Officials Prepare for CommVault's Move From Oceanport

The Tinton Falls Council is taking the steps needed to bring CommVault from Oceanport to the Tinton Falls section of Fort Monmouth.

CommVault is a data protection firm located at 2 Crescent Pl. in Oceanport that will be moving to parcel E in Tinton Falls. The parcel was once the site of Army housing, but a resolution passed by the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) in April will allow the company to build a new facility to house its 500 employees.

The Tinton Falls Council introduced an ordinance during its Tuesday night meeting that will finalize a financial agreement between CommVault and the borough that will incorporate a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program for the business.

A PILOT is money a property owner pays to a municipality instead of real estate taxes on the improvement portion of their property. The amounts due are a municipal lien and are collected in the same way as taxes, and the property owner still pays conventional taxes on the land portion of their property.

PILOTs are allowed for businesses that are located in an area in need of redevelopment such as Fort Monmouth. The Tinton Falls Council passed an ordinance on May 15 designating the area as an area in need of redevelopment.

The ordinance is expected to be approved at the next Tinton Falls Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 18.

"Beyond this, there are agreements with Monmouth County and FMERA that still need to finalized," Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera said.

CommVault is expected to build about 650,000 square feet of new, high-tech office/research technology space in one or more buildings, according to the ordinance introduced by council. The project will be built in multiple phases with phase 1 consisting of about 277,194 square feet of office/research, laboratory and training facility space with parking and other infrastructure improvements.

According to Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno at a press conference this summer, the company has plans to add 700 jobs initially and 2,000 to 2,500 new high tech jobs within five years of the completion of phase 1.

The ordinance states that the property will generate new revenue of $302,500 for Tinton Falls after the first construction phase is completed.

Skudera said he expects construction to begin some time in 2013.

"It is expected that CommVault would begin preparing the land for construction sometime next year," Skudera said. "However, I don’t want to speculate on a date just yet as there are a few more steps in the process remaining."