Billion-dollar complex set to transform Camden waterfront

Liberty Property Trust, one of the biggest commercial landlords in the Lehigh Valley, and the powerhouse developer behind projects like Philadelphia’s Comcast building and Navy Yard rehabilitation, will be in Camden on Thursday for an announcement regarding plans for Camden’s waterfront, according to city officials.

The plans to be announced Thursday center around the formerly industrial waterfront in a city that ranks among the nation’s poorest.

An announcement of this magnitude, labeled as Camden’s largest redevelopment project ever, was enough to bring New Jersey Governor Chris Christie off the Presidential campaign trail, if only for a few minutes.

Several businesses are using tax incentives to move into the city.

“It sends a powerful message that Camden is no longer America’s most unsafe city…”

The proposal calls for the construction of retail and residential space, as much as 1.7 million square feet of office space and a hotel.

“This city gave me my start”, Hankowsky said.

Ambitions for the project, flatly dubbed “The Camden Waterfront”, are high.

Norcross, who is executive chairman of the insurance firm Conner Strong & Buckelew, isn’t the only business leader committed to the project. “Based on the last two years of public safety reforms and success, public education reforms, things the governor spoke about and the mayor spoke about, the momentum now for private capital is real”, Norcross said.

Hankowsky said that he believes construction in Camden can begin as early as fall 2016 with a completion date sometime in 2019.

When asked about reports that Norcross would be putting $50 million into the project, he said.

Liberty is not applying for state tax breaks through the state’s Grow NJ program for this project, but Hankowsky suggested it could be a selling point for any companies that may want to locate there.

“It’s not just a bunch of buildings and parking lots… gonna be an urban neighborhood”, Robert Stern with AM Stern Architects said.

Companies expected to join the project include the Archer & Greiner law firm, which has offices in Haddonfield and Philadelphia; the Cherry Hill supply-chain company NFI Industries; and the Michaels Organization, a Cherry Hill housing company that has done work in Camden.

Bill Hankowsky, president of Liberty, served as Camden’s planning director back in the 1970s, and he credited southern New Jersey Democratic powerbroker George Norcross for making him aware of the opportunity. He said the entire development could be completed within five years.