Home Care In East Hanover, NJ

QuickChek opened a new store and gas station just off Route 10 East in East Hanover on Tuesday.

The 5,869-square-foot store will be open 24 hours a day, complete with a gas station, fresh-brewed coffee, all-day breakfast, lunch and dinner, including made-to-order subs, wraps and salads.

There's a no-fee ATM and 61 parking spaces, plus parking for two oversized vehicles and outdoor seating for 16 customers. The store is located at 235 Route 10 in East Hanover.

Customers will be able to treat themselves to pumpkin spice-flavored coffee for a limited time. You'll also be able to shop for household items like milk, juice and eggs.

There’s hot and iced coffee, and all-day breakfast items, including breakfast sandwiches with English muffins or waffles.

Rewards for customers

To celebrate the grand opening, QuickChek is offering one free cup of coffee per day for seven days starting Aug. 15 to QuickChek Rewards members at the East Hanover store.

East Hanover shoppers new to the QuickChek Rewards program get up to four weeks of special offers. Week one includes offers a free fountain drink or coffee at any size. Week two includes offers a $1 breakfast sandwich. Week three includes offers 50% off any six-inch sub. Week four includes offers 50% off any fresh snack item.

According to a press release, the store is expected to bring in between 35 to 45 new local jobs.

Related:It's not your imagination. Convenience stores are multiplying in NJ, with no end in sight

Russ Mensch, a spokesperson for QuickChek, said plans are in the works for a QuickChek in Scotch Plains towards the last quarter of 2023. There are 145 QuickChek stores in New Jersey.

QuickChek, being open 24 hours and serving freshly prepared food all day and night, helps serve people with diverse lifestyles and routines, he said.

"Nine to five doesn’t exist anymore," said Mensch. "Anyone, such as an ambulance driver getting off shift at four in the morning, can get the same sandwich as the person customizing their sandwich at four in the afternoon.”

As of late July, competitor Chester Heights, Pa.-based Wawa has 283 stores in New Jersey, mostly concentrated in South Jersey. Spokesperson Lori Bruce estimated that another nine Wawa's will open in the state this year.

But Wawa — home of the Hoagiefest and a new pizza menu — has a long way to go before it could in the convenience center wars of Morris County, where QuickChek is still king.

Each to its own

While it may seem like a lot of stores on paper, it’s really not, explained Arturo Osorio Fernandez, a management and global business professor at Rutgers University.

“If placed on a map there is a geographical pattern of service-overlap on highways and heavy traffic areas,” he said in May. “Yet you will also see that they have no real overlap. Each brand serves a different area. And there are even areas that are not served by either of them.”

Wawa “is considered to be an NJ store by locals,” Fernandez said, despite being based out of Pennsylvania, “because of its largest presence in the area.”

With QuickChek, he said, “the brand is linked to green practices and transparency, [t]hus presenting itself as a more environmentally conscious business that seeks to provide freshness and convenience.”

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.

In New Jersey’s largest industrial sale of the year, retail REIT Urban Edge Properties has sold a 1.2 million-square-foot, seven-building portfolio in East Hanover, N.J., for $217.5 million. The buyer was an investment fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing together with Saxum Real Estate, its operator and manager. JLL Capital Markets brokered the transaction.

The deal was structured as part of a 1031 exchange transaction used to partially fund the $309 million acquisition of two Boston-area shopping centers totaling nearly 1.4 million square feet—Gateway Center in Everett, Mass., and Shoppers World in Framingham, Mass.—from SITE Centers. Urban Edge funded the remaining balance of the purchase with its line of credit.

READ ALSO: What’s Ahead for Industrial?

The sale of the industrial portfolio, located in Morris County, is part of the company’s strategy of acquiring high-quality retail real estate with future growth potential. The REIT, which owns and operates 76 properties totaling 17.2 million square feet, is actively negotiating the disposition of more than $100 million of non-core assets.

A Northern New Jersey industrial portfolio

Located at 901, 903-906, 601 Murray Road and 151 Ridgedale Ave., the light industrial portfolio is spread across seven buildings that were fully leased at the time of sale by a total of 13 tenants. Key features include an average clear height of 21 feet and 945 total parking spaces.

