Momentive Plans $81 Million Technology Center And Headquarters

Momentive Performance Materials, the former General Electric silicones business, plans to spend $81 million on a new technology center and headquarters in Rensselaer County, N.Y.

In August, the firm, now owned by the private equity group Apollo Management, will first move corporate staff mainly from Wilton, Conn., but also from other locations, to temporary offices in Albany, N.Y. Momentive then expects to pick a final site this fall for its corporate offices and a technology center.

Construction on the $65 million center, which will house 130 people, should begin in 2009 and will take 18 months to complete. Work will then begin on the $16 million headquarters building, which will house about 120 people including Momentive CEO Jonathan Rich.

New York State and Rensselaer County will help defray the cost for the new facilities with $6.5 million in capital grants to Momentive. Part of the state money will also go to infrastructure upgrades at Momentive's nearby Waterford silicone manufacturing and R&D operations.

Rich says Momentive is building the new technology center to meet customer needs and to help customers develop successful applications of silicone materials. The 124,000-sq-ft technology center, he says, will be a world-class facility in which employees will "design and develop innovative products." About 50 R&D personnel from the 60-year-old Waterford site will relocate to the new technology center when it is completed.

The state of New York recently designated Momentive's Waterford site an economic development zone. The designation, the company says, will yield tax savings of $40 million over 10 years for Momentive in return for its commitment to spend $150 million on capital projects such as environmental, maintenance, and productivity ventures in the next five years at the site.

With revenues of $2.5 billion and 5,000 employees, Momentive is the second-largest maker of silicones after Dow Corning. Apollo Management bought the former GE Advanced Materials business for $3.8 billion in 2006.