Company that makes Arm & Hammer products and Trojan condoms breaks ground on new headquarters in Ewing, thanks to $13.5 million in assistance from the state
The Opus Group today broke ground on a new 250,000-square-foot corporate headquarter campus for Church & Dwight Co., Inc. in a complex off Charles Ewing Boulevard, near Pennington Road and Interstate 95. The campus, depicted here, will include two 125,000-square-feet Class A, energy-efficient office buildings.EWING — Lauding it as a victory to keep jobs in the state, Gov. Chris Christie joined officials from the company that makes Arm & Hammer products and Trojan condoms to break ground on a new headquarters.
The parent company Church & Dwight is moving its headquarters from Princeton Borough to Ewing, thanks to $13.5 million in assistance from the state.
"Their decision to stay here is a clear sign, a clear sign to everyone in New Jersey that we've begun to make a comeback," Christie said.
Jim Craigie, the head of Church & Dwight, said the company was ready to move their headquarters to Pennsylvania and take most of the 750 jobs with them. Instead, Lt. Gov. Kim Gaudagno was dispatched in the early days of the Christie administration to try to find a package that could keep them in the state.
The company will benefit from Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Grants, or BRRAG, that are designed to keep companies in the state by rewarding per-job retention rates. They also require that the company make investments in the state.
Church & Dwight will invest $25.5 million over five years, said Matthew Farrell, the company's chief financial officer.
Craigie said another factor was the state's move last year to create a single-factor sales tax for corporations, legislation that was part of a Democratic jobs package earlier this year.
Christie's office has pushed the bipartisan expansion of the BRRAG program, along with several other business retention and attraction measures. He hinted that the next item on his agenda is a change in the personal income tax.
"We are going to begin to work on the taxes for the people who come to work here," Christie said. "We want them living in New Jersey."
About one-third of Church & Dwight's employees live in Bucks County and the company has manufacturing in York, said Craigie, who lives in Princeton.
Related coverage:
• Church & Dwight to stay in N.J. after $13M grant
• Church & Dwight picks new home in Ewing
• Church & Dwight, maker of Arm & Hammer products, may relocate headquarters to Ewing