Hartz Mountain Industries
Encyclopedia
Hartz Mountain Industries (HMI) is a private family-owned and -operated company known for its vast real estate holdings in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Area. Its former parent Hartz Mountain Corporation (of pet products fame), was founded by German-American businessmen Max and Gustav Stern. Leonard N. Stern
is owner, Chairman, and CEO. It is based at 400 Plaza Drive in Secaucus
, New Jersey
, in the Harmon Meadow Plaza
retail shopping complex in the Meadowlands
.
to the United States
in 1926 with five thousand singing canaries
(Harz Roller
), and began manufacturing bird food under the Hartz Mountain brand in 1932. They later sold pets such as canaries, parakeet
s, hamster
s, tropical fish, and associated supplies throughout the U.S. and Canada
, and eventually introduced pet supply departments into more than 30,000 supermarkets in North America
and the United Kingdom
.
Known as Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC), this pet products side of the Hartz empire, which had been owned and operated by the Stern family for 75 years, was sold to investment group J.W. Childs along with select HMC management in 2000, although for goodwill purposes it still retains the HMC name. HMC's new owners opted to retain its longtime Secaucus offices, so that HMC is now a tenant of the owners of the building, Hartz Mountain Industries (HMI). HMC was sold to the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan in 2004.
Hartz Mountain Industries, which started as a real estate hobby for the Sterns, began construction of its first speculative industrial building in Bayonne, New Jersey
in 1966, and made its first major land acquisition with a 750 acres (303.5 ha) tract of land in the New Jersey Meadowlands
. HMI currently owns more than 1800 acres (728.4 ha) of land close to Manhattan
, and its real estate activities account for most of its business, with over 200 buildings boasting over 38 million square feet (3,500,000 m²) of industrial, commercial, office, retail and hospitality space. Its own in house staff manages, operates, and maintains its complete real estate portfolio.
Max’s son, Leonard N. Stern
, who joined the company in 1959, is the current Chairman and CEO. His son Emanuel Stern is President and Chief Operating Officer
, and his son Edward Stern also works for the company.
software at several of its properties. The continuous energy oversight capabilities now possessed by Hartz property management staff have allowed them to dramatically decrease the energy consumed by HVAC.
(EPA) required Hartz to cancel the production of phenothrin
-containing flea and tick products for cats after receiving thousands of reports of pet injury and death. As of March 31, 2006, the sale and distribution of Hartz's phenothrin-containing flea and tick products for cats has been terminated. However, EPA's product cancellation order did not apply to Hartz flea and tick products for dogs, and Hartz continues to use phenothrin in a concentration of 85.7% in many of its flea and tick products for dogs.
Consumers reported adverse effects, including pet death, in both cats and dogs after using Hartz flea and tick products as directed.
’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Village Voice
, in 1986, as well as other such periodicals in cities such as Los Angeles
, Seattle, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Orange County, California
. The combined circulation of these papers was 950,000. In 1999, however, Hartz Mountain sold the publishing venture in order to refocus efforts on real estate, financial, and investment activities.
Other Hartz Mountain holdings included the Carpet Magic Company, which manufactured and maintained carpet cleaning machine rental departments in 20,000 retail locations, and S.M. Cork, a leading general merchandise service distributor of the United Kingdom. Hartz also no longer owns these properties.
Leonard N. Stern
Leonard Norman Stern is an American businessman and real estate developer.He is the Chairman and CEO of the privately owned Hartz Group based in New York City...
is owner, Chairman, and CEO. It is based at 400 Plaza Drive in Secaucus
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, in the Harmon Meadow Plaza
Harmon Meadow Plaza
Harmon Meadow Plaza is a shopping complex in the Meadowlands of Secaucus, New Jersey, approximately six miles from New York City. It is owned by Hartz Mountain Industries, whose corporate offices are located in the Plaza...
retail shopping complex in the Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
.
