Ewing Township is quickly becoming a hub of economic growth in central New Jersey.
Ewing Township has become a hotspot for economic activity.
In the past half year alone, the town has seen a successful new airline open and expand at the Trenton-Mercer Airport, approved the Parkway Avenue redevelopment plan, and welcomed a number of businesses in the Princeton South corporate center, including Church & Dwight and its iconic Arm & Hammer brand.
Most recently, in mid-July Mercer County announced that it has agreed to a five-year extension of its lease with Frontier Airlines. The new pact, which comes only six months into its current agreement, will be in effect through May 2018.
Under the deal, Frontier will pay rent of $18,558 per year. In addition, the airline collects a passenger facility charge from each ticket sold and passes a portion of that to the airport. Currently that amount is about $40,000 per month.
Frontier, which opened at Trenton-Mercer last November, has already expanded its list of destinations two times since it started service. The Denver-based airline initially offered flights to Orlando, and in January added routes to Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and New Orleans. In April, Frontier expanded again, adding nonstop service to Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Raleigh-Durham and Detroit.
The success of the airline has increased the demand for parking at the airport, which will see the completion of a new parking lot in November that will increase capacity to about 1,000 spaces. The Mercer County Board of Freeholders is expected to vote in September or October on the implementation of parking fees at the airport — between $5 and $12.
The parking fees would be implemented after a temporary closure of the airport for an FAA-mandated runway improvement project. Frontier is suspending flights from September 9 through November 8 — traditionally a slow time for the travel industry — to permit installation of an airport safety project called Engineered Material Arresting System on the airport’s longest runway.
The EMACS system being installed is a pad of crushable concrete blocks designed to stop an airplane from going off the end of a runway in case of a crash landing.
Also under consideration is the construction of a new external baggage claim area and interior modifications to allow more room for passengers who are waiting for flights. New restrooms will be built in the gate area beyond security, which currently has no bathroom facilities.
The success of Frontier, coupled with other improvements in the area such as the Parkway Avenue redevelopment zone and commercial development driven by the new Capital Health medical center, has led officials to single out Ewing as an important economic hub for central New Jersey.
In his state of the county speech earlier this year, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said that the airport and existing rail infrastructure in Ewing will join with Princeton and Trenton to create a “transportation triangle” that will be an “enormous economic driver” for the region.
Robert Prunetti, CEO of the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce and former Mercer County executive, recently commented on the importance of the airport and business development in Ewing.
“The Trenton-Mercer Airport has the potential to become an economic jewel for the entire region. For too long, in my estimation, we’ve allowed this gemstone to dull due to underutilization,” said Prunetti.
Prunetti said the chamber supports plans for the Parkway Avenue plan, which calls for the redevelopment of the 86-acre General Motors tract and the adjacent 28-acre former Navy Jet Propulsion site. “This plan alone will enhance the West Trenton portion of Ewing Township dramatically — but combined with the potential of the airport, it becomes a rare gemstone.”
Ewing took one step closer toward the construction of a town center earlier this year with the approval of the the redevelopment plan. The concept calls for transformation of the area into a town center featuring restaurants, retail stores, offices, residences, a park, and a town square. Ewing officials hope to find developers for the project by the end of the summer.
The plan also calls for the center to become a transit hub by connecting the property to the both the airport and the West Trenton train station. Proposals have called for the train station to be moved closer to the redevelopment area.
In addition to continuing its current service to Philadelphia, the station would also be part of a new West Trenton Line of New Jersey Transit.
Under that plan, some 12 miles of new track would be laid to connect Ewing to new stations in Hopewell, Montgomery, and Hillsborough before being merged into the Raritan Valley Line to Newark Penn Station.
The commercial market has been active in Ewing as well. In May, Church & Dwight opened its new $27 million, 250,000-square-foot world headquarters In the Princeton South corporate center. The Fortune 500 company, which manufactures Arm & Hammer baking soda and other household products, is the biggest company to open an office in Ewing in recent years.
Officials estimate that Church & Dwight will bring almost $1 million in tax revenues to the township. By relocating from its former Princeton office, the company also brings 550 employees to Ewing.
Princeton South is also home to companies including the American Institute of CPAs, Antares Pharma, Autism Services Group, Battelle Ventures, Berkley Life Sciences, Bovis Lend Lease, CA (Computer Associates), Compass Healthcare Communications, Emgenex, Environmental Resources Management, Epocrates, FMC Corp., Mercer Oak Realty, Mercer Oaks Properties, RSVP Group US, Valuation Research Corp., and Ventura Wealth Management. The complex is also home to a Marriott SpringHill Suites hotel.
Herring Properties is offering 166,000 square feet of build-to-suit space in the adjacent Hopewell South Corporate Center in Ewing. The project, located at the intersection of Route 95 and Scotch Road, has approvals for buildings of 96,000 square feet and 70,060 square feet. It is located across the highway from Capital Health Medical Center.
Jerry Fennelly, president of NAI Fennelly, which is marketing the property, commented on the Ewing’s desirability as a business center. “It’s really exciting to have this project (Hopewell South) with a market that is actually showing up,” said Fennelly. “We’ve had some great expansion from local companies and we think we’ll also see expansion from Pennsylvania and other parts of the region there too.”
The area is an especially ripe location for commercial and medical activity. “Part of it is due to the influence of Capital Health being there, but it’s also a great corporate headquarters location,” Fennelly said.
“If you look at Route 1, about 65 percent of the traffic headed there comes from Pennsylvania,” Fennelly says. “This is even closer. Being the second exit off I-95 coming from Pennsylvania, it’s really convenient.”