By Peter Crowley
As I see it, economic development is happening throughout the five-county Princeton region.
New Jersey is still struggling with the rest of the nation to recover from the impact of the recession. We are fortunate that the Princeton region with its educational, community, municipal and business support did not experience the deepest level of unemployment as many areas in our area experienced, but even one person out of work impacts everyone.
Our region has been fortunate to see a spurt of economic development in the past six months which demonstrates to me that we have turned a corner further along the path to economic recovery.
I continue to see real tangible investment and expansion in our communities. I see investments being made in new businesses in East and West Windsor, in Princeton, in Plainsboro, in Cranbury and in Robbinsville. Both the Quakerbridge Mall and MarketFair Mall are renovating and expanding. I am seeing new retailers, new restaurants and new businesses opening in downtown Princeton and Plainsboro with more to come in the very near future.
These new businesses and expansions mean jobs. These jobs will stimulate the local economy further as these employees “Shop Local” with a meal at area restaurants, pick up sundries at local merchants and learn more about all the wonderful attractions our region has to offer in the off-work hours.
With great fanfare Frontier Airlines, recently started service from Trenton Mercer Airport in the fall. I recently flew Frontier Airlines to Florida round trip on a holiday weekend for less than what it would have cost me to drive and park in New York. The service was warm and hospitable, the flight was on time and parking was right at the door of the airport terminal making for an enjoyable beginning and end to a weekend getaway. The budget-friendly airline quickly expanded to include multiple Florida destinations as well as New Orleans, Chicago, Durham and more.
Online retail giant Amazon announced plans to build a million-square-foot warehouse in Robbinsville. Skincare, makeup and fragrance manufacturer Shiseido is expanding in East Windsor. Sparta Systems just relocated to Robbinsville. Novo Nordisk will open its new North American Headquarters office in Plainsboro in April. Lam Cloud Management recently purchased the 500,000 square foot Aetna Headquarters building in Cranbury. And Church & Dwight opened their recently built new corporate headquarters in Ewing. All these companies and many others are bringing new jobs and support for our region.
The completion of the new turnpike access at Exit 8 in East Windsor will help to ease traffic congestion and enhance the east-west corridor from our region to the turnpike while ideas continue to be generated to help reduce congestion on the Route 1 corridor.
These are just a few of the ongoing business highlights in our region. As I see it, we are recovering, adding new jobs and expansion is happening all around us. I am excited as I hope you are and look forward for more to come!
Peter Crowley is the CEO and president of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
