By Joshua Burd
The state has approved a nearly $40 million tax credit package tied a proposal for LabCorp to modernize and expand its regional headquarters and lab complex in Raritan Borough, while also approving a $29 million incentive to encourage Konica Minolta Business Solutions to expand its existing headquarters in Ramsey.
LabCorp, the clinical lab operator, has told the Economic Development Authority that organic growth, new contracts and recent corporate acquisitions have nearly doubled the number of daily specimen accessions that it is processing across its Northeast territory. In order to accommodate that growth, LabCorp is weighing several options, including a major renovation and expansion of its facility in Raritan Borough.
The proposal calls for a full renovation of the existing 57,000-square-foot space at 10 Johnson Drive, into which all non-laboratory functions would be consolidated, the EDA said. LabCorp would then raze an existing building at 20 Johnson Drive and expand a nearby facility on 1st Avenue by 109,000 square feet, for a total of 285,000 square feet of lab space.
LabCorp would also renovate the other lab spaces within its footprint to modernize the facilities and ensure productivity, according to an EDA board memo. All told, the project involves some $150 million of capital investment and would result in the retention of 1,201 existing jobs and the creation of 175 new jobs.
As an alternative, the company is considering a plan move its New Jersey operations to a 300,000-square-foot, build-to-suit option in Scranton, Pennsylvania. If the company picks the New Jersey option, the EDA said the net benefit to the state would be $67.8 million over 30 years.
In addition to the 10-year incentive for LabCorp, the EDA on Tuesday approved a $29 million tax credit package tied to Konica Minolta’s proposed expansion plans Ramsey. The company said it is seeking to consolidate its New Jersey and Connecticut locations, potentially by building a 29,400-square-foot addition and parking garage to the building it owns on Williams Drive.
The project, which would amount to a capital investment of nearly $20 million, would bring the company’s footprint at the headquarters site to 220,769 square feet, the EDA said. Alternatively, Konica Minolta is considering leasing a 225,000-square-foot facility in Pearl River, New York.
The project in Ramsey would have a net benefit to the state of $65.4 million over 20 years, according to the EDA. The authority said the plan would also allow the state to retain 474 existing jobs, while creating another 391.