History
Max and Gustav Stern emigrated from GermanyWeimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1926 with five thousand singing canaries
Domestic Canary
The Domestic Canary, often simply known as the canary, is a domesticated form of the wild Canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from the Macaronesian Islands ....
(Harz Roller
Harz Roller
Harz Roller is the name of a breed of domestic canary bred in the Upper Harz mountains of Germany. The birds were bred in the Upper Harz between Lautenthal and Sankt Andreasberg in the middle of the 19th century and achieved European-wide fame...
), and began manufacturing bird food under the Hartz Mountain brand in 1932. They later sold pets such as canaries, parakeet
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
s, hamster
Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
s, tropical fish, and associated supplies throughout the U.S. and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and eventually introduced pet supply departments into more than 30,000 supermarkets in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Known as Hartz Mountain Corporation (HMC), this pet products side of the Hartz empire, which had been owned and operated by the Stern family for 75 years, was sold to investment group J.W. Childs along with select HMC management in 2000, although for goodwill purposes it still retains the HMC name. HMC's new owners opted to retain its longtime Secaucus offices, so that HMC is now a tenant of the owners of the building, Hartz Mountain Industries (HMI). HMC was sold to the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan in 2004.
Hartz Mountain Industries, which started as a real estate hobby for the Sterns, began construction of its first speculative industrial building in Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
in 1966, and made its first major land acquisition with a 750 acres (303.5 ha) tract of land in the New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
. HMI currently owns more than 1800 acres (728.4 ha) of land close to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and its real estate activities account for most of its business, with over 200 buildings boasting over 38 million square feet (3,500,000 m²) of industrial, commercial, office, retail and hospitality space. Its own in house staff manages, operates, and maintains its complete real estate portfolio.
Max’s son, Leonard N. Stern
Leonard N. Stern
Leonard Norman Stern is an American businessman and real estate developer.He is the Chairman and CEO of the privately owned Hartz Group based in New York City...
, who joined the company in 1959, is the current Chairman and CEO. His son Emanuel Stern is President and Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
, and his son Edward Stern also works for the company.
Energy efficiency
Hartz Mountain Industries has made energy efficiency a high priority for its real estate portfolio and installed monitoring equipment, powered by utiliVisorUtiliVisor
utiliVisor is a privately held energy advisory firm based New York, NY that installs, reads and invoices utility submeters and improves the efficiency of HVAC equipment through monitoring for hospitals, universities and Class A office space.-Plant Analysis:...
software at several of its properties. The continuous energy oversight capabilities now possessed by Hartz property management staff have allowed them to dramatically decrease the energy consumed by HVAC.
Product cancellation order
The Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
(EPA) required Hartz to cancel the production of phenothrin
Phenothrin
Phenothrin, also called sumithrin, is a synthetic pyrethroid that kills adult fleas and ticks. It has also been used to kill head lice in humans...
-containing flea and tick products for cats after receiving thousands of reports of pet injury and death. As of March 31, 2006, the sale and distribution of Hartz's phenothrin-containing flea and tick products for cats has been terminated. However, EPA's product cancellation order did not apply to Hartz flea and tick products for dogs, and Hartz continues to use phenothrin in a concentration of 85.7% in many of its flea and tick products for dogs.
Consumers reported adverse effects, including pet death, in both cats and dogs after using Hartz flea and tick products as directed.
Former Hartz properties
Hartz Mountain’s businesses also included a publishing company, Harmon Publishing. Hartz purchased New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, in 1986, as well as other such periodicals in cities such as Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Seattle, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
. The combined circulation of these papers was 950,000. In 1999, however, Hartz Mountain sold the publishing venture in order to refocus efforts on real estate, financial, and investment activities.
Other Hartz Mountain holdings included the Carpet Magic Company, which manufactured and maintained carpet cleaning machine rental departments in 20,000 retail locations, and S.M. Cork, a leading general merchandise service distributor of the United Kingdom. Hartz also no longer owns these properties.