By Ron Leir

Observer Correspondent

NUTLEY

Roche USA, the Swiss-basedpharmaceutical companythat is marketing its118-acre property straddlingNutley and Clifton, continuesto seek a buyer for the sitebut has inked a tenant for partof the site.

Roche spokeswomanDarien Wilson said last weekthat the Tom Lyon, vicepresident of Roche Nutley (asthe property is designated),has signed a letter of intentwith Robert C. Garrett, president/CEO of HackensackUniversity Health Network,for the leasing of one ofRoches former researchbuildings for the operation ofa medical school.

Terms of the lease remainto be negotiated, Wilson said.

At the same time, Wilsonsaid, Roche which last yearpaid $7.1 million in taxes toNutley (supplemented by$2.7 million in special statetransitional aid) is stillin the process of identifyinga buyer for the [entire]site. Asked when Rocheanticipated a sale, Wilsonsaid: Were very close . We expect to identify a newowner by middle of the year.

Asked why the company wasentering into an lease agreementfor just a small part ofits property (about 13 acres)before disposing of the wholesite, Wilson acknowledged itcould be considered an atypicalapproach, but that all ofthe potential buyers were fullyaware, along with the Nutley-Clifton Joint RepurposingCommittee, that this was anopportunity that Roche wantedto pursue.

Wilson said that talks withHackensackUHN have beengoing on for a year and ahalf. She added that the leasebetween the parties would beassigned to whoever the newowner is.

The new four-year medicalschool, according to a statementposted on the HackensackUniversity MedicalSchool website, will be a jointventure by HackensackUHNand Seton Hall University andwill be the only private schoolof medicine currently in thestate.

Continued here:

Medical school will be Roche tenant