French pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced in May the opening of a $130 million flagship U.S. headquarters in Morristown. Located at M Station, a 375,000-sq.-ft. redevelopment project in the downtown area that houses office space and an innovation hub, the site welcomes 2,000 employees.
The region’s thriving life sciences ecosystem and top-tier talent market were key incentives to locating the office in Morristown. Sanofi hopes to attract a highly skilled, multi-generational workforce to this office, a company spokesperson says. Green transit options were also noted as an advantage for current and future employees. The spokesperson says flexible workspaces encouraging teamwork and adaptability, state-of-the-art meeting and collaboration areas, modern amenities and access to community resources are steps being taken to retain and upskill the workforce.
Paul Hudson, Sanofi CEO, stated in a company press release, “Sanofi is an intrinsic part of the health care ecosystem of the United States, where we pioneer advancements in our labs, produce medicines and vaccines that improve people’s lives and grow our talented workforce. Our people are our biggest asset and providing them with a cutting-edge workplace experience is key to help them thrive and do their best work. These flagship offices are designed to inspire creativity, collaboration and innovation — all in service of patients.”
The Sanofi HQ
Images courtesy of Sanofi/Connie Zhou © 2025 Gensler
As part of its commitment to the Morristown community, Sanofi made a financial donation to the Zufall Health Center, a non-profit community health center that provides affordable, high-quality health care. Sanofi will also take part in the charitable New Jersey-based program known as the Meal Recovery Coalition (MRC), which was co-founded by the French biopharma company with several other companies and agencies and aims to recover surplus meals from large cafeterias and deliver them to food-insecure residents in the state.
Sanofi’s new U.S. headquarters in Morristown offers flexible workspaces encouraging teamwork and adaptability, state-of-the-art meeting and collaboration areas, modern amenities and access to community resources.
Share My Meals, a nonprofit based in Princeton and the driver behind the MRC, includes founding members Bristol Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Campbell Soup Company, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Capital Health along with Sanofi, according to an MRC press release.
Historic Newark Hospital Revitalized as Workforce Housing in New Jersey
Workforce housing projects are on the rise in the Garden State. In Newark, historic St. Michael’s Hospital, which has had portions of its campus remain vacant since 2016, will see its 100,000-sq.-ft. space be converted into new workforce housing apartments by Ellavoz Impact Capital, to be named the Newark Commons.
Robert Hutchins, Ellavoz Impact Capital founder and CEO, stated, “The repurposed use of Newark Commons to support the higher education, young mobile professionals and health care workforce needs for affordable private housing will be another catalyst in Newark’s remarkable growth.”
The original St. Michael’s Hospital, a three-story, red-brick structure, was started in 1869 and completed in 1871 on what is now MLK Boulevard. An addition to the building was made in 1888. The housing retrofit project has been in development for seven years, originally headed by Jersey firm The Hanini Group before changing hands to Ellavoz Impact Capital in early 2025. Ellavoz received financing from Cinnaire and Industrial Bank in the acquisition of the building.
The project’s location is noted for its access to public transportation, universities, health care facilities and downtown Newark. The project will involve two interconnected buildings that served as part of the original hospital layout and have been vacant for nearly 20 years. Affordability for workers and students living in the area was one aspect considered for the project, which will have 43 new housing units with a total of 144 bedrooms. The ground floor of the building is planned to be commercial space with over 4,000 sq. ft. of retail space. The project will use Historic Tax Credits and Opportunity Zone funding, a federal tax incentive up for renewal in Congress intended to kindle investment in economically distressed communities.
In May, the Planning Board in Plainfield unanimously approved a 36-unit apartment building project that will be completely made up of workforce housing. The three-story building will contain six studios, 14 one-bedroom units, 10 two-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units. Taylor Architecture and Design is leading the project, which is part of the 197 Scattered Properties Redevelopment Plan — a city-wide redevelopment initiative first formulated in the late 1990s that focuses on Plainfield properties deemed in need of redevelopment.
Also in May, ground was broken on a 210-unit bayfront housing development in Jersey City. Jersey City acquired the 100-acre site in 2018 from Honeywell, with the goal of creating a mixed-income housing facility. The six-story building, called Bayfront Promenade, will include 74 affordable units for low-income families and 93 workforce units for moderate-income families as well as commercial space and 10,000 sq. ft. of community space.
Bayfront Promenade was approved by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Board in January 2025 to receive Aspire tax credits. Aspire is a gap financing tool to support commercial, mixed use and residential real estate development projects.
