Page 37 - RE-NJ Nov.2021 #59

is the smartest minds, the people motivated to do best, are getting together to produce a service and a product that will help all of us live better lives.
“So for us, we can’t wait for this hub to open, for the
collaboration I
know that will
take place among our partners, for the product of that which we are going to invest
in. And, frankly,
for everyone in
this community, the greater region and the United States, this hub will serve as clear indication that the state of New Jersey and its participants ... is a leader in taking care of those who live in our communities.”
In addition to work and research areas, the innovation center will include support and amenity spaces such as a fully equipped makers’ space, a ground-floor market hall and café and an auditorium and multipurpose space, according
to a news release. Startups and
entrepreneurs will be able to access the spaces, amenities and services through membership packages.
The core partners, which will share
in the governance and management
of the property, and the initial
tenants will have office space that
will promote direct connections with members of the innovation center. Meantime, Middlesex County will
host several economic development initiatives at The Hub, including efforts to enable and support businesses
that develop products, technologies, services and insights.
Paladino said the second phase of the project could include another 500,000 square feet, which could attract major biotech or pharmaceutical companies or an operator that builds speculative lab space for multiple users. In
the meantime, the development is transforming the onetime home of a hulking, concrete parking deck and retail mall that was once a key piece of the city’s economic development strategy.
“That mall was built at a time when the city of New Brunswick was really
Gov. Phil Murphy joined health care and academic leaders and other public officials on Oct. 14 to break ground on the New Jersey Innovation and Technology Hub, a 555,000-square-foot research complex in New Brunswick.
REALESTATENJTM 35
Barry Ostrowsky
fortunate enough, thinking that if we could get somebody on their way to the train station and get them to buy a cup of coffee or drop off their dry cleaning or get an ice cream cone, we were doing a good job,” New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill said. “But New Brunswick has transformed and it is now a destination — thus, this project.
“We recognize the potential of The Hub site, with its central location right here in the heart of New Jersey, directly across from the city’s train station on the most traveled rail line in the United States, and the opportunity for unique space for technology and innovation ventures, corporate offices, academic and corporate research facilities,
together with potential exciting retail and residential options. We marketed the site and went so far as demolishing the structure at no small cost to make it easier for prospective occupants
to envision the potential of the site. Governor, that’s where you came in.”
Devco and state officials noted that the Rutgers Translational Research facility and the new medical school building will mark the first new development
of capital infrastructure in the history of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, which was created by the 2013 merger of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey into Rutgers. RE
Photo by Governor’s Office/OIT