Officials of Sanofi-aventis announced in late fall that they had agreed to lease a three-building, 670,000-sf former AT&T campus in Bridgewater in a move that will consolidate the pharmaceutical giant’s U.S. headquarters. The world’s third largest pharma company’s domestic pharmaceutical operations are currently situated at three different locations in Bridgewater. Sanofi-aventis’ site search and lease negotiations were headed up by Robert Donnelly, recently named vice chairman of Cushman & Wakefield of NJ, East Rutherford, and Gil Medina, executive managing director and head of New Jersey operations for C&W. The terms of the lease were not disclosed. (For more on Cushman & Wakefield of NJ, please turn to page 32.) “The new site was chosen because it can accommodate our needs for more flexible and integrated space,” says Tim Rothwell, president and CEO of Sanofi-aventis U.S. “In addition, we wanted to remain in the vicinity to be able to accommodate our more than 3,800 employees from our various divisions.” The campus at 55 Corporate Dr. is owned by a joint venture of The Gale Co. of Florham Park and investment partners SL Green Realty Corp. of New York City and a client of Principal Real Estate Investors. As reported by Real Estate New Jersey, the trio of partners bought the buildings in mid-2005 from AT&T for a reported $125 million. AT&T continued to occupy a portion of the property briefly before vacating it entirely in time for Sanofi-aventis’ build-out and move-in. “We are extremely proud to have been able to satisfy Sanofi-aventis’ needs,” says Gale Co. chairman Stan Gale. “The company needed a more flexible and integrated space, and we were able to provide that.” “We congratulate the local community and officials on the state level for working closely with Sanofi-aventis to secure this leading corporation,” adds Gale president Mark Yeager. “The lease is good news for New Jersey and good news for the office market,” says C&W’s Donnelly. Plans call for a complete reconfiguration of the buildings’ interior space, according to officials of Sanofi-aventis. The move-in was expected to start last month and will be completed by the end of 2006 as the interior gets built out. The 150-acre site also gives the company some flexibility in terms of future building expansion—it’s already approved for several hundred thousand sf of additional development. Sanofi-aventis’ employees are currently spread over three locations in Bridgewater. Following completion of the move, Sanofi-aventis’ U.S. pharmaceutical operations employees currently located at the Somerset Corporate Center, the Bridgewater Crossings office complex and the company’s Science & Medical Affairs (S&MA) campus will be on-site. Not all of the parent company’s employees are involved, however. After the move, the Somerset Corporate Center will continue to house the company’s expanded sales training center, a Northeast regional sales office and global employees. The S&MA Campus and Bridgewater Crossings locations will be dedicated to S&MA activities, according to company officials. Sanofi-aventis as it exists today was created in the spring of 2004 by the $66 billion merger of Sanofi-Synthalabo and Aventis, both French companies, in what was essentially a hostile takeover. Aventis itself traces back to the 1999 merger of Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc.

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