Novartis isn't going anywhere right away, and it certainly isn'tleaving New Jersey. The firm will lease the 88-acre property fromSchering-Plough until March 2003 when expansion of its other majorfacility in nearby East Hanover is completed. Most of the company'sSummit-based employees will be transferred to East Hanover.

In the meantime, Novartis will clean up groundwatercontamination at the site, and Schering-Plough is expected to beginconstruction on a safety-evaluation facility and carry out selectedrenovations. Once Novartis departs, Schering-Plough will have thesite to itself.

The 70-year-old campus was originally developed by CibaPharmaceuticals, later Ciba-Geigy. The latter merged with Sandoz in1997 to form Novartis. Novartis brought Cushman & Wakefield-NJon board to dispose of the property a year ago. Schering-Plough wasrepresented by the Garibaldi Group of Chatham.