abandoned Bell Labs and Motorola buildings
abandoned Bell Labs and Motorola buildings
Date: Thursday, August 21, 2008 1:40 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1904 -- 8/20/2008 >>>>>
Two articles, different locations, similar stories.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/abandoned_bell_labs_could_make.html
Abandoned Bell Labs could make history again Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerThe
garden in the center courtyard of the former Bell Laboratories campus in
Holmdel has gone to seed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-harvard-motorola-both-14aug14,0,5507588.story
White elephant of Harvard
Since the Motorola boom went bust, residents have learned to live with their
dashed hopes and hone the art of survival
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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/abandoned_bell_labs_could_make.html
Abandoned Bell Labs could make history again
Posted by LCraven August 03, 2008 00:20AM Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerThe
garden in the center courtyard of the former Bell Laboratories campus in
Holmdel has gone to seed.
When it comes to scientific research, Bell Laboratories' Holmdel campus
remains one of the most famous addresses in the world.
This is where one of the most prolific technology innovators gave us cell
phones, microwave ovens and the global wireless movement, arguably the most
crucial communications development of the 20th century.
But these are different times.
Today, where Nobel laureates once advanced the debate over the formation of
the universe, long vines stretch across the carpet in the building's atrium
and a sole security guard walks around puddles of water when doing his rounds.
Bell Labs' big bang has been reduced to a stifled whimper.
Last year, a plan to demolish most of the mammoth structure and replace it
with smaller office buildings and single-family homes on the 472-acre site in
Monmouth County was introduced and soon abandoned under a wave of protest.
But now, Bell Labs, the once-magnificent campus considered too inflexible, too
immured and too grand to save, has received a stay of execution and, if a new
developer has his way, a second life.
Abandoned for more than a year and slipping into disrepair, the 2-million-
square-foot building has a new suitor in Somerset Development, a Lakewood firm
that wants to keep the architectural gem standing and convert it into its own
self-contained village, The Star-Ledger has learned.
"I don't go around preserving architectural wonders," Somerset president Ralph
Zucker said in an interview last week. "But when I find an architectural
wonder, and I can turn it into a great place, that's what we're all about."
Zucker is well aware that the structure itself has attracted almost as much
acclaim as the historic advances made there.
Designed by renowned Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who also created the
Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA terminal at JFK International Airport,
Bell Labs was the world's first mirrored building. Erected in 1962 and
expanded in 1966 and 1982, it has been the subject of architectural study in
universities around the world.
But its purpose has lapsed in the rapidly shifting world of science,
technology and commerce.
Zucker's new, and still forming, plan would keep the building essentially as
is, but modified to accommodate retail on the ground floor, with condos,
apartments and office space above.
Mary Ward, spokeswoman for Alcatel-Lucent, which owns the property, confirmed
that a contract has been signed with Somerset, but said she was not at liberty
to discuss particulars.
Somerset came to terms in recent months to purchase the building after a
contract with another developer, Preferred Real Estate Investments, fell
through late last year. Preferred had proposed demolishing most of the
landmark edifice, and building smaller office buildings and houses on the 472-
acre site.
That notion triggered immediate protest from a variety of interests. It
prompted letters from more than 100 members of the National Academy of
Sciences, among them a dozen Nobel laureates. Soon, a high-octane coalition of
historic preservationists, conservationists and architects joined forces to
save the imposing edifice, along with its history and acclaimed architecture.
On Wednesday, Zucker sat down with a key member of the coalition -- Michael
Califati, chairman of historic resources committee of the New Jersey Chapter
of the American Institute of Architects -- to exchange ideas. Each man said he
left the meeting encouraged.
"Their thinking is in line with our thinking, and actually influenced our
thinking," Zucker said. And while preservationists and developers often
collide, he said, "In this case, our interests are aligned."
Califati's take on the sitdown was similar, though a bit more guarded.
"It went well. We're pursuing parallel tracks," he said. "But the devil is in
the details. I want to see what they're proposing."
TO REVIVE A 'DINOSAUR'
The coalition, which also includes Preservation NJ and the tri-state chapter
of Docomomo, an international architects' group for the "documentation and
conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the modern movement,"
hosted a three-day design workshop at the site in April. Califati said the
group will issue an extensive report of its research, along with
recommendations for the site, by next month.
"Everybody calls this place a dinosaur, with its windowless offices, its glass
curtain wall, its lack of circulation" he said. "It doesn't mean the building
cannot be manipulated. .$.$. We don't think enough brain power has been put on
this project."
One of the biggest challenges Zucker faces is the lack of open air and direct
light, which was an intended part of Saarinen's design to accommodate the
delicate needs of scientific research. But Califati and Zucker each see one
way to address that problem: Punch a hole in the middle of each of the four
buildings and create a huge courtyard in the middle of each structure.
One thing is clear, Zucker said: "There is no magic bullet" for the mammoth
building, which once accommodated 6,000 employees. It will never host a single
tenant again, he said. It must assume a new identity.
Zucker sees the long, superwide corridors where scientists roamed between the
buildings, transformed into a "street scene, a town square," replete with
small town amenities: shops, restaurants, a bank, a health club, the coveted
Starbucks. Still in the "broad-brush-stroke phase," Zucker can even see making
the building's auditorium into a movie theater.
With a host of obstacles, he does have some elements going for him: plenty of
parking, little environmental cleanup to be done and a building that carries a
glowing legacy. But it comes at a time when the great corporate campuses of
post-World War II America are being abandoned, conceptually and literally.
The biggest challenge, Zucker said, is an apparent reference to deadlines in
the purchase contract that he cannot discuss. There are many interested
parties involved, and his concern is "how long it is going to take to reach a
consensus."
