By Amy Batista, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR — The Township Council approved entering into a developer’s agreement with Shiseido America Inc. for a 71,000-square-foot warehouse addition on Princeton-Hightstown Road.
The council in a 3-1 vote, with Councilman John Zoller abstaining, approved Resolution 2012-14. Council members Deputy Mayor Perry Shapiro, Marc Lippman, and Peter Yeager were not in attendance during the vote. Mr. Shapiro arrived a few minutes later.
Councilman Zoller is director of corporate compliance for Shiseido America in East Windsor. He has been employed with the company for 15 years.
”The project is for expansion of the Shiseido development on (Route) 571 of just over 71,000 square feet in two phases,” said Mayor Janice Mironov.
According to Resolution 2012-19 from the Planning Board application No. 12-004, Phase One of the plan includes a 54,580-square-foot addition onto the existing warehouse and storage building and additional parking spaces, a stormwater management basin, a widened driveway, a relocated pathway, an expansion to an existing loading area, and a modification to a rear building entrance near the rear loading docks.
Phase Two consists of a new stormwater management basin to the north of a large parking lot as well as a one-story building addition between the rear of the existing manufacturing and office building and the large parking lot.
An amended preliminary and final site plan was approved by the Planning Board on Sept. 10, according to Resolution 2012-194.
Mayor Mironov said that Shiseido is making a “kind” open-space contribution of $35,000 to the town.
East Windsor Factory Manager Ed Houlihan declined to comment on Wednesday. He also serves as Shiseido Americas Corp.’s vice president of operations and chief operating officer.
According to the applicant’s Planning Board testimony, Mr. Houlihan testified that “the operations of the facility, which receives materials and processes them to create cosmetics sold in stores. Mr. Houlihan stated that the expanded warehouse would handle a gradual shift of the production from Oakland, N.J. to East Windsor.”
Further, “Mr. Houlihan testified that there are currently 173 spaces for a total of 142 employees who work a split shift system.”
Nicole Cardillo, public relations director at Shiseido Americas Corp. in New York, did not return multiple requests for comment.
”We support the project and allow them to keep moving forward with this excellent project and a benefit to East Windsor,” Mayor Mironov said.
Shiseido Americas Corp. is owned by Shiseido Co. Ltd., which is based in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1872 and incorporated in 1927. Its president and CEO is Hisayuki Suekawa and Shiseido Co. Ltd. owns 110 group companies globally, according to its corporate website.
Its global full-time employees include approximately 32,595 people.
The market value of Shiseido Co. Ltd is listed at $6.98 billion, according to Forbes. Its cash on hand is listed at $1.27 billion.
The East Windsor Shiseido factory was established in 1998. It produces global brand skincare products and currently operates in a 3.850-million-square-foot facility with 292 employees. It was unclear as of press time if the East Windsor location had laboratories which tested on animals.
In other East Windsor news, Mayor Mironov gave an update on Tuesday per the New Jersey Turnpike widening project.
”There will be a detour and closure along Route 33 at Route 133,” Mayor Mironov said.
Originally scheduled to start on Sept. 24, the work is part of the Turnpike Widening Program, and Route 33 — between Milford Road and Lake Drive — will be closed to traffic on a nightly basis from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday for approximately eight nights once the work begins.
”That work, as we expected, is likely to be delayed a couple of weeks so we will try to keep the public advised on that,” Mayor Mironov said.
—Jen Samuel, managing editor, contributed to this report.

