Rutgers makes $48K deal to allow pipeline under corner of campus

Bristol-Myers Squibb sealed the unusual deal with the state university days before announcing an expansion of it New Brunswick facility.

NEW BRUNSWICK -- Rutgers University's governing board has agreed to an unusual deal that will allow a neighboring pharmaceutical company to build a gas pipeline beneath a little-used corner of Cook Campus, school officials said.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will pay the state university $48,000 for a pair of easements to construct an underground gas pipeline and metering station on campus property that will serve the pharmaceutical company's facility on Route 1 in New Brunswick, campus officials said.

The Rutgers Board of Governors voted to sign off on the deal last week in a resolution that noted Rutgers has enjoyed "good neighborly relations" with Bristol-Myers Squibb for years. A long stretch of the Cook Campus borders the pharmaceutical company's sprawling property.

Under the deal, Rutgers will grant Bristol-Myers Squibb a permanent easement to use a .2-acre corner of campus to construct the pipeline and build a metering station surrounded by a fence. The company will also get a temporary easement to use an additional quarter acre of campus property for construction purposes.

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The property is located near the corner of Route 1 North and College Farm Road near a section of the Cook Campus that is used for agricultural research farms and the radio tower and shed used by WRSU, the campus radio station.

Bristol-Myers Squibb hired an appraiser to set the $48,000 price for the easements, which Rutgers accepted, according to the resolution approving the deal.

A spokeswoman for the pharmaceutical company declined to comment on the Rutgers agreement.

The Rutgers deal was finalized days before Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a series of changes to reconfigure its research and manufacturing facilities across the country. The moves include expanding the New Brunswick facility, though no details were announced.

The company will also build a 200,000-square-foot addition to its Lawrence campus on Route 206, according to the Dec. 13 announcement. Other New Jersey locations will be shutting down, including Bristol-Myers Squibb's 433-acre campus in Hopewell Township, along with a smaller office in the township and another location in Bloomsbury.

"These important changes to our U.S. geographic footprint will ensure we have the structural, operational and financial flexibility to deliver as effectively as possible on our mission for patients," Giovanni Caforio, Bristol-Myers Squibb's chief executive officer said in the announcement.