49 Rutherford St. in Newark
By Joshua Burd
CenterPoint Properties has unveiled a new 183,000-square-foot industrial building in Newark, where it has redeveloped a former resin plant in the heart of the city’s port district.
Located at 49 Rutherford St., the new ground-up facility will serve as a warehouse and distribution space for Costco, the big-box giant, providing a location just east of the New Jersey Turnpike and minutes from Port Newark-Elizabeth. It also marks another addition to CenterPoint’s fast-growing footprint in New Jersey, following a flurry of acquisitions in recent years alongside ground-up development by the Oak Brook, Illinois-based firm.
“The combination of the new facility and its strategic distribution location right here in the city of Newark is what I believe attracted a Fortune 27 company in Costco to make such a long-term commitment right here,” said Ronel Borner, CenterPoint’s senior vice president for development in its east region. He added that, aside from the project’s temporary construction jobs, the annual revenue that the property will generate for the city has increased seven-fold from 2019, while it will also produce payroll taxes from new permanent positions.
“I believe this is the type of economic development that was envisioned when the redevelopment plan was put in place, and we at CenterPoint are extremely excited to have been a part of that.”
Borner and Michael Murphy, CenterPoint’s chief development officer, were on site Tuesday to welcome local officials and members of the project team to the facility. They noted that the company purchased the nearly 13-acre parcel in fall 2019 before razing and remediating the former Deltech Resin Co. facility, navigating a property that Borner said was environmentally challenged but “ripe for redevelopment.”
In its place is a modern logistics facility with 40-foot clear ceiling heights, 48 dock positions, two drive-in doors and parking for 166 cars and 74 trailers.
“I always prefer a ribbon-cutting to a groundbreaking, just because you have something that you’ve worked hard to actually achieve at the ribbon-cutting,” Murphy said. “And obviously today is exactly that type of opportunity.”
Those on hand included real estate attorney Elnardo Webster of Inglesino, Webster, Wyciskala & Taylor LLC — which served as counsel for CenterPoint for site acquisition, entitlements, redevelopment designation and obtaining a tax abatement, while helping with the government affairs strategy and obtaining all building permits — and brokers with NAI James E. Hanson, who secured the lease with Costco while the building was still under construction. Also in attendance was Newark Deputy Mayor Allison Ladd, who said redevelopment of sites such as 49 Rutherford are key to the city’s economic vitality and creating tax revenue that will allow it to expand services for residents.
“They’re just a stone’s throw away down in the Ironbound community and even the surrounding community,” said Ladd, who oversees Newark’s economic and housing development teams. “And we know that having jobs that they can access quickly and get to is really helpful to their families as they live here in our city.”
CenterPoint adds Newark development site, plans 186,000 sq. ft. industrial project
