Cyber company to convert old Sunshine baking plant

Staff Writer

By takesha pettus

SAYREVILLE — A former cookie-making plant in the borough will soon be cooking up technology.

On Monday, Gov. Christie Whitman, accompanied by state, county and local officials, unveiled the plan to convert the million-square-foot facility into a new technology center.

"We are transitioning Sayreville from the manufacturing age of the past to the information age of the future," said Mayor Kennedy O’Brien.

O’Brien said he hopes that the company’s presence in the borough will bring similar companies into the borough in the future.

The owners of the Garden State Technology Center, Bordentown Avenue, plan to develop the entire parcel of property into a technology center over the next six months.

"We celebrate the opening of Garden State Technology Center, not only for itself, but because it will be the catalyst for the redevelopment of this quadrant of the community," said O’Brien.

Last May, the owners of the Bordentown Avenue factory announced that they would be closing their doors for good.

The plant, which was originally owned by Sunshine Biscuits, was acquired by Keebler in a merger in 1996.

The closing of the plant left more than 500 employees out of work, and the borough with an empty lot.

Garden State Technology is hoping to be in the forefront as a provider of Internet technology, e-commerce companies and telecommunications switch operators, O’Brien added.

"This facility will use fiber optics to produce high-paying, professional jobs that will be good for Sayreville and good for New Jersey," said O’Brien.

The borough has also received a $50,000 grant from the state to create a "cyber district."

According to O’Brien, the cyber district may be built on the former National Lead site.

Recently, Middlesex County officials announced that they would allocate $19 million toward the purchase of the NL site. The county is hoping to develop the land for high-tech communication use.