Manufacturing switch seen as positive for borough Guest Supply seeks OK for change of use at Sayreville facility BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYREVILLE - A company that manufactures hotel supplies is planning to expand the manufacturing component of its facility on Main Street Extension. Representatives of Guest Supply Inc. presented their proposal to redevelop much of its current warehouse space for manufacturing purposes, during a workshop meeting of the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) March 8. Guest Supply, also known as Guest Packaging, has for 20 years used an 11-acre property on the Main Street Extension as one of its 16 locations it maintains nationwide, according to SERA engineer David Samuel. The company also has a manufacturing facility in Rahway. The company, which was acquired by Sysco Corp. in 2001, is preparing to seek Planning Board approval for a change of use at its distribution center in the borough. Charles Leibling, attorney for Guest Supply, said the company currently has about 230,000 square feet of warehouse space at the Sayreville site, with 4,000 square feet devoted to manufacturing. It wants to use 95,000 square feet of the warehouse space for manufacturing purposes. The change would increase employment in the borough, Leibling said, and would reduce truck traffic due to the decrease in warehouse space. Mario Barone, the architect for the project, told SERA that his firm has been studying how an expansion of the manufacturing use would work on the site. The plan would increase the ratio of parking to warehouse space on the site, he said, adding that the site can support over 100 parking spaces. Samuel explained at the meeting that Guest Supply had to present this plan to SERA before applying for a change of use from the Planning Board. Samuel described the proposed change as a positive one for the borough, since it will increase manufacturing jobs and decrease trucking in the Main Street Extension area. "My recommendation is to defer this jurisdiction to the Planning Board," Samuel said. He noted that the company is not seeking to expand the size of its building, nor is it increasing the amount of paved area on the site. "They are restriping the parking area to get the number [of spaces] they need," Samuel said. Robert Stegman, vice president of Guest Supply, described the proposed operation on the site as "light manufacturing." The company will be pressing and packaging soap bars for distribution to hotels. The factory space in Sayreville is better suited for this use than the company's current location in Rahway, Stegman added. Barone said that trucks entering the site will make "double trips" by unloading and loading goods in the same trip, thereby reducing the amount of truck traffic in the area. He added that trucks and tractors will be kept in the back, not in the front of the property. SERA Executive Director Randy Corman told the Suburban that he agreed with Samuel and representatives of Guest Supply that the change in use would be beneficial to the borough. "It means more jobs and less truck traffic," Corman said. "[They] are going to be engaged in a clean industry, so from that standpoint there are only benefits to Sayreville."