General Electric's recent announcement that it would move its corporate headquarters from Fairfield, CT, to Boston after more than 40 years in Connecticut, he says it is conceivable that New Jersey-based companies could become similarly frustrated with economic development delays in the Garden State.

“Five thousand jobs are just going to leave Connecticut and go to Boston,” he says. “They've apparently been wrangling with Connecticut for some time, and they just to the point where they said, 'we're leaving.' New Jersey faces some of that. Maybe we are too conservative in accepting change.”

Much like the Meadowlands Regional Commission, which oversees development activity within the Meadowlands, Pittenger says the New Jersey legislature should “determine which industries are key to New Jersey's economy, like pharma, finance, pick whatever you want, and then say, 'ok, if you are in that industry, you do not go to the local town planning board, that's now a statewide interest, a regional interest.'”

“These are your core businesses in New Jersey,” he says. “We are preventing these companies from coming here, from expanding here.”

Zoning and planning standards would not be relaxed under such a regional concept, Pittenger explains, but company applications would be expedited and not subject to the frequent delays plaguing the municipal zoning process.

“We have to recognize that if that industry is the key to New Jersey's cash flow, you'd better start catering to pharma and bioresearch,” he says.

Multifamily builders face expensive uncertainty about the state's affordable housing expectations following the collapse of the Council on Affordable Housing and the state Supreme Court's order last year returning control of affordable housing requirements to the court system. The uncertainty makes it next to impossible for developers to get meaningful site plans prepared, let alone approved, he says.

“We have roughly 60 acres of raw land that I can't design yet,” he says. “With the uncertainties of COAH, I can't tell an engineer what to design. The challenge is, what exactly do you tell your engineer to design for submission to a zoning board? The towns at this point don't know exactly what their requirements are going to be. And you're talking six figures of engineering and architectural renderings. That's a huge sum of money for a guess.”

Pittenger also thinks that building inspections take too long to complete in New Jersey.

“We're fragmented with all these different towns. Building departments are overloaded. I've heard of people waiting six weeks for a plumbing inspection,” he says. “It's not big picture, but it's meat and potatoes. You're trying to run a job, you're trying to move people into a house, and you can't get inspections done on a timely basis.”

The state should consider bringing retired building inspectors back to work to help clear the backlogs, Pittenger suggests. “That's a manageable problem but it's got to be addressed.”

Stranded assets, office buildings that are in desperate need of redevelopment as mixed use facilities, possibly even including a multifamily residential component, also need to be addressed, he says.

“We're not making any more land, so we've got to be somewhat forward-looking as to the reuse of land,” he says. “There'll be push-back because people don't want things to change.”

Pittenger is a fourth-generation builder in a company his great-grandfather started in Asbury Park in 1905. When he was 14, his father, who by that time was running the business, put Pittenger to work with a masonry crew for 25 cents an hour.

He later decided he didn't want to work “with my muscles” his entire career, so he earned a degree in chemistry, to which he added an MBA and law degree before coming back to help run the family company.

Having the practical experience working in the business, coupled with his business and legal background, has enabled him to be the firm's economic forecaster, Pittenger says.

“Effectively, what I do best is forecasting for my company,” he says. “I'm the one who's going to buy land, get it approved, start the process, or shut it down if I see that there are some dark clouds moving in.”