The properties are in the high barrier-to-entry and supply-constrained market of Northern New Jersey. One of the properties, 151 Ridgedale Ave., was acquired in October 2021. The 187,013-square-foot Paper Mart warehouse and distribution center had originally been owned by Urban Edge’s predecessor, Vornado Realty Trust. Vornado spun off Urban Edge into a separate company in January 2015. Vornado had sold the 9.17-acre property to Paper Mart in 1978. Purchasing the site back from Paper Mart in 2021 gave Urban Edge ownership of all the commercial assets on the block.

The Morris County submarket is the fourth largest submarket in Northern New Jersey, representing more than 33.4 million square feet of industrial space.

Arranged by JLL

JLL Capital Markets arranged the deal, representing the seller and procuring the buyer. The Investment Sales and Advisory team was led by Jose Cruz, Marc Duval, Jordan Avanzato, Nick Stefans, Jason Lundy and Austin Pierce.

In another recent transaction, three JLL brokers secured a $869 million financing package for an 11.4 million-square-foot industrial portfolio. The fully leased properties have an average completion date of 2020.

150 YEARS AND COUNTING...

Over the past 150 years, the world has witnessed profound transformations and upheavals. These 150 years have been characterized by both progress and challenges, shaping the world as we know it today.

Through it all the Madison Area YMCA, a fixture of the neighborhood since 1873, has been steadfast in pursuit of our mission to serve our community. Generations of children have grown up here. Friendships flourish. People of all ages serve others through their time, treasure and talents. Our dedicated staff and volunteers have devoted their time and energy to improve the quality of life for our community.

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We’ve taught kids how to swim, provided safe spaces for teens, teamed up with corporations, given children a strong start in school, and led the way for campers of all ages and abilities. We’ve built a few buildings and even more bridges; connecting people through programs that reinforce the rules of treating everyone with respect, dignity, care, and compassion.

While the programs and services we offer have evolved, our core mission remains the same. Propelled by the practices of reaching ALL people through a connection of mind, body, and spirit, the Madison Area YMCA has continued to launch lives, careers, and passions for 150 years and counting.

Together, we can continue to create a future in which all children are nurtured, more people are proactively taking care of their health and our community comes together in friendship and mutual support to share safe spaces to learn, grow and thrive for another 150 years.

Learn more about the Madison Area YMCA below.

Join Us!

When you join the Madison Area YMCA, you become part of a worldwide association of people working together to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and the community. We operate with three core priorities: Youth Development: providing care and education for infants and preschoolers; and development for school-age children and teens through sports, athletics, and leadership programs. Healthy Living: providing classes and programs to promote health and overall well-being. Social Responsibility: engaging the community in activities such as child protection education and philanthropic fundraising to ensure broad access to Y programs and services. Our staff is committed to instilling our Core Values of Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility in all that we do, from teaching a class to maintaining our facilities.

LEARN MORE

Why the Y is the Madison Area YMCA’s new column on TAPinto. Why the Y features stories about members who are inspired by the Y, staff members who help make a difference in people’s lives and innovative programs that change our community for A Better Us. Please visit the column to meet your neighbors that are part of the Y family and learn about the programming that just might make a difference in your life!

The East Hanover Little League 12-year-olds have etched their name in Morris County baseball lore.

In Sunday night’s winner-take-all New Jersey state championship game, East Hanover/Florham Park stunned Holbrook (Jackson), 4-3 at Buchmuller Park in Secaucus. East Hanover is just the seventh Morris County team to capture a Little League state title since the tournament was first held in 1957, and the first since Parsippany-Troy East won it all in 2012.

In a rematch of Saturday’s game in which East Hanover defeated previously undefeated Holbrook, 2-0, the Hornets scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on Sunday, and two more in the second to secure the victory.

"It's been a great experience for the boys and their families as well as for both towns. I felt like we were on even footing after Saturday's win," manager Joe Cheringal said. "We knew we had two of our best four pitchers available after they used both their best pitchers. Leading up to Saturday, we had played some hard-fought games. We were able to keep the momentum going and managed to jump out and take the lead in the first inning."

