The Working Together for West Windsor Team would like to partner with public authorities to attract Einstein Alley projects like Amazon HQ2. In addition, we are committed to using the township’s zoning authority to ensure that the size and impact is appropriate. The goal is to bring in ratables without overburdening roads and schools.
Therefore, we would like to support the application for locating the second of Amazon’s Headquarters (“Amazon HQ2”) in West Windsor. West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, Princeton University, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the Mercer County Department of Economic Development and Sustainability have collaborated to start the process of luring Amazon to two potential sites in West Windsor: the former American Cyanamid/Howard Hughes property at the junction of Clarksville and Quakerbridge roads, and the SRI/Sarnoff property between Fisher Place and Harrison Street on the northbound side of Route 1.
According to the request for proposals, the Amazon HQ2 project is a second corporate headquarters, at which Amazon will hire as many as 50,000 new full-time employees with an average annual total compensation exceeding $100,000 over the next 10 to 15 years. The project is expected to have over $5 billion in capital expenditures.
If one of the two contender properties in West Windsor is selected for Amazon HQ2, the other would become a prime location for another R&D center, which fits with the Einstein Alley concept along Route 1 in central New Jersey.
Furthermore, Amazon’s commitment to enhancing public transportation in the range of $43 million over seven years would go a long way towards improving/upgrading transportation systems and providing alternative means of transportation to benefit the entire region.
Overall, Amazon wants to invest in a community where its employees will enjoy living, recreational opportunities, educational opportunities, and an overall high quality of life. West Windsor’s Master Plan describes similar goals. Building the Amazon HQ2 in West Windsor will help achieve our mutual goals.
In choosing the location for HQ2, Amazon has outlined its preferences. Two properties within West Windsor’s boundaries meet all of the criteria. The former American Cyanamid/Howard Hughes tract is over 600 acres, while the SRI/Sarnoff property is over 200 acres. They are both near transportation of many types, are in population centers greater than 1 million, contain utility infrastructure, are near major educational institutions, and are surrounded by an educated labor pool.
Another factor that makes West Windsor stand out from other potential locations is our proximity to Princeton University. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a member of Princeton’s Class of 1986. Princeton University alumni allegiance to their alma mater is real. No other University boasts tens of thousands of alumni returning “home” year after year for annual reunions. Its alumni donation statistics are the envy of all other institutions. The allure of being so close to Princeton University, combined with our strong attributes, makes West Windsor a dark-horse but competitive choice for Amazon HQ2.
We are not naive to the possibility of negative impacts to our community. With 50,000 employees comes need for restaurants, retail, housing, infrastructure and more. With careful zoning as part of the West Windsor Master Plan review, we can minimize new home construction and new retail and commercial development. However, development may happen in surrounding communities, which will add to West Windsor’s traffic and congestion. This is where the Working Together for West Windsor team’s relationships with county officials and surrounding towns is important. We must look at the entire region and develop solutions for the benefit of central New Jersey.
While there is uncertainty as to the long-term impact if Amazon decides to choose West Windsor as its second HQ site, we will not have the chance to explore it more deeply without a full application to Amazon and enthusiastic support of our elected officials.
—Kamal Khanna, Kristin Epstein and Yingchao “YZ” Zhang
Khanna is a candidate running for West Windsor mayor. Epstein and Zhang are running for council.
On Sept. 7, Amazon announced its search for a second headquarters in North America, which will create up to 50,000 jobs (mostly information technology positions). While the property requirement seems to be a good fit for the 653-acre Howard Hughes Corporation property located off Route 1, the first reaction of most residents is the additional traffic that Amazon will create, not the tax revenue. Currently, HHC is working with West Windsor Township, Mercer County, and the state to make a bid for this site.
If we conceptualize the Amazon headquarters on the HHC property, four buildings the size of the green NRG Energy headquarters building (located at the Route 1 and Carnegie Center Boulevard intersection) will be built in two years, and building space equal to an estimated 70 more NRGs in 10 years, creating approximately another Carnegie Center (560-acre). If we use the NRG Energy headquarters tax revenue for calculation, Amazon will generate a $240 tax break per household in two years, and $4,000 when fully built.
Where will the 50,000 employees come from? West Windsor has 4,000 daily train commuters; most of them hold IT jobs. If we estimate that 2,000 residents will switch jobs to Amazon (to save their three-hour daily commute), and 2,000 residents from each of the 20 nearby towns also switch jobs to work at Amazon, we will have 42,000 local employees all within 15 miles of the Amazon site.
These 42,000 local employees are the source of the current congestion on Route 1 and nearby roads. With a sound transportation plan outlined as follows, Amazon can improve our traffic situation, not aggravate it. With Amazon’s $3.7 billion proposed capital investment, a new train stop on the Amazon site can be a reality. This new train stop will potentially be used by 20,000 Amazon employees (the 20,000 count is based on the current daily passenger volume of nearby train stations), and the remaining employees can be served by 100 large direct buses, and of course, cars. The net result is that we are taking about 30,000 cars off the street and for the first time, we might have a congestion free commute along Route 1 and nearby streets.
I envision many happier families when the three-hour commute is removed, many chronic illnesses caused by this commute to miraculously disappear (residents told me that after they stopped commuting to New York, some of their mysterious discomforts went away), and the train station parking lots getting empty. We will save millions from less-used roads and train station parking lots, lower road maintenance and snow removal costs. Using this money, we can construct a protected bicycle and pedestrian lane network in West Windsor such that for the first time many families can have an alternative mean of leisure through biking and walking to places, other than the current near 100 percent driving.
If the Amazon bid doesn’t work out, I aim to retain the research/light office zoning of the HHC property and attract businesses by developing it into a Green Silicon Valley East: a solar-research-education-resort park that features solar-themed roads and architecture in parklike setting to offer a destination for West Windsor residents as well as like-minded businesses. NRG Energy’s headquarters is an example architectural design we should use. West Windsor’s local traffic problem can be solved by using our new community shuttle program (sites.google.com/site/wangformayor/platform/community-shuttle-details) and the above transportation measures.
—Yan Mei Wang
Wang is a candidate running for West Windsor mayor.
