Merck & Co. has announced plans to relocate the company’s global headquarters within the state of New Jersey (NJ), with the transition expected to begin in 2014 and be completed by mid-2015, according to an Oct. 9, 2012, press release. The company will close its current headquarters building in Whitehouse Station, NJ, where it has been since 1992, and move the headquarters less than 30 miles to the northeast to its existing property in Summit, NJ. The Summit facility currently houses 1800 people in research, manufacturing, animal health, and consumer care operations. About 2000 employees and contractors currently working in Whitehouse Station will move to the Summit location or to other nearby facilities such as those in Branchburg, NJ and Cokesbury, NJ.

The headquarters relocation is part of the company's ongoing program to consolidate its global real estate footprint and lower its annual operating expenses. The Summit location was selected because it is a multiuse site with excess workspace capacity and is near major transportation hubs and urban centers, said the company in the press release.