By: Helen Pettigrew
MONTGOMERY – Sixteen years ago, when John Aubert opened a family business called Sinkers Inc. in a small house on Lenape Lane, just north of Route 518, he may never have suspected that his three-person company would become what it is today.
Mr. Aubert struck up a working relationship with Mike Bloomberg in which Sinkers analyzed bond transactions and provided the information to Bloomberg L.P. Fueled by Bloomberg, Sinkers soon grew from three to 10 people and moved into a small office on Airpark Road. The firm was acquired by Bloomberg in 1987 and Mr. Aubert became the manager of Bloomberg Montgomery.
The growth continued – and, by 1990, Bloomberg required enough space to move into larger offices at its current location on Business Park Drive, a building it then shared with several other firms. It continued absorbing additional space until the company filled the building entirely and half of a building next door. Bloomberg acquired the property in 1998 and now occupies about 130,000 square feet.
Bloomberg L.P., a multimedia distributor of business and financial information and services, now employs 1,600 people in central New Jersey with 1,200 to 1,300 employees in Montgomery alone, according to company consultant Jay Biggins. That number could soon rise to a maximum of 4,000 employees.
Bloomberg officials appeared last month before the Township Planning Board to present an informal site plan for expansion of its office space. The plan calls for the addition of two buildings and two parking lots next to its offices on Business Park Drive.
According to Bloomberg Real Estate Director Paul Darrah, the main reason for the expansion is to consolidate all of the workers who have been moved out of the central Montgomery office because of a lack of space and then increase their numbers.
Montgomery is home to the largest Bloomberg office in central New Jersey. The other locations are on Airpark Road in the township, State Road in Princeton Township and two sites on College Road in Plainsboro Township. Mr. Darrah said Bloomberg has been growing by 20 percent a year since it was founded in 1982. He said the new building will be needed by 2003 in order to accommodate the consolidation and company growth by that time. The second building will be needed by 2008, he said.
"They have been so cramped there," Mr. Biggins said. "They are very intent on having room to grow if they need it."
Mr. Biggins said the growth of Bloomberg in Montgomery is the product of an increasing number of subscribers to the Bloomberg Professional Service, an electronic financial news wire and information service.
"What’s special about it is that it has lots of analytic value added, it’s not just quantitative information gathered from around the world, and they keep improving it," Mr. Biggins said.
The Bloomberg Professional Service is the backbone of the company, Mr. Biggins said, and the information products for this service are assembled in the Montgomery office. All data collection for the Bloomberg Professional Service is conducted exclusively at the Montgomery offices before it is sent electronically around the world.
The Montgomery facility also houses about 120 reporters who cover news about companies across the United States, an editorial operation for financial magazines and an in-house advertising agency, according to Mr. Darrah.
Bloomberg received positive feedback on its site plan from the Planning Board, which has seen several proposals for the company’s expansion in the past. Although some of those were approved, none was built.
"Now they have this (site plan), so if you ask me if it would ever get built, I would say, ‘I don’t know.’ I hope it would because it is a good use of the land for the town," said board Chairman Richard LeTard.
"There needs to be an opportunity for employment here and to generate taxes from a commercial or nonresidential type of use, and this is a good way to do it," said Mr. LeTard.
Bloomberg officials say the proposed expansion would bring even more to Montgomery than the $2 million a year it is expected to generate in tax revenue. Local spending from the large company and increasing the number of employees will benefit the township economically, they say.
Also, they say, because many Bloomberg employees are young with no families and work staggered schedules, there will be no increase in traffic volume during rush hours and no additional children enrolled in Montgomery schools. The proposed plan, they say, also will help control residential development and preserve open space.
The company’s pending purchase of the neighboring 66-acre Drake Farm would allow it to create an open, campus environment for its employees, and also secure green space for the town.
Of the 66 acres added to the site, 36 acres, located south of the campus, would be used as a public ballpark, according to Mr. Darrah, and may also include running or bike paths.
Bloomberg is preparing for presentation of its formal proposal to the Planning Board on Nov. 13. Mr. Biggins and Mr. Darrah said the company does not plan any major changes to the site plan.
The Bloomberg site plan requires some rezoning in order for it to be realized. The company is hoping for a change in zoning for 65 of 150 acres on which the addition would be built. Under the plan, 40 acres would be rezoned from residential use to office space use, and 25 acres designated for office space would be rezoned to match Bloomberg’s existing office zoning, which is slightly more dense.
The company has also requested that the Planning Board permit a three-story building in an area where only two stories are allowed. Mr. LeTard said if the company were forced to construct a two-story building with the same amount of office space, it would cover 50 percent more land.
Another part of Bloomberg’s proposal is the addition of a north-south service road that would extend from Cherry Valley Road to the intersection of Business Park Drive and Route 518.
The north-south service road has been on the township Master Plan for about 13 years, before Bloomberg moved into the buildings at Business Park, according to Mr. LeTard.
The road is partially completed because developers of Woods Edge and Yorkshire Woods, on Cherry Valley Road, funded and constructed the portion of the road that serves the two developments.
Bloomberg would build from the end of the road in between Woods Edge and Yorkshire Woods and connect to Business Park Drive, Mr. LeTard said.
The Planning Board chairman said the new road would provide an alternative to making a turn at the intersection of Routes 518 and 206.
"It has the added advantage of helping with some of the traffic problems," he said. "It’s not going to fix it, but it will make it better."
At least one resident of Opossum Road, which is directly across the intersection from Business Park Drive, fears the new road would result in more traffic in her neighborhood.
"It seems that the plan would encourage the diversion of traffic off of 206 onto the road," said Hetty Waskin, who lives in a cul-de-sac off Opossum Road.
Ms. Waskin said she fears Route 518 drivers and thousands of new Bloomberg employees would use her small, winding road with its now-closed stone bridge as a throughway.
Ms. Waskin said she plans to gather a group of neighbors to protest the addition of the new road at the next Planning Board meeting Oct. 23.
Mr. LeTard said Opossum Road is not equipped for any traffic at the moment because the bridge is closed. He added that the Master Plan Committee of the Planning Board has discussed at great length the impact of the proposed north-south road across from Opossum Road.
"We don’t want it (Opossum Road) to be part of a 206 bypass," he said.
Solutions to this problem include making Opossum Road less accessible from the Business Park Drive by moving the mouth of the road or possibly placing a limitation on the use of the Opossum Road bridge so it could be used only by pedestrians and emergency vehicles, Mr. LeTard said.
"I think what we’re doing is creating a resource which the township has had on their Master Plan for some time," said Mr. Darrah, who added that he expects no traffic increase from Business Park Drive to Opossum Road because of the poor quality of the bridge.
