Southern New Jersey: Region's diversity supports growing economy

New Jersey Business, Feb 01, 2005 by Birritteri, Anthony

When discussing economic conditions in Southern New Jersey, business leaders like sing words such as "robust," "vibrant" and "diverse." The descriptions do not just define one or two specific areas in this eight-county region, but the entire 3,700 square-mile landmass.

Whether it's the booming casino industry in Atlantic City, The City of Camden's renaissance along the Delaware River, or pockets of development throughout Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean or Salem counties, businesses and their employees are finding that the region offers available land, a sound transportation infrastructure, educational resources and a quality of life that has been slowly disappearing from other parts of the state.

Marlene Asselta, president of the Southern New Jersey Development Council (SNJDC), Turnersville, says the Northern half of the state continues on CAPE its "status-quo" trend of being a "built up" WAY region. Southern New Jersey, on the other hand, has a diverse business landscape with available open space.

"Businesses are moving into the region, but smart planning is necessary," Asselta stresses. "It's important to plan for growth in terms of labor, transportation networks and complimentary open space."

This month, the SNJDC will hold its 23rd annual "Sound Off for South Jersey" at The Ram's Head Inn, Galloway Township. The event is among the largest legislative conferences in the state and is normally attended by more than 300. State government leaders, as well as federal and local officials, will take part in panel presentations to discuss area needs and opportunities.

Acting Governor Richard Codey is expected to be the keynote speaker at the event.

Though he has been in the Office of Governor for less than four months, he has already shown his support for Southern New Jersey.

In late November, Codey increased the timeline for the I-295/I76/Route 42 interchange project in Gloucester City and Bellmawr Borough in Camden County, so that a planned renovation would be completed by 2012, rather than commencing that year. The we interchange is one of the top three congested areas in the state, with four to seven times more accidents than other highway interchanges.

Asked about the Acting Governor's commitment to the project and the region's other transportation needs, Asselta says, "Seeing Codey in Southern New Jersey and talking about the need for a better transportation infrastructure is certainly good news. I know he isn't going to stop there, but with a huge ($4-billion) budget challenge, we are not sure how all of this will play out."

In another show of support from state government, Virginia Bauer, secretary of the New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth & Tourism Commission, met with SNJDC's economic development committee consisting of representatives from the region's eight counties - to hear about ongoing development projects in the area.

According to Asselta, "Secretary Bauer stressed the importance of the eightcounty unified effort for economic development. She offered the Commerce Department's cooperation and support and stated she was impressed with the region's growth, vision and collaboration."

Perhaps the state's greatest show of support for the region was its $175-million commitment to redeveloping the City of Camden through the creation of the Camden Rehabilitation & Economic Recovery Act and the Camden Economic Recovery Board (CERB), a subsidiary of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA). This seed money was granted in 2002, and since then has attracted more than $1 billion in private investment throughout the city of 80,000 residents.

Though Camden has been making attempts to revitalize itself for the past 20 years, the $175 million "signaled that Camden's revitalization was going to be real this time," says Randy Primas, Jr., a former Camden mayor, who now heads the CERB and chairs the Camden Redevelopment Agency (CRA) - the local agency which coordinates all of the city's planning and redevelopment activity

Among the largest economic development projects in the city is Cherokee investment Partners, Camden, LLC's $1.2.-billion plan to transform Camden's Cramer Hill section into a mixed-use waterfront community, including 5,000 new homes (affordable housing included), more than 500,000 square feet of retail space, a new marina, parks and trails and the transformation of the 89-acre Harrison Avenue landfill into an 18-hole golf course.

The project, on a total of 450 acres, is expected to create 1,570 permanent jobs, 5,500 construction and environmental remediation jobs and, when fully built, generate more than $20 million a year in property taxes.

Cramer Hill is on the northwestern quadrant of the city, lying back on a channel of the Delaware River, overlooking Philadelphia. "It is currently the site of a 100-acre municipal landfill that closed in the 1960s, with some industrial operations, recycling centers and a small amount of commercial and residential properties," says Primas.

Another residential project on the waterfront was the $60-million transformation of the old RCA Victor "Nipper" building - the birthplace of recorded sound into a 341-unit apartment complex by Dranoff Properties. Opened in September of 2003, The Victor Luxury Waterfront Lofts, as the development is officially called, offers studio and one- to three-bedroom apartments renting from $775 to $2,550. The apartments are so successful (nearly 100 percent occupied) that Dranoff plans to develop an adjacent building into a 125-unit condominium complex - an estimated $70-million project.