NRG Energy will remain in West Windsor following township approval to build a new state-of-the-art office headquarters at Carnegie Center West (see rendering above). The design plans of the new office building will have numerous sustainability features that are being hailed as a “green” landmark for the township.
“This building sets a new bar for construction in West Windsor,” Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh stated in a township press release. “We are delighted that NRG Energy has decided not only to build its national headquarters in West Windsor, but also to present the premier example of sustainable design and development.”
Township officials approved NRG’s development application on the southbound side of Route 1. Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner, Hsueh, and Boston Properties representative Micky Landis announced the news at a press conference August 29. The new building will be less than a mile away from NRG’s current two 90,000-square-feet headquarters at 211 Carnegie Center.
A large power producer with wholesale retail enterprises including coal, nuclear, and gas power plants, NRG has turned its focus to developing renewable energy sources for commercial and residential customers.
In 2013 New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) awarded NRG $37.5 million in tax breaks and credits to keep its headquarters within the same complex, according press reports.
This past May, the township planning board granted approval for Boston Properties to construct seven buildings as part of Carnegie Center’s next stage of development. The most recent announcement grants approval for NRG’s detailed site plan and its $40 million, 120,000-square-foot office building. Boston Property plans to construct seven buildings totaling 936,000 square feet. Princeton University currently occupies a building on the 71-acre site.
NRG also holds the rights to the site adjacent to the building, though no formal submission has come before the planning board. Landis, the Boston Properties representative, says West Windsor will collect $9 million in taxes over a 15-year period from the new headquarters, about $600,000 annually.
According to Gardner, the new building will provide a host of benefits to the township. “What this building does is it promotes economic development of the township. It creates additional jobs. It meets many of the green initiatives in our checklist and it increases our commercial tax base, providing revenue to the township,” Gardner said.
The building is designed to maximize daylight, and reduce the issues relating to glare and solar heat in the summer. Zinc and glass will be the primary building materials, higher cost materials that are more environmentally friendly.
Other features include two upright wind turbines; a grass and soil roof; a storm water storage system; bicycle paths and parking; electric vehicle charging stations; and solar panel canopies for the parking lot and solar panel wings for the roof.
