Honeywell is moving its headquarters to North Carolina from Morris Plains, New Jersey, three years after the company accepted tax credits that could be worth as much as $40 million to stay in the Garden State.
In an announcement released on Friday, the company said it plans to bring about 500 jobs to its new Charlotte, North Carolina headquarters over the next five years, boosting its total number of Charlotte-based employees to about 750.
About 150 to 200 New Jersey-based senior management jobs will be moving to Charlotte between now and September 2019, assuming that the company goes through with the decision. The move is contingent on the recently passed North Carolina Job Development Investment Grant legislation formally becoming law and the state and local incentives awarded to Honeywell.
The company said in the release that it expects those developments to be completed “early next week.”
Honeywell will also be moving the headquarters for its Safety and Productivity Solutions division from South Carolina to Charlotte. About 100 positions will relocate to the new headquarters, it said.
About 1,000 Honeywell employees will remain in New Jersey across six different locations, according to the company’s release. That number includes about 800 employees at the company’s current headquarters in Morris Plains.
Honeywell spokeswoman Victoria Streitfeld said in a statement to CNBC that the company qualifies for state incentives each year based on how many New Jersey-based employees it retains, as part of a GROWNJ agreement.
“We are committed to the terms of GROWNJ and will continue to comply with the agreement,” Streitfeld said. “There was no up-front GROWNJ payment to Honeywell — awards are made based on employment each year.”
The $40 million figure was reached by calculating the $4 million received annually in incentives across the ten-year agreement. Honeywell is in the fourth year of the agreement, according to Streitfeld.
“Our decision does not reflect any issues with the quality of our experience in New Jersey,” CEO Darius Adamczyk said in the initial release. “We value the strong relationship that we have built with the state of New Jersey and with Governor Murphy.”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy released his own statement about the change in headquarters.
“Though we’re never happy when any jobs leave our state, we appreciate their continued commitment and confidence in New Jersey,” Murphy said in a statement to CNBC. “By maintaining such a strong foothold here, Honeywell is reaffirming their commitment to being a part of New Jersey’s future.”
