Victory Redevelopment Heads to Final Stages

A process that would clear away what officials have called an obsolete, dangerous and outmoded manufacturing facility and make way for a new corporate campus—and potentially a new home for Subaru of America—is one step closer to fruition, after Cherry Hill's township council Thursday night agreed with the planning board and designated 110 Woodcrest Road as a site in need of redevelopment.

The council's decision kick-starts what should be about a monthlong process of creating what Paul Stridick, the township's planning director, called a “mini master plan” for the 35-acre property in the form of a zoning overlay that will redefine how the property could be used in the future.

“It's not going to have descriptive architecture, or anything like that, or plans of streets, but it's going to give you the planning on how to decide on that,” he said.

And it won't take long, either—even as the recommendation is forwarded on to the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for approval at that level, the township's planning board will get to work Monday night on the nuts and bolts of the redevelopment plan, figuring out things like permissible building heights and acceptable uses, with input both from Stridick and his staff, as well as redevelopment consultants from Group Melvin Design.

“We have to begin that process—paint the picture of what that's going to look like,” Stridick said.

DCA approval of the redevelopment zone will take about 30 days, Stridick said, and the finalized plan could be back up to council for final approval as an ordinance either at the end of this year or early in 2014.

“By late January or the first council meeting in February, we may be through this, barring any bumps in the road,” he said.

Though Victory representatives have expressed concerns about the plans, given their lease runs through the end of 2014, Stridick and other officials said it's unlikely to be an issue.

"It's between Victory and the landlord," he said. "I know that they're addressing that."

That only takes care of the redevelopment plan itself; incentives for a company to relocate to the site—whether a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement, similar to the one in place at the former Langston Steel site across Woodcrest Road, or a package of incentives from the township, state, and county—would be directed at specific tenants, township spokeswoman Bridget Palmer said.

“We're not there yet, but yes, they will,” she said. “Any incentives that would be discussed would be geared toward the business that occupies the site.”

While she didn't mention Subaru by name, it's been both the implicit and explicit target of the redevelopment effort since the beginning.

Subaru officials have stayed quiet on their end regarding the process of finding a new North American headquarters, noting only that they're trying to shift about 900 employees from various locations into a new space, ideally more than double the size of their current, 115,000-square-foot tower on Route 70.