New $260M factory to be constructed in Camden

Armed with $260 million in tax credits, Holtec International is scheduled to formally break ground on a new 600,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Camden, N.J.

The power plant supplier will hold a ceremony for its Holtec Technology Campus next Wednesday with several state and local dignitaries.

The campus will be on 47 acres that Holtec will lease from the South Jersey Port Corp. The property fronts the Delaware River and is next to I-676.

New Jersey officials estimated the project would have a net benefit to the state of just $155,520 over a 35-year period. The project will bring 395 jobs to Camden. Of those 395 jobs, 235 will be new to Camden and 160 will be relocating from Marlton, N.J., where the company is based.

The facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2017 and commissioned in 2018. The company said in a statement that the campus will cost $260 million, which is the same amount as the tax credits that it will receive over the next 10 years.

New Jersey officials awarded the company the tax break last July. Holtec had been debating whether to move its greenfield manufacturing facility and design center for its modular nuclear reactor to Camden or Charleston, S.C. It ultimately decided upon the New Jersey city after it received the subsidies.

Holtec was one of 10 companies the New Jersey Economic Development Authority gave more than $800 million in financial incentives to locate or grow in Camden, according to JLL data.

The state's Grow N.J. program was established in 2013 to help attract and retain companies and therefore jobs to New Jersey.

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The companies that received the funds are: the Philadelphia 76ers, which received $82 million; American Water, which got $164 million; Cooper University Health Care, which received $40 million; Lockheed Martin, which took $107 million; Plastics Consulting and Manufacturing, which was awarded $3.9 million; Subaru of America was given $118 million; Volunteers of America was given $6.3 million; and Webimax got $12 million.

The money is expected to eventually bring in a total of 2,800 jobs to Camden and the average incentives per job is more than $285,000, according to the JLL report. While many New Jersey officials view the Grow N.J. money as a route to success, others are debating whether the subsidies will help revitalize the beleaguered city since, as in the case of Holtec, such as paltry financial benefit will be gained by the state.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal