The metal skeleton of the future Subaru of America
headquarters in Camden stands alone on a plot of land just off the Admiral
Wilson Boulevard, surrounded by dirt and empty roads.
But Brandywine Realty Trust, the Radnor-based firm that
is developing the site, is betting that an influx of businesses, increased
public transit access, and other investments will transform the area into a
commercial hub and retail corridor, flanked by parks and bike trails. Plans for
the 13-acre site include an additional 1.5 million square feet of office space,
a new PATCO station with a plaza, a walkway to the bank of the Cooper River,
and a hotel for business travelers.
If built as envisioned, the Knights Crossing development
could function almost as a self-contained city in what is now a desolate part
of Camden.
"Hopefully as the neighborhood evolves, retail will
pop up and employers will want to come here," said Brian Berson, vice
president of development for Brandywine, who shared new details of the plan
last week. "If we design it correctly, people will want to be here."
Berson acknowledged that some might criticize the
creation of a neighborhood apart from the rest of the city, a place that would
give employees few incentives to explore the rest of Camden. But he said the
company's goal is to make the area a more welcoming destination for both
Camden's daytime and full-time populations.
"What's the alternative? Not improving these
blocks?" he asked. "The whole city is improving. I hope that we're
all improving pieces of Camden, and that it continues to become a more rich,
diverse place. We can't control the rest of the city, but we can improve this
piece."
Subaru, which is moving four miles away from its current
location in Cherry Hill, announced its relocation to Camden in 2014, after it
was awarded $118 million in state tax incentives under the Economic Opportunity
Act. The credits, spread over 10 years, are conditional on Subaru creating or
saving at least 100 jobs and remaining in Camden for 15 years.
Subaru was the site's first anchor tenant announced after
the nearby Campbell Soup Co. bought the property in 2012, demolished the former
Sears building, and hired Brandywine to develop the land.
Brandywine plans a series of buildings with office space
for rent, connected by streets with restaurants and shops. Berson hopes a
vacant stretch of 10th Street will become a strip of shops and restaurants and
parks will offer benches and green space. A network of bike paths will link
paths in Camden, Philadelphia, and beyond to farther-flung parts of
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Several developers have expressed interest in
putting a hotel in the area to accommodate traveling visitors to Subaru and
Campbell's, Berson said.
A planned transit hub would connect PATCO to Philadelphia
and the rest of New Jersey, said Jeffrey Nash, vice chairman of the Delaware
River Port Authority. The site could also link to the long-planned
Glassboro-Camden light rail line.
The new PATCO station is one of several improvements
planned for Camden's public transportation, Nash said.
"Pretty soon there's going to be an influx of new
employees coming into Camden, and the DRPA and PATCO have to accommodate
that," he said.
The Camden location will be the new home base for
Subaru's U.S. operations, bringing together four offices. In addition to the
250,000-square-foot headquarters, the company will build an 83,000-square-foot
training facility. The project, which broke ground a year ago, is expected to
be completed by the end of 2017.
In all, the state Economic Development Authority has
promised more than $1.5 billion in tax credits to companies that agree to
relocate to Camden, including Lockheed-Martin, Holtec, and the 76ers, which
built a gym on the waterfront last year.
Critics of the Economic Opportunity Act have said the
deals are too generous because they largely involve the relocation of
high-paying jobs from elsewhere in South Jersey, with no strategies aimed at
addressing Camden's chronic unemployment. Subaru's move will draw more than 500
existing jobs to the city and create about 100, but those positions are
unlikely to match the qualifications of many of Camden's long-term unemployed.
The move will also result in Subaru's paying far less in property taxes than it
did in Cherry Hill, meaning it will have a nominal impact on the city's anemic
tax base.
Critics of the Subaru plan, meanwhile, have complained
that the company's location is so isolated from the city's downtown restaurants
and other commercial corridors that members of the workforce would have to
drive in order to patronize local businesses.
The EDA credits do not mandate that businesses invest in
Camden, something that has frustrated community activists over the last several
years.
Ray Lamboy, head of Camden's nonprofit Latin American
Economic Development Association, has for years advocated that companies moving
to Camden be made to sign community benefit agreements. Over the months, he
became discouraged as city officials shut him and others out of the negotiating
process, he said.
"At the end of the day, the community wants to see
something in return for the tax-free land these companies are getting," he
said.
In recent months, several companies have begun sketching
out agreements with City Hall to contribute to Camden's community programs,
provide job training, and more. Liberty Property Trust, which last month began
work on an ambitious project to build offices, a hotel, and parks on the
waterfront, signed a community investment agreement with Camden officials to
recruit city residents for construction jobs, establish apprenticeships, and
offer paid student internships. Liberty's agreement, which a representative of
the company said is legally binding, also calls for investments in youth sports
programs and a mural arts initiative. Subaru has already created a program
aimed at training young people in mechanics.
Berson, of Brandywine, believes that as more companies
move to Camden, more investment in the city will follow.
"We have a group of people waiting to see if the
experiment has worked," he said. "It is not our intent to build
Subaru and leave."
Source: Philly.com
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