Bayer HealthCare Vacating Montville Facility

A developer is looking to buy Bayer HealthCare’s Montville and Wayne campuses, NorthJersey.com reported Wednesday.

Bayer HealthCare, the U.S. subsidiary of BayerAG, is re-locating its three North Jersey offices to Bayer's new East Coast headquarters in Whippany along with 2,500 jobs. The Montville campus, located at 340 Changebridge Road in the Pine Brook section of the township, includes two office buildings.

Bayer's decision to consolidate in Whippany was announced in early 2011 and Montville officials immediately began discussing what kind of economic loss the major pharmaceutical company leaving town would mean. In addition to losing one of the largest employers in Montville, the community has been proud of maintaining a positive relationship with Bayer, including the company contributing grant money to the township.

Vision Equities LLC of Mountain Lakes can purchase both the Montville and Wayne sites. Vision Equities became the developer of the Whippany site several years ago.

The Wayne location has nearly 300,000 square feet of space. The property was assessed at $16.1 million last year, tax records show, and is zoned for office and mixed-use.

"There's a broad spectrum of uses that we think would be more than capable within the current zoning," Samuel Morreale, managing partner of Vision Equities told NorthJersey. "That's a unique opportunity for the market, or it could be a potential redevelopment opportunity for us, as well."

Bayer employees are expected to start relocating to the Whippany campus in the middle of the year.

Morreale said Vision Equities isn’t planning to knock down the building.