Merck plans to consolidate its New Jersey locations and make the Rahway campus its global headquarters by the end of 2023.

The announcement came during the company’s first quarter earnings call on Tuesday. The company reported earnings of $12.1 billion for the first quarter, an increase of 11 percent.

The East Scott Avenue campus is less than a mile from the Rahway Train Station and barely a half-mile from the edge of downtown. Merck has some 278 office locations across 51 countries.

The 210-acre site in Rahway once served as the global headquarters almost 30 years ago. Merck moved its headquarters from Rahway to Whitehouse Station in 1992 and then to the former Schering-Plough site in Kenilworth in 2015.

The Kenilworth location was home to Schering-Plough, which Merck acquired for $41.1 billion in 2009. The 100-acre site in Kenilworth serves as a research and development hub and will be put up for sale, according to one report.

Over the years, the Rahway site has shifted from a production complex to one focused on research. A spokesperson told ROI-NJ that Merck plans to “intends to invest in improving and modernizing the facility.”

It’s unclear how many employees work out of the Rahway location as compared to the Kenilworth site. An email message sent to a spokesperson earlier today was not yet returned. UPDATED 4/30: A Merck spokesperson said via email this morning that more details will be released at a later date and provided a statement reiterating the intention to consolidate its New Jersey campuses into the Rahway location.

Merck is listed as the property owner of almost 20 different parcels, seven of which are classified as industrial, 10 as vacant, one as commercial and one residential. so it’s difficult to quickly compile a total property tax figure for the company but. It’s historically been the largest taxpayer in Rahway. A compilation of property records indicates the roughly 101 acres owned by Merck were assessed for $193 million in 2020 generating overall property taxes of about $13.2 million. The municipal portion of that tax bill would be about $5.25 million, accounting for almost 14 percent of the 2020 tax levy of $38 million.

In 2011, the city settled a property tax appeal with its largest taxpayer. The settlement reduced property taxes for Merck by at least $4.5 million over three years, dropping its overall tax assessment by $82 million, or more than 26 percent, to $230 million. As part of the settlement, Merck withdrew its appeal for the 2009 tax year and received a cash refund of overpayment of taxes that year of $1.6 million. City officials estimated that the appeal was responsible for about a $66 increase in the average property tax bill that year.

Based on a 2019 overall tax rate of $6.837 per $100 of assessed value in Rahway, a $230 million assessment would generate property taxes of about $15.725 million — which is split between the city, county and schools.