Flexible Uses Make Center Ideal for Many Growing Businesses

When Kyle Newell decided to open a business teaching strength conditioning and weightlifting, he wasn't sure how much time he'd have or how well the business might grow.

Working days as a teacher and at nights building a clientele, he soon found the 1,135-square-foot space he'd rented at the Hillsborough Business Center to be too small—and starting thinking about a larger space.

"When I started talking to my father-in-law about a new space, he said, 'Go big or go home,'" Newell said.

So he did, moving into a space more than twice the size—but still at the Hillsborough Business Center.

"They helped me find a space that was just what I wanted," he said. He added his shop's interior, with one brick wall and open spaces, gave it a nice industrial shop appearance that was just what he wanted. "When I used to dream about having a place, this was exactly what I had in mind." 

In a way, Newell's business is a perfect example of the HBC's unplanned development as an incubator for small businesses—regardless of what type of business it is. The development was developed by Larken Associates, who thought they'd have a different kind of clientele when the mini-warehouses were planned in the early 1990s, says Robert Marek, Larken executive vice president.

"We built it for guys with truck routes," he said. 

At the time, the township had a "home office zone" to accommodate many people who were opening home-based businesses, but over the years as the businesses grew, many found a need for more space.

Of course, many did find a home at the HBC but when Hillsborough rezoned the development to the LI zone, which permits retail, educational and other such "light industrial" uses, even more new businesses found a place to get started and grow, as Newell did.

Marek said while there's 525,000 square feet of space in the center, individual spaces range from a 12-by-12 foot office to leasable areas of 40,000 square feet or more. 

"We have 144-, 288-, 576 square-foot spaces—that's the little incubator property," Marek said.

That combination of flexible use and sizes is why the center has become home to dance and art studios, a microbrewer, fencing and circus schools, the popular Jump!Zone, as well as industrial supply and professional offices.

Although the company manages nearly 2 million square feet of commercial property, Marek said there's isn't any place he knows like the HBC, which stems from not only the development itself or the flexible zoning in place in Hillsborough.

"Ours is unique in that it's in a safe, clean town," he said, noting many similar projects are not located in places where parents might feel comfortable dropping the kids off.  

The combination has proven to be good business: Marek said the HBC has an occupancy rate in the "low 90s"—"In this market, that's a very good number," he said. 

The center is built out, and while it's nearly fully leased, there's always someone in need of space for a new business idea to try, or a tenant requiring more room.

"In a park that big, there's always something available," Marek said.