Princeton Hydro’s Headquarters Earns 2023 New Good Neighbor Award

We are proud to announce that Princeton Hydro’s Headquarters has been chosen as a winner of the 2023 New Good Neighbor Award for our role in revitalizing Trenton’s historic Roebling Carpentry Shop located in the city’s Wirerope District.

Presented by New Jersey Business & Industry Association and its flagship publication New Jersey Business Magazine, the New Good Neighbor Award recognizes commercial development projects throughout New Jersey that contribute to economic growth while being aesthetically pleasing and promoting sustainably.

Preserving History, Building for the Future

Princeton Hydro chose the historic Roebling Carpentry Shop (Building 110) as the location for its new headquarters office. The building restoration project, which began in 2021, was constructed by Trenton-based Hx2 Development and designed by Trenton-based Architecture and Planning firm, Clarke Caton Hintz. We received enormous support and encouragement from the City of Trenton and Greater Trenton due to its job creation, architectural merit, economic benefit, and Princeton Hydro’s commitment to community involvement.

“Trenton has welcomed us with open arms, and we are grateful to be part of this community. We are honored to be selected for the New Good Neighbor Award and hope to inspire other businesses to join us here in Trenton,” said Geoffrey M. Goll, PE, President of Princeton Hydro.

The historic building, an old industrial wireworks factory, was transformed, under a historic preservation permit, into a unique, state-of-the-art office space. The design highlights the space’s historic architectural elements – heavy timber beams, huge windows and skylights, and original brick walls – while incorporating modern design and sustainability.

Creating a Space for Community

“We aimed to create a space that was inspiring yet functional for our staff, and what we didn’t realize was that we ended up creating a new meeting space for the community too,” expressed Goll. “As a misson-driven firm, it is within Princeton Hydro’s core values to foster stewardship in our communities and support organizations who are working to make the world a better place.”

Since opening our doors in April 2022, we have donated the use of our space for a variety of nonprofit organization events, including the Passage Theatre’s “Trenton Makes Heroes” Fundraiser, Trenton Historical Society’s Annual Stop The Wrecking Ball, New Jersey Environmental Lobby’s Annual Award Dinner, and Revolutionary Trenton’s Launch Event. We held donation drives here too to support local nonprofit organizations working in Trenton. For our our Holiday Employee Virtual Giving Event in 2022, we donated 115 items valued over $1,700 to Children’s Home Society of New Jersey. During our Spring 2023 Staff Donation Drive, we collected 208 pounds of shelf-stable food items for Arm In Arm, a Trenton-based nonprofit organization that addresses food and housing insecurity in the city and surrounding areas.

Inspiring the Next Generation in STEM

Inspiring local youth to pursue a pathway in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields is also a priority for our firm. Since moving to Trenton, we’ve volunteered our time to support community programs such as the Outdoor Equity Alliance’s Careers in Conservation Internship and NJDEP’s Youth Inclusion Initiative.  Bringing youth out into the field and showing them how our ecosystems function is one if the best ways to engage them. Our greatest hope is that one of the local students that we have taught during these programs will pursue a career in science or engineering and come work for us in Trenton!

The Transformation

In every aspect of the design, construction and planning, the team made an active effort to source local and renewable resources. The relocation of Princeton Hydro’s headquarters from Ringoes, NJ to Trenton, NJ results in the relocation of 30+ jobs to Trenton, brings to life a building that has been vacant for more than 25 years, and adapts the building’s use from industrial to a transit-oriented, modern office space.

2023 New Good Neighbor Awards

15 total development projects received the New Good Neighbor Award this year. As noted in the press release announcement from NJBIA, “the winning projects, participating in our 63rd Annual New Good Neighbor Awards program, have created more than $346 million in capital improvements, more than 2,200 construction jobs and nearly 5,500 permanent jobs, providing valuable assets and generating tremendous economic activity.”

For a full list of award winners and details about each of their projects, click here. For more information about the New Good Neighbor Award nomination and selection process, click here. And, to see more photos of the Trenton Headquarters transformation process, click here.

• Company News