Representatives from the Glassboro Borough Council, Rowan University, Atlantic City Electric, and the New Jersey state legislature were on hand to celebrate the ribbon cutting for the company’s new Glassboro office at 211 High St. West on Friday, Feb. 21.
The opening was touted as a mutually beneficial arrangement for all involved parties. For Glassboro, the opportunity to attract one of the leading energy companies in New Jersey was too great an opportunity to pass up.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to partner with companies. Atlantic City Electric is a company that has been a strong foothold here in the county,” New Jersey Assemblyman Adam Taliaferro said. “I think it helps everybody. We bring businesses here and people go out to eat, they help the restaurants, maybe stay at the hotel. So I think it’s a win-win.”
The location is of particular importance for the town as they continue to revitalize downtown Glassboro.
“This end [of town] is a key point in bringing together the university and the municipality,” Borough Council member Daniele Spence said. “This type of business right here is amazingly important to the success of Rowan Boulevard, the restaurants, the retail, and the community.”
For Atlantic City Electric, Glassboro is the perfect location to fulfill the company’s needs. It is an attractive spot given its proximity to both Philadelphia and Atlantic County. Atlantic City Electric’s relationship with Rowan University was also a key component in the decision to establish the Glassboro office. The company currently boasts 42 Rowan graduates in their ranks and will host an intern from the university this summer.
“That’s part of why we’re over here. The flow of people coming out of the university and hopefully into opportunities with us for employment,” Atlantic City Electric Region President Gary Stockbridge said. Atlantic City Electric is also in preliminary discussions with Rowan University regarding their partnership on Sieman’s Smart City roadmap. “We’ve met with [Rowan] to be part of that because the energy world may not be the entire roadmap for smart cities in the future, but it’s a big piece of it. I think it’s just a great collaboration between the town, the university, and our company to create this vision of what the future may look like around energy and then deploy it right here in Glassboro and make the best of it, where we can show other parts of southern New Jersey, ‘Hey, this is kind of what it could look like for you.’”
The university will host a regional energy symposium with Atlantic City Electric this summer. For Rowan University, the benefit of this strategic partnership is enormous.
“This is what the dream for Rowan Boulevard was and is,” Rowan’s Vice President for University Relations Joe Cardona said. “The retail was the first phase with the students living up top. This is the second phase of companies moving in, that are going to be here for a while. Atlantic City Electric is a large firm that has engineers. Interns will be here. Those interns will have opportunities to end up getting employed, whether it’s here or throughout the company.”
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