BRIDGEWATER, NJ-Officials of Sanofi-aventis this morning agreed to lease a three-building, 670,000-sf former AT&T campus here in a move to consolidate the pharma giant's US headquarters. The world's third largest pharma company's US pharmaceutical operations are currently at three different locations here.

"The new site was chosen because it can accommodate our business needs for a more flexible and integrated space," says Tim Rothwell, president and CEO of Sanofi-aventis US. "In addition, we wanted to remain in the vicinity to accommodate our more than 3,800 employees from various divisions." Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

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. and a client of Principal Real Estate Investors. As reported by GlobeSt.com, the trio bought the buildings earlier this year from AT&T for a reported $125 million. AT&T continued to occupy a portion of the property briefly before vacating it entirely.

"The company needed a more flexible and integrated space, and we were able to provide that," says Gale Co. chairman Stan Gale. Plans call for a complete reconfiguration of the buildings' interior space, according to officials of Sanofi-aventis, which was represented by Bob Donnelly and Gil Medina of Cushman & Wakefield of NJ, East Rutherford.

The move-in is expected to start this December and be completed by the end of 2006. 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 this community of 45,000 people, 35 miles west of Manhattan. Following completion of the move, the firm's US pharmaceutical operations employees currently located at the Somerset Corporate Center, Bridgewater Crossings and the 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 was created in the spring of 2004 by the $66-billion merger of Sanofi-Synthalabo and Aventis, both French companies. Aventis itself traces back to the 1999 merger of Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc.