TRENTON, NJ–The state Economic Development Authority has approved the first award for a "mega project" under the state's retooled tax-incentive programs. Also Monday, it green-lighted two projects it called "transformational" for Newark and Camden.
The EDA board voted to award more than $30 million over 10 years to Dietz & Watson, a company that was burned out of its plant in southern New Jersey last fall and subsequently decamped to Philadelphia, if it returns to Burlington County and builds anew
The Economic Opportunity Act that took effect at the end of 2013 established a "mega project" category, as part of a strengthened Grow NJ incentive program. Mega-projects involve a manufacturing facility in a port district, a corporate investment of $20 million or more, and the creation or retention of 250 jobs or more.
Dietz & Watson, a manufacturing and distribution company known for high-quality meats, had been centered in Delanco. It now looks to use the Grow NJ money with its own capital investment of $40.8 million, to:
- reconstruct its former 160,000-square-foot cold storage building
- build a new 25,000-square-foot corporate office and
- add a 16,000-square-foot fleet maintenance garage.
The prospective Delanco facility would create 213 new full-time jobs and support retention of 135 jobs "at risk" of being moved to Philadelphia, according to the EDA's statement after its vote.
The two projects in Newark and Camden approved Monday will receive support through the Economic and Redevelopment Growth program. That program was also expanded and strengthened under the Economic Opportunity Act and is now the state's key developer incentive program.
In Newark, Washington Street University Housing Urban Renewal Associates was awarded up to $23.1 millionin tax-break incentives to advance a $94.8 million historic renovation project at 15 Washington St., near the Rutgers-Newark university campus.
The company plans to create student housing, along with office, staff and academic space in the 21-story, 263,000-square-foot structure built in 1930 for American Insurance Company. The building was later donated to Rutgers. It housed the Rutgers Law School from 1978 to 1999 and has remained vacant since then.
In Camden, Broadway Associates 2010 was approved for up to $13.4 million to assist in the renovation of 175 units of Section 8 housing scattered around the fringe of the central business district. The entire project is estimated to cost $56.7 million project to complete.
The homes were last renovated in 1991 by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and now exist in run-down neighborhoods pocked with numerous vacant lots.
The project has been approved for a new 20-year Section 8 contract as part of HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration Program.
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