The Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP) grant offers powerful appeal for businesses in New Jersey.

Among the factors impacting any decision to start a new business, expand or relocate an existing one, is the opportunity for grant monies to help offset operating expenses. Consider the Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP). This little-publicized program is one of a number of State programs available from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) that tenants will be eligible for at the planned 1.5 million-square-foot Cedarbridge Corporate Campus in Lakewood, New Jersey.

BEIP offers ongoing grant monies for 10 years to start-up, expanding or relocating businesses. It is an incentive program to encourage and create new jobs in New Jersey, and even small companies can benefit.

For example, through BEIP, if a company generates at least 25 jobs in an urban area or 75 in a suburban environment, even through a relocation, the business qualifies for the base year. In these cases, the NJEDA will reimburse from 10 percent to 80 percent of the total amount of state income taxes withheld by the company during each year that the new or relocated employees are working for the firm.

Qualifying businesses must maintain operations in New Jersey for at least one and one-half times the number of years of the grant. For instance, a company seeking the maximum grant period of 10 years would need a 15-year lease. Monies are disbursed when the State Treasurer certifies that the amount of the withholdings at least equals the grant amount.

The BEIP program applies to all manufacturing, service, research and development, warehousing and distribution and similar companies. Retail facilities are not eligible, and all BEIP grants are subject to NJEDA board of directors approval.

Not only does the 240-acre Cedarbridge CorporateCampus in Lakewood offer BEIP, it is also located within the Township's Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) and Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ). This provides additional benefits.

UEZ advantages include tax exemptions on personal tangible property, employment insurance subsidies, a onetime New Jersey Income Tax credit and much more. FTZ offers a wide range of favorable conditions such as reduced or waived customs duties, import and export regulation variances, lowered security expenses, reduced insurance rates and other benefits.

The developer, Cedarbridge Development Corporation, is a New Jersey Urban Renewal Corporation, owned by Beth Medrash Govoha of America, Inc., based in.

Lakewood. Beth Medrash, world-famous as the premier center for Talmudic studies in the United States, is acclaimed for its positive impact on economic development of the Lakewood area.

Cedarbridge was created in October 1999 to develop the corporate campus as a first-class business environment, providing the Lakewood area with more higher-paying job opportunities, new tax ratables and enhancement of the community's image as a place to establish major businesses. Part of the plan is to enable the park's tenants to use the various State incentive programs.

Projections are that once the Cedarbridge Corporate Campus is completed it will bring up to 12,000 higher-paying jobs for Lakewood-area residents. It is also estimated that after a 15-year build-out period, the assessed property value will be $200 to $300 million, generating $7 to $8 million in new annual tax revenues for the community. This is exactly the kind of municipal benefit the State is encouraging through its redevelopment laws and grant programs.

In addition, corporate campus tenants will benefit from a Township that extends itself to corporate users, as well as the spectrum of other State benefits including such innovations as Workforce Development through customized training programs.

Phase I of the development was completed at the end of 2000. This included the necessary preliminary investigation, analysis and preparation of all activities, ranging from environmental assessments to conceptual planning, engineering and architectural designs.

Phase II is taking the campus through the approval process leading to construction of the initial infrastructure. The timetable for Cedarbridge Corporate Campus is on track, and it is anticipated that all approvals will be in hand by year's end with construction beginning in 2002.

Located at Cedar Bridge and New Hampshire Avenues, the new corporate campus is part of a major Lakewood Township renaissance. One of its neighbors is the $22 million dollar minor league baseball stadium built for the Lakewood BlueClaws, affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies, which starts its inaugural season in April, 2001.

With the opportunities of State programs like BEIP, operating advantages of a UEZ and FTZ location, Cedarbridge Corporate Campus at Lakewood continues to attract interest from businesses that recognize the importance of a prudent fiscal move, combined with a modem, first-class corporate workplace.

This major business park, with its planned Class-A corporate space, is attracting interest from businesses such as in research and development, computer service centers, pharmaceutical laboratories, telecommunications and other high-tech operations. These businesses are interested in taking advantage of the park's many attributes, its convenient location, as well as State incentives. It all adds up to a positive economic environment for townships like Lakewood, where redevelopment continues to stimulate urban areas around New Jersey.