Bridgewater By The Numbers

More Than $1 Billion Spent on Food in County Businesses

Somerset County Business Partnership data shows more than $7B spent overall in 2009 at county establishments.

Somerset County businesses racked up more than $7 billion in retail sales in 2009, with more than $1 billion spent at food establishments, according to data released by the Somerset County Business Partnership. The partnership released data on retail sales for 2009, and determined that the total retail sales among businesses in Somerset County was $7,475,400,007. A majority of those sales are in food and beverage facilities, with $1,356,492,015 spent. The second highest sales are for motor vehicles and parts, with a total of $1,159,820,013 spent. In general merchandise throughout the county, $508,976,002 was spent. From there, $502,505,993 was spent in food service and drinking establishments. Finally, $105,610,023 was spent in the county …

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Big Businesses Thrive, Small Ones Struggle, Officials Say

Economy, however, believed to be on the upswing in Bridgewater.

With the start of the new year, large businesses around Bridgewater are continuing to thrive while smaller ones are encountering some limitations, according to Howard Turbowitz, township economic development officer. “The business environment for large companies is thriving as we continue to emerge from the long protracted recession,” he said. “Small businesses, such as the ones in the Martinsville area, still have challenges with the economy, the limited traffic to their neighborhoods and competition from other like companies and businesses.” But, Turbowitz said, that does not mean there are not organizations ready to help. The Somerset County Business Partnership, Turbowitz said, works with small businesses throughout the area, and the …

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Filling Vacated Sanofi Building Key to Economy, Officials Say

Company is moving research facilities out of Bridgewater, but finding new tenants is important for the local business community.

With laboratory activities ended and employees already having moved out of the 1.2-million-square-foot Sanofi-Aventis research and development site on Route 202/206 in Bridgewater earlier this year, the company is moving forward with completing the transfer of certain work out of that site, set to be done by the end of this year. The property is now up for sale. Sanofi has approximately 3,000 employees in New Jersey, approximately 5,000 in Massachusetts and more than 18,000 in the United States, Elizabeth Baxter, with communications of Sanofi-Aventis, said. Approximately 135 employees have accepted moves to Cambridge, Mass., as part of a shifting that is all due to a change in Sanofi’s research and development strategy, Baxter said. Even …

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Letters to the Editor

Assemblyman: Water Companies Need to Rehabilitate Infrastructure

Upendra Chivukula discusses providing reliable water service.

To the Editor: Recently, I was at New Jersey American Water’s Canal Road Water Treatment Plant to discuss New Jersey’s Water infrastructure organized by the Somerset County Business Partnership and New Jersey American Water. I was thankful for the opportunity to share my thoughts as an engineer who worked in the industry for 30 years and became a policymaker and chairman of the Assemblyman Telecommunications and Utilities Committee. One of the important outcomes of the session was the need to accelerate the replacement and rehabilitation of this critical infrastructure using a BPU program that can be used by water companies to address aging infrastructure in a way that is both accelerated and financially prudent to rate payers. A report …

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County Business Partnership Receiving $108K Grant

NJ Division of Travel & Tourism announces awards for tourism marketing programs.

The Somerset County Business Partnership will be receiving more than $100,000 in Destination Marketing Organization grant funding from the NJ Division of Travel & Tourism. The division announced on Thursday that 16 organizations across the state will receive more than $1.4 million, including $108,000 to the county partnership. DMO funding is earmarked for tourism marketing programs. According to the Division of Travel & Tourism, each grant application is reviewed by an independent panel with granting, marketing, and tourism experience. Applicants are asked to demonstrate quality work, a clear demonstration of how their project will contribute to New Jersey’s tourism industry, and how their project fits within the Division of Travel and …

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New Legislators to Hold Business Forum

The Somerset County Business Partnership is sponsoring a forum with the district 23 legislators.

The District 23 legislators will host a forum Jan. 13 with the Somerset County Business Partnership to introduce the representatives to the county, according to a release from the partnership. Sen. Michael Doherty, Assemblyman John DiMaio and Assemblyman Erik Peterson will be at the Peapack Campus of Pfizer, Inc. in Peapack, and the forum will last from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. District 23, according to the release, includes Bedminster Township, Bound Brook Borough, Bridgewater Township, Peapack-Gladstone Borough, Raritan Borough and South Bound Brook Borough since the redistricting that followed the most recent United States census. These municipalities have a total population of 77,057. According to the release, the forum will be chance for the…

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