Catellus Agrees to Buy Honeywell Site

TETERBORO, NJ-Honeywell's aviation parts plant here will be shut down over the next 12 to 24 months, the plant's 425 employees were told this week, and the company has a tentative deal to sell the site to Catellus Development Group, the Denver-based business unit of ProLogis. The plant makes and tests flight control and related equipment for military aircraft.

Officials from both sides declined to disclose the details of the pending detail. "We can confirm there is a proposed agreement to acquire the property, but the transaction has not closed," a ProLogis spokesman tells GlobeSt.com. "It would be premature to comment further at this time."

A Honeywell spokesman declined to provide further information, but confirmed published reports on the details of the pending closure. Most of the non-manufacturing jobs will be transferred to Honeywell's corporate headquarters in Morris Township over the next two years, but there are no specific plans for the manufacturing positions. The plant's operations will be moved to another Honeywell location in Albuquerque. The plant, which dates to the late 1930s, was once operated by the Bendix Corp. and later AlliedSignal, until the latter sold that part of its business to Honeywell in 1999.

The ProLogis spokesman declined to elaborate on any plans for the site, although the Catellus unit is currently redeveloping former industrial site in California and Texas as mixed-use properties. Like the California and Texas sites, the 61-acre property here is contaminated and would require remediation. Formal plans would also have to be approved by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, whose master plan calls for office and industrial uses. The site is listed for possible W/D development by the state under its Portfields Initiative relating to development of logistics facilities near the Port of Newark/Elizabeth.