Menendez Tours Bell Works in Holmdel, Visits with Business Owners Looking to Hire in NJ’s Suburbs

HOLMDEL, N.J. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez’s latest stop on his statewide Jersey Jobs Tour took him Friday to Bell Works in Holmdel, where he explored the expansive high-tech center for innovation and shared workspace for the new economy, and met with several tenants looking to hire and expand their businesses. Bell Works is creating a “metroburb”—a mixed-use building and mini-metropolis in the New Jersey suburbs with office, retail, entertainment, hospitality, residential, health, wellness and fitness space—located on the historic Bell Labs site that was once home to eight Nobel Prize winners and some of the most innovate minds that contributed to some of the greatest technological advancements over the last century.

“Bell Works is an exciting, new space that is bringing the historic Bell Labs back to life with new innovation and new creativity. The synergy between businesses and high-tech companies of different walks of life provides a sense of community at the same time as new jobs and opportunities are being created. This kind of innovative concept can draw jobs, as we’ve already seen, from neighboring states. Using innovation and ingenuity to grow our economy, it’s something that we not only want to applaud but replicate across the state,” said Sen. Menendez.

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The six-story complex, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, spans about a quarter-mile and offers two-million square-feet of mixed-use space, roughly the size of the Empire State Building. Bell Works is currently 20% occupied and 80% leased, with a mix of larger, more established, multinational firms and smaller startups. Its design encourages tenants to utilize the public spaces of the building to facilitate collaboration and synergy. The broader property will eventually house the Holmdel Public Library, and include housing, nature trails, restaurants, fitness centers, a hotel, daycare center, and onsite healthcare facilities.

"We're thrilled that Senator Menendez was able to experience, firsthand, the transformation that is occurring here in Holmdel,” said Somerset Development President Ralph Zucker, the project’s developer. “Bell Works is illustrative of what's possible when we create inspirational and imaginative places in New Jersey, particularly here in the suburbs. We're proving that we can attract, retain, and create jobs here in the Garden State by reshaping the work environment itself."

Sen. Menendez surveyed some of the ongoing construction at the site and met with several Bell Works tenants, including: Len Carella, VP of corporate infrastructure at iCIMS, one of the largest providers of talent acquisition software in the tech industry and one of Forbes’ Top 100 fastest-growing private cloud companies in the United States; Shawn Cantor, the chief operating officer of WorkWave, a business software company that provides clients with intuitive cloud-based field service and fleet management solutions; executives from Jersey Central Power & Light, which has moved its Central Jersey operations center to Bell Works; and former Tribeca Grill chef Richard Corbo and his wife and renowned wine sommelier Chantelle Corbo, who will both curate and operate Bell Works’ food hall.

Sen. Menendez plans to visit each of the state’s 21 counties in the coming weeks and months to meet with business owners, entrepreneurs, workers, students, and local leaders to discuss how to drive innovation, create greater economic opportunity, and deliver prosperity to the people of New Jersey.

Sen. Menendez’s Jersey Jobs Tour will include legislative initiatives, roundtable discussions, tours of local businesses, visits to new job training centers and other events focused on New Jersey’s diverse economy – from North Jersey’s bustling shipping industry and South Jersey’s cranberry bogs and blueberry fields to innovative sectors like healthcare, information technology, and the Jersey Shore’s thriving tourism, recreation, and fishing industries.

Throughout the senator’s travels across New Jersey, he’ll be keeping a Jersey Jobs Tour Travelblog with behind the scenes footage and photos, social media feeds of events, and full recaps of visits.

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