Honeywell (HON -1.08%) has signed an agreement to purchase a new global headquarters complex in New Jersey, into which it plans to move in 2015.
The new HQ includes a 475,000-square-foot building complex, with on-site parking garage, located on 40 acres of land in Morris Plains, N.J. Currently owned by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil-PPC, the building will be retrofitted before Honeywell moves in. According to the company, these retrofits will be made using Honeywell's own energy-conserving technologies that "will significantly reduce future operating expenses."
Cost and benefits appear to have been major factors in Honeywell's decision to choose new digs. According to the company, the cost of renovating its current HQ to improve energy efficiency, and make other improvements, has been estimated at $100 million. Also, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in September authorized giving Honeywell a $40 million tax credit, so long as it agreed to keep its headquarters in the state.
Honeywell said this week that its decision is "subject to approval of its application with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority." The company says it had planned to stay in Morris Township, N.J., where its headquarters had been for 50 years, but zoning issues helped derail that plan.
Honeywell also said it simply doesn't need all the space at its current 147-acre location, where "more than 50% of the campus [is] unoccupied."
