Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announces in Camden, N.J., Thursday, September 24, 2015, that Liberty Property Trust, a developer that has transformed the Philadelphia skyline, is planning a $1 billion transformation of a 16-acre swath of the waterfront in Camden, one of the nation’s most impoverished places.
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Aron joins NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams outside the Camden Aquarium where 1.7 million square feet of mixed use development is scheduled to be built.
The company hopes to start construction by the fall of 2016 and have it completely built in 2019.
Back in the 1990s, there was a plan to have an aerial tram over the river launch from there; later, there was work on building a museum of recorded sound along with homes and offices.
“The Liberty project is the latest – and largest – in a series of developments announced in Camden since passage of the Grow New Jersey act, which provides generous tax incentives through the state Economic Development Authority (EDA) to businesses that relocate to the state’s poorest cities”.
As first reported Thursday morning by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Cherry Hill-based companies of NFI Industries and the Michaels Organization and the Haddonfield-based law firm of Archer & Greiner have already indicated that they plan on being part of the development. That county police department, which was not initially unionized, has been able to hire more officers and Christie said the community policing taking place in Camden should serve as a model for the country. “That’s the game changer”.
Hankowsky said Liberty would develop a plan with the city to hire locally and focus on job training for city residents.
Several of the businesses have connections to George Norcross, a Democratic powerbroker and champion of Camden.
Norcross said he would invest $50 million of his own money, and his Marlton insurance firm, Conner Strong & Buckelew, could move to Camden. He said the project may be complete within five years.
Among those moving already include the Philadelphia 76ers, who are building offices and practice facilities near the waterfront, and Subaru, which is moving its North American headquarters to another section of Camden from suburban Cherry Hill.
“There’s going to come a time when Dana and I can no longer say Camden is coming back”, said Christie, who arrived in Camden after watching Pope Francis” speech before Congress in Washington.
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So far, almost all the companies that have agreed to move to Camden have come from nearby towns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
