By Joshua Burd
Merck & Co. is leaving its Kenilworth headquarters and returning its front office to Rahway, in a move that is slated to take place by the end of 2023.
The pharmaceutical giant announced Tuesday that it was making the move as part of a consolidation of its New Jersey facilities. The company is looking to bring its employees under one roof, which will ultimately be at its well-known, sprawling complex just west of Route 1 in Rahway.
Merck made the announcement as part of its first-quarter earnings report, but provided few other details. A company representative told ROI-NJ, which first reported the news, that its 100-acre campus in Kenilworth will be put up for sale in the near future.
It’s not the first time the drug maker has moved its headquarters in New Jersey. The company initially moved from Rahway in 1992, relocating to what is now a landmark complex in the Whitehouse Station section of Readington. In 2012, Merck announced it was leaving Whitehouse Station as part of an effort to cut costs and reduce its real estate footprint.
It ultimately landed in Kenilworth, which it absorbed as part of its 2009 acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp., after initially saying it would move to another company site in Summit. The company in 2015 sold the 1.5 million-square-foot research and development campus in Summit to Celgene Corp. and later sold a 1 million-square-foot complex in Union, which is now home to luxury apartments and retail space built by Russo Development.
