BREAKING -- Whitehouse Station (Former HQ) Is Now Under Contract: NJ.com

This is good news -- we all should hope it proceeds to a closing. Let us also hope that the buyer(s) will not remove it from the local taxable census of properties. In 2014, taxes on Merck's portion were about $5.8 million -- the single largest taxable property in that New Jersey township.

Here is a NJ.com piece on it:

. . . .The company placed the hexagonal-shaped main building and less than half of its 1,000-acre corporate campus on the market in October 2013, listing it with real estate company Cushman & Wakefield. Merck retained a smaller office building and about 550 acres at routes 22 and 523 near Route 78.

Since then, Merck also listed its Summit facility, consolidating operations at its Kenilworth site. . . .

In late 2012 Merck announced that it would move its global headquarters from Readington.

The main building is a five-story granite and glass structure with a five-acre courtyard. It includes a 900-seat dining area overlooking the courtyard, a 250-seat auditorium, a full fitness center and 35,000-square-foot data center.

The corporate campus includes a 17,000-square-foot childcare center, a solar "farm," basketball and tennis courts, a ball field and a helipad. . . .

As my recent (2015) bylines repeatedly suggest, Merck now uses the legacy Schering-Plough HQ in Kenilworth as its home. The Kenilworth property was, about five years ago, now -- also on the market. But that selloff plan was abandoned. Overall. . . most encouraging! Onward.