Here’s an incredible stat associated with the building of the first HELIX tower: The developers had to bring in a third crane — an especially heavy-duty crane — to help put six massive steel columns in place.
The columns weigh 90,000 pounds each.
Here’s another incredible stat: The building is on schedule.
So said Chris Paladino, the president of the New Brunswick Development Corp., which is the lead developer of the three-tower HELIX project that is going up in New Brunswick, across from the train station.
“We will have a topping-off ceremony in September and start enclosing the building in October,” he said.
When completed, the HELIX will serve as a life science innovation hub that aims to be a leader of translational research in the state and throughout the East Coast.
The first tower is on schedule for late 2025 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Paladino said.
A video released last week by Devco shows the latest progress. It also shows the delicate nature of the project — the tower has six stories complete in some places, 10 stories in others.
When completed, the first HELIX tower will be 250 feet high, be 578,000 square feet and have 12 stories — each of which figures to have extra high ceilings for the tenants, which will include the new home of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a Rutgers University translational research facility.
It also will have some of the biggest names in life sciences, including Johnson & Johnson, working together on translational research.
Paladino said it’s all coming together.
“We are on schedule,” he said.
It has to be — tower No. 2, which will house the new home of Nokia Bell Labs — is in the on-deck circle.
