Businesses are Looking to Move Into Gloucester City — CNBNews
Thursday, October 13, 2022
William E. Clearly Sr. | CNBNews.Net | GloucesterCityNews.Net
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (October 13, 2022)--Gloucester City has become attractive for people looking to build warehouses or move into existing buildings to modernize a warehouse.
For example, the Levine brothers, the owners of SafeSavings®, have recently purchased the former Table Top Fashions property at 410 Jersey Avenue. Decades ago, the building was the headquarters for Products Research. Their nearby neighbor was Publishers Inc., a printing company specializing in publishing weekly and college newspapers, including the Gloucester City News.
Max and his brother Drew began their business in 2020. The company specializes in buying and selling new, closeout, overstock, liquidated, shelf-pull, and discontinued merchandise. The company's corporate headquarters is at 3000 Atrium Way, Suite 200, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054.
"My brother Drew Levin and I started the business in 2020. All sales are through our website SafeSavings.com, B2B wholesale or B2C. Our trucks make deliveries within the tri-state area Monday through Friday. We specialize in buying and selling new, closeout, overstock, liquidated, shelf-pull, and discontinued inventory. We take a lot of pride in what we do. Our competitive advantage against companies like Amazon is value. The fulfillment center will have five to 10 employees, and we hope to be up and running by November 1. We also purchased the parking lots across the street at 425 Jersey Ave."
"The building is about 35,000 square feet, located directly across the Delaware River Ports, featuring 26 feet of unobstructed warehouse space, showroom space, office space, and ample parking. The offices have been redone, and the warehouse has been fully renovated. We also built loading docks in the back. We're still retaining our corporate office in Mount Laurel."
"I am excited to get more community involvement once we move in. The city officials and residents have been extremely responsive, helpful, and welcoming."
Standard Logistics moved into a warehouse at Charles and Water Streets during the summer. When they opened their doors, they advertised for Class A local and regional drivers. It took them several months to renovate the building and surrounding ground. As far as we know, GAF still owns the property.
Presently, a warehouse is being constructed on Brick Street (above) on a vacant lot that has sat empty for 50 years, if not longer. Vitale's Italian Bistro and Matt's Auto Repair are located across the street from the construction. Jonathan Cuccinello has submitted a minor site plan for the permitted warehouse, which is scheduled for a hearing at the Planning/Zoning Board's meeting on October 19 at 7:30 PM.
Last month, three developers interested in the 109 acreages (above) of the abandoned industrial area known as Southport met with the mayor and council.
Everton Industrial Development was the one developer that stood out because they wanted to build a two-story, 1.7 million square foot warehouse on the 109-acre site. Everton's proposal didn't mention the impact that size of a warehouse would have on the amount of truck traffic coming and going from their facility.
Two other developers were Rockefeller Group/Arbok Partners and Catalyst Development Partners. Both proposals were generally about what needed to be done before further development could proceed in that area.
Mayor and council will meet with another developer on Monday, October 17, at 6 PM in council chambers at the police administration building, 313 Monmouth Street. RIED AND BYKA will present an impact investment proposal to the governing body that will include, according to Matt Mason, president of RIED (Renaissance Industrial Environmental Development, inc.), major infrastructure, environment, economic, and community development for the Southport Redevelopment Zone and Gloucester City at-large.
The following is from a prepared statement released by Mason.
Mayor and council will meet with BYKA, which is bringing in industrial, commercial, and high-tech industries offering a full range of employment: Blue-collar to high-technology jobs. The focus of the development is NOT warehouses, though a warehouse(s) could be part of the development as an accessory. Warehouse employment is infamous for low wages, poor working conditions, and jobs being automated out of existence.
Three key elements regarding the BYKA proposal:
- The development is for the city at-large. Not just Southport. You can’t develop Southport without addressing the infrastructure issues (water, sewer, transportation) facing the city. Developing Southport without a plan for the rest of the city will just create a host of new problems.
- Affordable energy & environmental protection will be integrated with the development.
- There is a community development element to the proposal.
Due to the contamination issues and the fact that the environmental studies are currently unavailable (due to the lawsuit involving the City and Gloucester City Organic Recyling LLC,) the exact industries that BYKA will bring in cannot be determined at this time.
To address this, BYKA is offering to fund an implementation study over a 12-month period to develop a remediation and infrastructure plan, which in turn will allow BYKA to determine which industries are a ‘best fit’ for the project.
Details will be provided in the presentation on October 17th.
Last year a $10.5 million lawsuit was filed against the City by Rocco D'Antonio, head of Gloucester City Organic Recyling LLC (GCOR). He agreed with the mayor and council to build a compost plant named Organic Diversions in the Southport industrial area near the end of Water Street. That venture was first announced in 2010 by Mayor William James (deceased), followed by a letter of intent. D'Antonio said the lawsuit was filed in March (2021)because city officials didn't live up to their part of the contract. According to sources, the depositions have been ongoing since the beginning of the year.
The City claims that Plaintiff had unauthorized dealings with Southport Renewal and was responsible for Southport stopping work on remedial measures. "Due to the actions and inactions of Plaintiff, the City has been unable to develop the GCRO property, the SR property, or the surrounding area.
Posted by CNBNews.net on Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 6:10 PM in BREAKING NEWS, City of Gloucester City.