Jones Lang LaSalle

$250M Port Complex Wins Formal Approval
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: February 3, 2006 08:24am

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PAULSBORO, NJ-The South Jersey Port Corp. has signed a formal agreement with officials of this Gloucester County community to redevelop a 190-acre industrial brownfield site as a new port facility. The complex will join two existing Delaware River ports operated by the state agency in Camden and Salem. The two locations combined to handle more than 3.5 million tons of international bulk, break-bulk and container cargo in 2005.

“This agreement sets out the details of an expansion of Delaware River port capacity in South Jersey,” says SJPC executive director Joseph Balzano. He adds that bringing this project on line will bring new jobs and businesses to the community. “We have so many customers who want to come to South Jersey, and we know if we build a facility, we’re going to get more customers.”
“The signing of this agreement is the culmination of more than two years of work to make sure that this area will keep pace as a major regional maritime center,” says Richard Alaimo, chairman of the SJPC. The cost of the project at build-out is being projected at $250 million, with the initial phase expected to cost between $100million and $135 million. Financing is going to come from a couple of bond issues, with an initial issue valued at $10 million going to pay for engineering studies and the permitting process. In terms of new jobs, officials are putting the long-term number in the 2,000 range.

The 190-acre site is made up of a former BP refinery and the adjacent Essex Chemical site of the Dow Corp., with the latter representing 60 acres of the total. BP is responsible for remediating the refinery portion of the overall site. “Gloucester County has placed great emphasis on restoring brownfield sites to productive economic use,” says county freeholder director and State Sen. Stephen Sweeney. “This agreement will take this onetime brownfield and crank it up as an engine of growth.”

Paulsboro controls the site by virtue of a long-term lease it had with BP, and will in turn lease it to the SJPC. The latter is responsible for the design and construction of the new port complex, as well as handling the permitting process. The county has agreed to build an overpass connecting the site with I-295, a project that carries an estimated cost of $16 million, according to Sweeney. That cost is expected to be reimbursed to the county by the New Jersey DOT.