Bell Labs placed on top 10 'most endangered' list BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer FILE PHOTO The mirrored building on Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, once home to Bell Labs, is now listed on the state's top 10 most endangered historic sites list. HOLMDEL - The familiar mirrored building once home to Bell Labs is now listed among the state's top 10 most endangered historic sites. Preservation New Jersey, a nonprofit historic preservation advocacy group, made the announcement on May 16 at a press conference in Trenton. Also on the list locally was Red Bank's T. Thomas Fortune House, an 1883 structure once owned by an early African American journalist of the same name. Although Holmdel's famed landmark was built much later, between the years 1959 and 1962, the six-story research lab is considered valuable because it was designed by world-renowned architect Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-born American known largely for his iconic design of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The facility, situated on 472 acres of pastoral landscape, is Saarinen's only New Jersey work. The site of many important scientific breakthroughs, the lab was used in gathering critical evidence in support of the big bang theory of creation of the universe, a finding that earned two Bell Labs radio astronomers the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics. Recently, Lucent Technologies occupied the structure. In March of 2006, the property was acquired by Preferred Real Estate Investments, a Pennsylvania-based firm interested in replacing the facility with between 250 and 300 housing units along with smaller-scale office space. Last week, Preferred Real Estate spokesman Jon Bjornson declined to comment on what effect, if any, the site's endangered listing would have on the company's plans for the property. Bjornson said he is in the process of arranging another meeting with township officials which the public will be invited to attend. The meeting will take place as soon as a venue and date can be agreed upon, Bjornson said, adding that Preferred's principals plan to attend but not answer questions. Preservation New Jersey credited Mayor Serena DiMaso for trying to "do the right thing" by saving the building from demolition. In a May 20 e-mail to the Independent, DiMaso wrote that "the Lucent building is a treasure and holds an important place in Holmdel's history." "I am grateful to Preservation New Jersey for realizing that I am trying to 'do the right thing' when it comes to the property. Any decision made will be with much thought and consideration for the future of all of Holmdel's residents." DiMaso is running against Committeeman Terence Wall and his running mate Jerry Allocco in the June 5 Republican primary. The future of the Lucent tract is a top campaign issue for the former allies. While Wall openly favors a no-housing policy for the property, DiMaso has not made any campaign promises regarding the site.