CREST HAVEN – Despite being part of the Cape May County Airport’s “Tech Village,” a vacant space at the airport might soon be occupied by an insurance agency.
At the Tuesday, Sept. 23, meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, Commissioner Will Morey abstained from a vote to authorize a lease agreement with the Marsh McLennan Agency to rent the newest space in a series of hangar-style buildings originally intended to attract and house technology-related businesses.
Morey said he had a couple of questions about the lease with the Marsh McLennan Agency, saying he just learned that movements were being made to fill the space on Friday, Sept. 19. He would like to have the opportunity, he said, to discuss the lease prior to it being put up for a vote.
Morey said his first question related to the lease of space in Tech Village to a company not engaged in the technology sector.
“We’ve talked before about the principal purpose of Tech Village,” Morey said.
The first two hangars were leased by Celluar Tracking Technology and D-Tech. Cellular Tracking Technology employs a well-educated workforce that manufactures technology – such as small butterfly trackers the size of a grain of rice – on-site at the airport. D-Tech creates tech-equipped items designed for use in public spaces, such as digital lockers and self-checkout kiosks. Morey said that he understood that the area was being developed as a niche for technology-related businesses like these.
“We’ve all talked about year-round jobs, and trying to promote year-round jobs beyond the tourism industry, and one of the areas that we identified was technology,” Morey said. “And we have a new building now, and we have a firm going in that is really not technology-based, right?”
Morey asked if it was still the intention of the board to attempt to attract tech companies to the airport or accept something else that happened to come along.
“Do we no longer have that purpose?” Morey asked.
County Counsel Jeff Lindsay said the consideration of Marsh McLennan had come up months ago, and the board’s direction to him was that technology was the preference, but not to the exclusion of other businesses. Lindsay said the board gave its unanimous consent to move forward with a lease agreement for Marsh McLennan.
Lindsay said his directive, until he is told otherwise, is that technology companies are preferred, but not to the exclusion of other types of businesses.
“Especially when you have an international firm that is prepared to leave the county and is now going to remain in the county,” Lindsay said.
Morey responded to that last point, saying the market value rent for the facility was $22 per square foot, whereas the county was charging Marsh McLennan $14 per square foot.
Lindsay said the previous lease agreements were adjusted to eliminate the square footage of mezzanine space. He said the same adjustment was being made for Marsh McLennan.
“I believe I put in an e-mail to the board, $14, which is more than double the other tenants from Tech Village One,” Lindsay said. “So that’s a very good price per square foot.”
“What is the market rate per foot?” Morey asked. “I thought it was more in the $18, $19, $20 range, would you say?”
“No, it’s less than that,” Lindsay said.
Morey said the county offered significantly reduced rent to the startup technology-based companies, saying it was an incentive to get Tech Village going.
“Cellular Tracking Technology came out of something a little larger than a phone booth with, I don’t know, seven staff members or whatever. That’s probably up to about 40 now,” Morey said. “And that’s why we had that level of rent.”
Morey said Marsh McLennan should be paying market rent.
He also noted that Marsh McLennan was already in Cape May, and asked if the business would be adding more jobs. His questions tried to get a sense of what the move would do for local employment.
Lindsay said he did not have specific information on employees working with the Marsh McLennan brokerage firm but noted they are a global agency, which includes four operating companies, three of which operate outside the county. He said the firm was considering moving out of the county until the space at the airport became available.
Morey said he was not suggesting that the county should not seek other businesses, but the Tech Village buildings were designed for use by technology companies. He suggested the county redouble its efforts to find tech businesses to rent the Tech Village units and develop other parts of the airport property for non-tech-related businesses.
Morey also cautioned against undercutting the commercial community with below-market rental rates.
Lindsay said Joe Molineaux, the county’s Economic Development and Business Resource Consultant, was continuing to attract tech companies, particularly in the area of drone technology.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600 x-128.
