Here’s only one device that trumps the microscope when it comes to innovation: The water cooler.
Although the water cooler itself might be outdated, the notion of unplanned work-place conversations holds relevance for Matthew Flath, who is involved in the repositioning of the former Merck campus in Kenilworth, due to its potential to foster local startup culture.
So, there’s equal parts focus on the high-tech aspects of the lab-equipped Northeast Science and Technology Center, or NEST, and places where people can come together and … just talk.
“That’s the purpose of building out a comprehensive amenity package with common spaces that spark conversations between people from all different types of innovation business backgrounds,” Flath said. “Hopefully, that will lead to the cross-pollination of ideas and entrepreneurship taking off.”
Onyx Equities, where Flath is a senior vice president of asset management, purchased the 2 million-square-foot Merck complex in February 2023 to capitalize on the region’s past and future life sciences and biotechnology emphasis.
Since then, the campus has welcomed AI company CoreWeave, cosmetics giant Revlon and, as of this month, the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Flath envisions much more still to come for the site.
“(We want to) turn this into a multi-tenant, true life science ecosystem, with all the facets of what makes up similar hubs, such as Kendall Square in Cambridge,” Flath said. “If you look there or in San Diego, San Francisco or Philadelphia, where they’ve been most successful is doing a good job of working with a synergy of the public and private sector and academia.”
The academia portion — having an institution that can anchor a campus — have proven in these other communities to be particularly important, he added.
That adds significance to the establishment of the NJIT @ NEST Center for Translational Research, where the organization will have professors and students coming together to develop “tangible solutions” in areas such as biomedical engineering, computing and AI, according to a news release about the move.
And the central role academia plays in corralling innovators together at research hubs is also why Flath hopes it’s just the first of many academic partners that land there.
There’s a constant flow of innovative enterprises and programs from New Jersey’s universities today, Flath said. He’s hoping to feature that alongside the few tenants the site already has.
“(We want to) turn this into a multi-tenant,
true life science ecosystem, with all the facets
of what makes up similar hubs,
such as Kendall Square in Cambridge.”
“Between CoreWeave, Revlon and NJIT, they’re all fantastic tenants and we’re happy to have made those deals, but they still only represent 15 percent of the (gross leasable area) of the campus,” he said. “But in our mind, it’s just the start. We still have 85 percent of the campus left to lease.”
The campus has half a million square feet of office buildings on offer for prospective tenants, as well as the site’s main research building. That’s where Merck conducted research on monoclonal antibodies, Flath said, which are lab-made proteins tested for treatment of various diseases.
Flath touted that facility’s technical capabilities, as well as the condition it’s in, given that Merck renovated their lab space at regular intervals, he said. Some of the common areas are admittedly more dated, he added. The cafeteria, courtyards and conference facilities will be undergoing a significant makeover — to match their quality with the supporting lab space.
“We certainly expect to have more new tenant announcements throughout the coming year and those following and to be able to showcase those improvements to our high-level amenity spaces,” he said. “We also have the possibility of ground-up development on the campus to grow the footprint of what we’re doing here.”
Conversation Starter
Reach Onyx Equities at: onyxequities.com or call 732-362-8800.
