Forum: N.J. business climate, Bell Labs building at crossroads

Results from a statewide survey of top executives show the business environment in New Jersey was more negative than positive in 2009, according to findings presented at the third annual New Jersey Economic Policy Forum held in Holmdel on Dec. 15.

The conference, established in 2007 by the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, Rutgers University and Cushman & Wakefield Inc., focuses on the C-Suite Survey conducted by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers. More than 150 executives attended the event.

According to survey data from Rutgers, 100 percent of executives polled reported the current economy in New Jersey as only fair or poor from October to December 2009, compared with 59.8 percent who said the state economy was excellent or good in October to November 2007.

The C-Suite Survey of top-level New Jersey executives (CEO, CFO, COO, etc.) is admini s tered every six months, polling executives and business leaders about the state's economy and how New Jersey measures economically against the nation.

However, this year's event focused on a different theme, including how business leaders can revitalize and rebuild the local financial climate.

The location of the event — the former Bell Labs building in Holmdel — also played a role at this year's forum. The unoccupied building, which closed in 2006, served as a symbol of the time period.

The attendees took note. Joan Verplanck, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said the state should be looking for opportunities for "beneficial reuse" to stimulate the economy and build from the bottom up.

"It really demonstrates the crossroads that this facility certainly finds itself at and where we are at as a business community coming out of a severe recession," Verplanck said.

"There are choices that will be made about redevelopment here, and they should be made to allow business to grow."

Other survey results show that 88.1 percent of executives polled ranked New Jersey as only a fair or poor place to do business at the end of 2009, with 88.9 percent describing the state as a fair or poor place to expand companies.

More than 86 percent said their companies have not directly benefited from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law by President Barack Obama in February.

In the last six months, 70 percent of executives said the state government has not become more responsive to the needs of the business community, compared to 30 percent who answered yes.

Despite the beleaguered state economy, attendees of the forum remained optimistic.

"We can't let these things overwhelm us," said attorney John A. Aiello, of Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, Red Bank. "I think your presence today suggests that no one here is about to let that happen. We are committed to a rehabilitation of not only this building, but the revitalization of the entire economy in the state of New Jersey."

Aiello, whose firm is counsel for Somerset Development, which plans to redevelop the building, said the building represents the prowess of American architectural and technological advancements, and a symbol of how the state can move ahead once again.

"We are really very hopeful that by partnering with government, this property can be redeveloped and adapted for a generation of new economic activity," Aiello said. "It will be different than what took place in the past, but it is very vital to the New Jersey economy here."

Somerset Development, contract purchaser of the former Bell Labs facility, used the event to promote its vision for reuse of the building.

"This is a metaphor for a crossroads and a microcosm," said Ralph Zucker, president of Somerset. The company, along with PNC Bank, was a corporate sponsor for the forum.

"We were approached by the chamber and … they asked if we would be willing to host [the forum]," he said.

Zucker was also a keynote speaker, along with Verplanck and Gil Medina, executive managing director for the New Jersey area of Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate services provider.

"It's happening on the macro level in the entire state," Zucker said. "If these walls could talk and if you could hear what they had to say, they would be talking about a time of bold visions, daring dreams and people who came here to make things happen.

"Things happened here. Seven Nobel Prize-winning inventions happened and thousands of other patents happened here. The history came out of here because people were focused on what they can do and their communal obligations. The ability to make it happen is something we have to recapture."

Somerset, the contract-purchaser of the Lucent property, submitted a revised redevelopment plan to the Holmdel Township Committee in July that calls for the reuse of the existing Eero Saarinen-designed building as mixed-use commercial space on the interior, including retail, restaurants, offices, hospitality and wellness centers and 100 apartment units.

The property is zoned for office, laboratory and farmland, and Somerset is currently negotiating with the township's Lucent subcommittee.

The company also made promotional materials available to the business leaders and the brokerage community in attendance.

"We did our best to show it in the best light," Zucker said in an interview. "It's not just about saving some old building, but it's about what the building stands for, and more importantly, what the building can do for all of us."