A water resources engineering company is moving its headquarters to a historic formerly industrial building in Trenton that has remained vacant for more than 25 years.
Princeton Hydro is relocating from Ringoes in Hunterdon County to the city’s Roebling Carpentry Shop in its Wirerope District, city officials said Tuesday. The business signed a lease with Hx2 Development and is slated to move into the building in January 2022.
Trenton offered the firm a $250,000 Urban Enterprise Zone, or UEZ, loan for the relocation, according to The Trentonian. The city had $2 million in UEZ funding allocated for economic redevelopment, after passing a resolution creating the loan program last April, the paper said.
“It’s just a really great space that we’re moving into,” said Geoffrey Goll, president of Princeton Hydro.
Goll said the firm’s reasons for the move include a closer proximity to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection office, a more central location in the state, and more access to public transportation and highways. The company also promotes justice equity and inclusion as part of their mission, he said, adding they hope to help boost local revitalization in the city.
The UEZ loan was an incentive offered to the company to help them move into the space and buy equipment for the staff, Goll said. “It gave us a feeling that the city was committed to us, to Princeton Hydro and to businesses moving there,” he said.
The building in the historic Roebling Carpentry Shop has been vacant for more than 25 years.Clarke Caton Hintz
The company will occupy 9,000-square-feet of Building 110 in the complex, which will contain three floors of office space. The move will add more than 30 jobs to Trenton, according to a release. Construction has already started.
Founded in 1998, Princeton Hydro provides ecological and engineering consulting services.
The Roebling Center spans five historic industrial buildings on Block 3 of the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company. Completed in 2018, Phase 1 included the opening of Roebling Lofts, a 138-unit loft apartment building in Building 101 of the complex.
“We’re very excited Princeton Hydro has picked the Capital City as its new home and look forward to seeing this historic site reclaim its status as a bustling center of commerce and ingenuity,” Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said in a news release.
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