Subaru of America Inc. has settled on building a new
North American headquarters at the Campbell Gateway District in Camden, N.J.
The company will potentially receive upwards of $100
million from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority through its Grow
N.J. program that offers huge financial incentives to firms that locate in
Camden and grow jobs there.
The addition of Subaru to the Gateway District is the
first of what is expected to be a handful of other companies and headquarters
to locate on that evolving corporate campus and use taxpayer subsidies to help
them.
It took Subaru a while to settle on Camden. After roughly
three years of looking at both the New Jersey and Philadelphia sides of the
Delaware River, Subaru said Friday that it will construct a 250,000-square-foot
building at the Campbell Gateway District.
This is a 45-acre area in which Campbell Soup Co., which
is based in Camden, is master developer. Brandywine Realty Trust was appointed
in October by the soup company to be the developer. Brandywine is a Radnor,
Pa., real estate investment trust that owns and builds office and mixed-use
developments.
Subaru will have 500 employees working from the new
facility and the project is expected to be completed by late 2016 or early
2017.
In a statement, Thomas J. Doll, president and chief
operating officer of Subaru of America said: "We are very excited to be
moving this project forward as we seek to bring all of our corporate employees
together on one site, in a first-class facility. This move cements the
long-term future of Subaru in the Delaware Valley and we are pleased that after
more than 45 years here, we can plan to continue to be a part of the local
community we have supported for so long."
The car company has maintained its headquarters in New
Jersey since 1969 and moved into its current national headquarters at 2235 W.
Marlton Pike in Cherry Hill, N.J. in 1986. The seven-story building cost $18
million to construct and totals 115,000 square feet. About 300 Subaru employees
work there.
The company's footprint goes beyond Cherry Hill. It also
has an operations center in a 59,000-square-foot building in Pennsauken, N.J.,
where it has about 200 employees from its customer loyalty, government relations,
parts, service, financial services and other departments. It also has a
regional office and warehouse in Westampton, N.J.
The company recently built a mega distribution center and
training facility. The 526,050 square-foot building is at NFI Park at Florence
Crossings at 2020 Route 130 N. in Florence, N.J. It's a short distance from the
New Jersey Turnpike and Pennsylvania Turnpike extension.
The addition of Subaru to the Gateway District is a
significant milestone in its development. Campbell's has spent nine years
assembling land, getting approvals, drawing up concepts and even spending $130
million on its own headquarters to make it viable. Upwards of a million square
feet of office space can be developed on the 45 acres.
The project underscores the company's commitment to
Camden, where it has been for the last 140 years, as well as to its employees
who work there, said Rich Landers, vice president of tax and real estate at
Campbell's.
Campbell's will not get a profit from its development
work but will recoup its costs associated with it, Landers said.
"This is another opportunity to give back to the
city of Camden and from a business perspective, this is a good investment for
us," he said.
Campbell's is "thrilled" to have Subaru as an
eventual corporate neighbor. Landers said he expects five to six other
"high-quality corporate headquarters" to strike deals to also move in
next door over the next four years.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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