NU Online News Service, May 27, 4:01 p.m. EDT
West Trenton, N.J.-based insurer New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company and NJM Bank announced today they have broken ground in Hammonton, N.J. on a $48 million, 146,000 square-foot office building.
The firms said the building activity should bring 565 construction jobs to the Southern New Jersey region.
Bernard M. Flynn, NJM's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the facility "represents a long-term commitment on the part of NJM, not only for our policyholders but to the South Jersey region as well."
"Considering current economic conditions, we are especially pleased to be providing sorely needed construction jobs for the next one and a half years," he added.
NJM said with its headquarters in West Trenton, and a second office in Parsippany, N.J., this office will establish a permanent South Jersey presence for the company.
The new office will house 175 employees in Hammonton currently in leased facilities occupied since 2000. NJM said that should the need arise to serve a larger base of policyholders, the structure can accommodate up to 330 employees on a daily basis.
The design also contemplates that if service requirements point toward additional expansion, the facility can be built out another 104,000 square feet.
In addition to insurance offices, the building will also include a branch of NJM. The full-service bank will include a drive-through ATM kiosk and employ four persons.
The new building will have an environmentally friendly focus. Retention basins will be engineered for maximum return of water to the aquifers. Modern lighting design techniques will employ efficient fixtures, control systems and day-lighting to reduce electrical loads. The use of regional materials will reduce the distance for delivery, the companies said.
NJM employs a total of about 2,400 people, including about 1,800 in West Trenton and about 380 in Parsippany. The company is the largest provider of personal auto and workers' compensation insurance in New Jersey, with nearly $1.5 billion in direct premiums written in 2008.
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