Industrial Realty Inks 400-Acre Lease for AC Airport Site

Industrial Realty Group (IRG) has signed a ground lease for 400 acres adjacent to Atlantic City International Airport where the Los Angeles-based developer is planning to build a new mixed-use, multimodal logistics hub.

The pact with the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) is the culmination of a July 2022 authorization SJTA gave to Executive Director Stephen Dougherty to enter negotiations and execute an agreement to develop the airport’s northwest quadrant, which sits on Egg Harbor.

SJTA has established a long-term goal of creating new warehouse and logistics space near the airport. The agency said IRG also is working with the Atlantic County Economic Alliance on a development deal that could draw tens of millions of dollars in new private investment to the area, according to a report in RealEstateNJ.

IRG, which operates a portfolio of more than 150 properties in 31 states, was considered a good fit for the airport redo due to its experience converting and privatizing federal properties, including closed military bases. The firm owns and is master developer of three former bases, a former NASA facility and a former Veterans Affairs site.

“IRG has a wealth of experience in the aviation segment of commercial development. We have already discussed site opportunities with many job-creating tenants. We believe this momentum will continue to grow because of the property’s location and airport proximity,” IRG President Stuart Lichter said, RealEstateNJ reported.

The airport that was a forerunner to Atlantic City International Airport also is undergoing a transformation. Earlier this year, the City Council unanimously approvedDEEM Enterprises’ proposal to redevelop Bader Field-the first municipal airport built in the United States-into a $2.7B mixed-use development including a Formula 1 racetrack, condos and retail.

According to a rendering released by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber, the project will include a 2.44-mile Formula 1 motor course surrounded by hundreds of condos-the cars weave around the apartments in the rendering-and retail shops.

The Army Corp. of Engineers will dredge the back bays around the old airfield, dumping the sediment on the field as sub level site work elevations, NJ.com reported.

Renaissance at Bader Field, as the development will be known, will be a net-zero carbon LEED Platinum. According to the DEEM website, sustainability features will include solar panels on all roofs and a microgrid that can be converted to use hydrogen power.

The developer said the new community will “act as a catalyst for the financial rebirth of Atlantic City by attracting new job-creating industries, increasing the city’s tax base and diversifying future businesses in the city.”

DEED estimated it will take six to nine years to complete the project.

Because Atlantic City sits on a long and windy barrier island much like Kitty Hawk in the Outer Banks of NC, the first municipal airport in the US was built in Atlantic City in 1910-named for a former mayor of AC, Edward Bader, Bader Filed was the world’s first airport built specifically for fixed-wing aircraft.

The 140-acre city-owned facility permanently closed in 2006. Bader Field was put up for sale in 2016.

It was replaced by Atlantic City International Airport, which was built on the site of a US Navy air station that closed in 1958. During the pandemic, service was severely curtailed at Atlantic City International, which was reduced to a couple of domestic carriers-and no international flights.