Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, Church & Dwight CEO James Craigie, and Ewing Township Mayor Bert Steinmann at the grand opening and ribbon cutting of Church & Dwight’s world headquarters in Ewing on May 2, 2013.
Arm & Hammer manufacturer, Church & Dwight, brings Fortune 500 business to Ewing .
Church & Dwight celebrated the grand opening of its new worldwide headquarters in the Princeton South Corporate Center in Ewing on May 2.
Rare for a business opening in Ewing, the numbers involved measure in the millions and billions.
The Fortune 500 company, which manufactures Arm & Hammer baking soda and other household products, is the biggest company to open an office in Ewing in recent years. Officials estimate it will bring almost $1 million to Ewing’s tax rolls. The company boasts $2.4 billion in annual revenue.
By relocating its former Princeton office, Church & Dwight also brings 550 employees to Ewing Township and occupies a 250,000 square-foot office building that cost $27 million to build.
Church & Dwight CEO James Craigie, speaking at the ceremony, said the company was set to move its headquarters to Pennsylvania until the state government offered $13.5 million in tax breaks for it to stay.
Though the incentives have been criticized recently by government watchdog groups, Craigie defended them, saying the company agreed to keep 1,000 jobs in New Jersey and made millions in donations it would have otherwise spent elsewhere, including $2 million to local food banks, $1 million to the New Jersey chapter of the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief, and a deal of an unspecified amount with the Trenton Thunder minor league baseball team to rename the former Mercer County Waterfront Park ballpark to Arm & Hammer Park.
He praised state and local officials for facilitating the move.
“Ewing Township has become the most business friendly town,” he said. “They allow our headquarters and our business to expand with certainty as long as we play by the rules.”
Ewing mayor Bert Steinmann said Church & Dwight had been playing by the rules.
“I am so enthused about what is going on with the township today, especially with Church & Dwight being a very good corporate partner,” he said.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno also spoke at the ceremony, telling the tale of how she and Gov. Chris Christie worked with the Democrat-run state legislature to change the rules to persuade Church & Dwight to stay after they told her of their intention to leave in 2010. She said Church & Dwight CEO Mike Ferrell gave her a “wish list” of tax breaks that would be appealing not only to Church & Dwight but for the business community. She said she scrambled to get them approved, and at one point ran down a hallway to arrange a face-to-face meeting between Craigie and the Governor.
Guadagno portrayed the deal as a success story for New Jersey business development.
“That’s bipartisanship,” she said. “That’s men and women making deals and promises and shaking hands and keeping those promises. That’s what kept Church & Dwight here.”
Steinmann said Church & Dwight coming to town, as well as Frontier Airlines launching commercial air service at Trenton-Mercer airport this year, plus the planned redevelopment of the GM site, all add up to Ewing becoming a true destination spot that is crucial to the economy of the region.
“As Ewing Township goes, so goes Mercer,” he said.
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