Gary Alper, president GFA Development: keeping pace with technical advances in building.

As a commercial/industrial developer for over 20 years, Gary Alper has seen the gradual evolution of technical details incorporated into site development and building. Alper's engineering training has allowed him to stay at the forefront of building technologies that have been driven by stiffer government regulations, demands of insurers and clients' ever-increasing need to save money during construction.

Honing his skills building for the likes of Heinz, General Electric, DuPont and Conair, Alper has built over 20 million square feet valued at over $500 million.

Alper made his mark as a developer as Senior Vice President for one of the largest and most prestigious developers in New Jersey, but started his career as an engineer. After college, Alper entered a management training program at Otis Elevator, but found he was best suited at building entire sites. He became a Project Coordinator for PJ Carlin Construction, where he help build Shea Stadium, Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, and the South Mall in Albany, plus several hospitals and courthouses in New York.

Taking another step up, Alper became a Construction Manager for a Newark, NJ-based builder, where he built several warehouses for Montgomery Ward around the country.

While constructing projects in Texas, Alper learned the concrete tilt-up method and then modified it for use in New Jersey. It was a major breakthrough in cost-savings and is indicative of Alper's drive toward technological advances in his buildings. Today, these advances can be found in Early Suppression Fast Response sprinkler systems, engineering concepts for the safe storage of potentially hazardous materials, and warehouses specifically designed and constructed to store chemicals and rubber tires.

Now building his own company, GFA Development, Alper is concentrating his efforts on turn-key industrial and commercial properties in New Jersey. Right now, for example, he is building a 100,000 square-foot distribution center on Lower Road in Linden, NJ for Linden Warehouse and Distribution Co, and Cooper Electric and Supply Co.

Looking ahead at industrial and commercial development in New Jersey, Alper believes the State's and region's healthy economies will push growth. "Large retailers are still moving into the region," Alper says, "which means they need regional distribution centers. And the heavy concentration of pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey portends well for commercial/industrial building because they are constantly in an expansion mode.'

"In addition, I expect to see companies in older, more expensive and less efficient warehouses move up into new facilities. These facilities, particularly those not in the heavy industrial core, offer better access and are less expensive, larger and are more flexible, allowing a company to add office space of sub-divide. New facilities also have another significant advantage: they meet environment and insurance requirements. So many materials need special handling these days to comply with environmental regulations and specifications for insurance companies. Today's new facilities allow a company to meet immediate compliance, saving the high cost of re-engineering an entire facility that may not be desirable in the first place."

"The old perception by Corporate America that a warehouse was a major cost factor has evolved to the point where the modern distribution center is now considered a money maker," Alper says. "Products are no longer 'warehoused.' Today's computerized distribution center expedites products to the store shelf."

Alper also feels new technology-based business will begin to flourish in New Jersey. "As AT&T and other large companies downsize in New Jersey, new entrepreneurs are picking up the slack and are growing new technologies, requiring space in modern flex buildings. The large base of labor - technical, professional and skilled/blue collar - means emerging businesses will stay in New Jersey. The State has been a big advocate for this type of economic expansion, and it certainly looks like a trend that will begin to hit its stride in 1997."

Alper notes that Hewlett-Packard's entrance into New Jersey, for instance, will result in the growth of businesses that will augment it's research facility.