In the first inning, Anthony Abrantes tied the game when he grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring Tyler Ciasullo. In the next at bat, RJ Gossweiler singled to score AJ Rossi.

The Hornets then raced to a three-run lead in the second inning when Rossi smacked a two-out, two-run single.

Holbrook managed to pull within a run in the fourth inning at 4-3, but couldn't get anything going the final two innings. Gossweiler earned the win for East Hanover, giving up five hits, one earned run and four strikeouts in three innings. Braden Edelle threw the final three innings, striking out two on one hit and no runs.

"It feels good to represent New Jersey and I hope we can do good things in the regionals," Gossweiler said. "It was really cool being one of the four teams to represent the state. We met some new friends and had the chance to play at a nice field in front of a lot of people."

East Hanover (18-2), the Section 1 and District 1 champions, will face neighboring state champions Connecticut on Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPN Plus) in the Metro-Region in Bristol, CT. with berths in the 2023 Little League World Series on the line.

"We're solid heading up to Bristol (CT) for the region tournament. We've now played 20 games this summer and you can see the chemistry with the team," Cheringal said. "We don't blow teams away, but we do all the little things right."

East Hanover’s road to the title began with a 6-5 win over Section 2 and District 6 champion Fort Lee on July 26. In Thursday’s winners bracket, the Hornets dropped a 12-4 contest to Holbrook in four innings, pushing them into the elimination bracket final on Friday. East Hanover defeated Fort Lee, 8-3 for the second time in as many days.

That led up to Saturday’s start to the championship series in which the Hornets handed Holbrook its first loss of the summer, setting up Sunday’s finale.

"We knew we had something special before the summer season began. But you don't know what you have until they get on the field and play together," Cheringal said. "We pool kids from two towns, East Hanover and Florham Park, and there's approximately 55 players that try out. We have 12 kids on the team and 10 have been playing together for a long time. It's a special group of kids."

East Hanover looks to become the first Morris County team to capture the Mid-Atlantic Region and advance to Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series, since Par Troy East (Parsippany) in 2012 and the first New Jersey team since Elmora Youth (Elizabeth) in 2019.

Other Morris County teams to capture New Jersey Little League state titles include Parsippany Troy East (2012), Randolph (2007), Randolph West (2001), Pequannock (2000), and Morristown National (1985 and 1982).

Swiss drugmaker Novartis is laying off 103 employees at its U.S headquarters in Morris County, the company stated in public filings with state regulators.

The layoffs in East Hanover are part of a reorganization effort by the pharmaceutical giant, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN notice, filed with the state on Aug. 18. The layoffs will go into effect on Nov. 24 this year, the company said.

Michael Meo, a spokesperson for Novartis, said in an email that the reductions were part of an “ongoing organizational evolution” that was being undertaken to improve the speed and success of drug development.

Last year, Novartis cut 285 positions across New Jersey, according to a WARN notice. There are roughly 4,100 people that work at the Novartis property along Route 10, Meo said.

In April, Novartis said it was cutting 8,000 positions from its global workforce, or roughly 7% of its staff. Amid rising costs, the company said it aims to save $1.5 billion by next year.

The company is spinning off its generics and biosimilars unit Sandoz later this year, according to a report by trade publication Fierce Pharma.

Novartis, and before it Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, has operated from the campus overlooking Route 10 and Ridgedale Avenue since the 1940s. But it has been downsizing the site for years. In 2021, it sold off 62 acres of the property, including its signature eight-story tower. A developer announced plans to demolish the tower and construct industrial space there.

More:Novartis HQ tower in East Hanover to be demolished; developer will build industrial space

Novartis isn’t the first New Jersey pharmaceutical and life sciences company to cut its workforce this year.

In Nutley, Eisai Inc. cut 91 jobs this April, while Bristol Myers Squibb announced 48 layoffs at its Princeton offices in May, with another round of 108 cuts set to occur across the state this November. Laboratory and diagnostics company BioReference Health LLC of Elmwood Park, cut 71 jobs in June.

Consulting firm BDO reported earlier this summer that 13% of life sciences companies were considering layoffs and furloughs as a cost-cutting measure this year, as the industry reacts to rising interest rates and a demand for higher profitability among investors.

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.