Palmer supervisors to consider two warehouse proposals

This Duke Realty warehouse is going up this summer on Van Buren Road north of where two warehouses are proposed in Palmer Township. Many warehouses are up or under construction near this area.

Palmer Township supervisors will decide Tuesday whether to grant final approval to 1.6 million square feet of warehouses for the Chrin Commerce Centre.

The two warehouse plans on Tuesday's meeting agenda would bring the total warehouse development at the site off Route 33 near Tatamy to 3 million square feet.

Supervisors Chairman Dave Colver said the plan up for consideration Tuesday was scaled back from its original version. One plan submitted by a previous developer was for seven warehouses. Duke Realty, with a local office in the Philadelphia suburb of Conshohocken, pitched three warehouses.

Warehouses going up in Palmer Township Warehouses are going up in the Chrin Commerce Center in Palmer Township.

The first one, at 1.1 million square feet, was previously approved and is going up north of Main Street at Van Buren Road.

"We expect it to be done by Christmas," Colver said.

Duke is seeking approval for a 1 million-square-foot warehouse and a 630,000-square-foot warehouse immediately east of the first one.

A small portion of the 630,000-square-foot warehouse encroaches into a different zoning district, so the supervisors will need to grant Duke zoning relief, Colver said.

Duke initially proposed two 400,000-square-foot warehouses but compromised by offering the single 630,000-square-foot one, Colver said.

"We thought it made sense," Colver said.

Denver-based DCT Industrial has a certificate of occupancy for its warehouse on Van Buren Road near Hollo Road, Colver said. They have permission for one to three tenants, and supervisors expect a proposal for a tenant fit-out to come across their desks soon, he said.

If the final two warehouses are approved, the major warehouse development at the 800-acre center will be set. Anything from this point forward would be 200,000-square-feet or smaller, Colver said.

The remaining development will be office, retail, manufacturing, hotel and medical development, he said.

A plan for two 160,000-square-foot warehouses just outside the Commerce Centre was sent back to the drawing board by the township planning commission earlier this month.

The planners want more details about any businesses proposed for those warehouses off Van Buren Road south of Newlins Mill Road before they endorse those warehouses.

Those two are proposed by J.G. Petrucci Co. of Union Township, Hunterdon County.

CHRIN COMMERCE CENTER WAREHOUSES

Porsche regional training and distribution center; 130,000 square feet; opened in 2009

Mondelez Global warehouse; about 100,000 square feet; opened in 2013. Mondelez aquired Kraft, Cadbury and Nabisco.

DCT Industrial warehouse; 425,000 square feet; finished this summer but awaiting tenants.

Duke Realty; 1.1 million square feet; slated for completion in late 2015.

Duke Realty; 1,015,740 million square feet; up for approval Aug. 25.

Duke Realty; 629,800 square feet; up for approval Aug. 25.

Source: Lehigh Valley Live