At the request of the mayor a year ago, Holmdel's Citizens Advisory Committee
for the Lucent Property submitted a report to the township committee April 24.
The report essentially recommended the township hire a professional planner to
perform a thorough assessment of the building, and make proposals.
But Ralph Blumenthal, the committee's co-chairman, said he was told the
township has no funds for such a task. He expected to make a presentation when
he turned over the report, but that idea was scrapped.
"At the moment, they seem to be totally unresponsive," said Blumenthal, who
worked as a systems engineer in the building. "They seem to want the problem
to go away."
What did go away when Alcatel-Lucent closed down the facility last July was
millions of dollars in tax revenue. Ten years ago, the property generated more
than $4 million in annual property tax, 12 percent of the township's ratables,
the advisory committee's report said. Now, it is below $1 million.
In the meantime, Zucker said he is already reaching out to possible office
tenants for the building, and is willing to offer rents significantly below
market rate to jump-start the process.
Zucker, 46, is a reformed subdivision sprawl developer who found religion in
New Urbanism, the planning movement for reviving and restoring compact,
walkable, mixed-use cities and towns.
He recently broke ground in Wood-Ridge, in southern Bergen County, on a $500
million project where he will transform another 2 million-square-foot historic
site -- the former Curtiss-Wright airplane manufacturing plant that churned
out B-29 bomber engines during World War II -- into a mixed-use neighborhood
with stores, apartments and homes next to a new NJ Transit train station.
When complete, the 150-acre site will have 788 residential units and 130,000
square feet of retail space surrounding a public square. Plans are under way
to erect a bronze statue of Rosie the Riveter, a tribute to the women who
worked the factories during World War II.
One of Zucker's first tasks in the world of development was when, as a young
man, he personally gutted and rehabbed a carriage house in Lakewood.
Now, nearly 20 years later, he wants to tackle the mother of all fixer-uppers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-harvard-motorola-both-14aug14,0,5507588.story
White elephant of Harvard
Since the Motorola boom went bust, residents have learned to live with their
dashed hopes and hone the art of survival By Carolyn Starks
Chicago Tribune reporter
August 14, 2008
When the sun sets in Harvard, the lights inside the empty Motorola plant power
up and a bright glow arches across the sky in this small farm town.
The massive campus -- the size of 350 football fields, with a 1.5-million-
square-foot building of shimmering glass and steel -- demands to be noticed.
Not that anyone in town could forget it.
The $100 million cellular-phone plant promised to turn Harvard, a city of
9,000 about 70 miles northwest of Chicago, into a boom town. When the facility
shut down in 2003, just five years after its opening, the McHenry County
community was indeed changed, but not as expected.
In the years since the Motorola bonanza went bust, residents have learned to
live with their disillusionment even as they perfected the art of survival.
Many were among the thousands who lost jobs and had to start over.
At a time when plant closings remain all too common, the experiences shared in
Harvard continue to resonate. Some, the lucky ones, walked away relatively
intact, others struggled to start over, but the lives of nearly everyone
involved in the venture were altered.
Perhaps it's not surprising that skepticism greeted recent news that a
veterans group was considering buying the campus to transform it into
transitional housing, classrooms and a clinic. But without a firm offer on the
table, many residents remain doubtful. Too many other proposals never
materialized.
The plant, with four connected buildings, two day-care centers, a cafeteria
large enough to seat 1,100, an auditorium and miles of biking and walking
trails, is on the market for $18 million to $22 million.
Whatever the future holds, the Motorola experience is now imprinted in
Harvard's communal DNA.
Meanwhile, the veterans organization -- a not-for-profit arm of National
Association of System Administrators ( NASA) Inc., a computer maintenance
service company in Crystal Lake -- is negotiating to buy the plant. The
property is owned by American Assets Inc., a San Diego real estate company.
Other plans for the facility hit dead ends. In 2004, a proposal to turn the
property into an indoor water park couldn't get financing. Harvard School
District 50 administrators also made inquiries, but the campus was too big and
expensive.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/08/16/news/local/doc48a65d05407ca814828060.txt
One tenant would be ideal
After spending $16.75M, Motorola building buyer to mull options By KELLY
MAHONEY kmahoney@nwherald.com HARVARD -- Finding one tenant to occupy the
entire 1.5-million-square-foot former Motorola facility would be ideal, an
investment executive with the property s new owner said Friday.
However, after spending $16.75 million on the property at 2001 N. Division
St., Optima International will pursue workable arrangements with one or
multiple tenants, Chaim Schochet said.
Optima International, the U.S. arm of a European company, will work with
Chicago-area brokerage houses to try to line up a tenant or tenants. The idea
is to lease the building as soon as possible, Schochet said.
Optima will look at various types of businesses to occupy the space, including
technology.
"If you can get someone that needs that type of infrastructure, it s good for
us and good for the tenant," Schochet said.
Several tenants are being looked at, he added.
"I'm going to be speaking with some of the brokerage houses in the Chicago
area to see if these tenants will be a good fit," Schochet said.
American Assets bought the property for $14 million in 2005 and listed it at
$25 million. Motorola once employed 5,000 people there before shutting it down
in 2003.
The new deed for the property was filed with the McHenry County Recorder of
Deeds on Friday with a purchase date of Wednesday. Schochet said that although
Optima bought the facility and land for an amount well below list price, the
company was eager to land a tenant or tenants soon to offset significant
maintenance costs.
"It would be ideal for one tenant to occupy the entire facility," Schochet
said. "All the options are on the table right now, and we re looking at the
possibilities."
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