Plans for the Meadowlands Logistics Center at 100 Paterson Plank Road in Secaucus call for a new 775,000-square-foot warehouse with a 40-foot clear ceiling height, 232 trailer parking spaces, 96 loading docks with capacity for an additional 89 future docks, four drive-in entrances, 570 parking spaces and integrated office space. — Rendering courtesy: Hartz Mountain Industries
By Joshua Burd
Hartz Mountain Industries will build a new 775,000-square-foot warehouse in Secaucus with the help of a nearly $57 million tax credit under New Jersey’s Aspire program, following a major environmental cleanup at the site that allows it to qualify for the incentive award.
An affiliate of the firm, which is based in the town, secured the approval last week during an Economic Development Authority board meeting. That paves the way for construction to begin around February at the 136-acre site, located at 100 Paterson Plank Road, where Hartz’s plans call for a modern warehouse facility with a 40-foot clear ceiling height, 232 trailer parking spaces, 96 loading docks with capacity for an additional 89 future docks, four drive-in entrances, 570 parking spaces and integrated office space.
The Meadowlands Logistics Center will take some 30 months to complete, according to an EDA board memo, which said the roughly $313 million in total development costs includes nearly $17 million in certified environmental remediation costs. That made it eligible under recently amended rules for the Aspire program, which allow warehouse projects to be considered if the developer incurs at least $10 million in environmental remediation costs.
Cecilia Lassiter, a member with Sills Cummis & Gross PC, represented Hartz in the application, noting that the $56.6 million tax credit award was the first under the Aspire program for an industrial warehouse project. Langan Engineering and Environmental Services serves as the licensed site remediation professional for the project.
“Hartz Mountain is very pleased and grateful that NJEDA recognized the value in supporting this regionally significant project, which required a significant investment in remediating a long-contaminated site in the heart of the Meadowlands market,” said James Rhatican, vice president of land use and development and assistant general counsel at Hartz. “This is a perfect example of using the tools provided by the State to foster economic development that will bring jobs and commerce to the area.”
Located near the junction of Route 3 and the New Jersey Turnpike, the site is just east of Hartz’s landmark Harmon Meadow complex and is largest undeveloped tract in Secaucus. The firm acquired the property in 2022 and secured a use variance earlier this year from the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, which governs planning and zoning in 14 towns that make up the Hackensack Meadowlands District, in connection with the parcel’s 61 developable acres.
The EDA, meantime, said the project will also provide community amenities such as a public walking trail, a scenic overlook with dedicated public parking, expanded sidewalks and a bus shelter to enhance accessibility. All of which would bring new life to a site that had a history of illegal dumping but will be remediated as part of Hartz’s redevelopment.
The authority has noted with past approvals that Aspire, which was created by the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020, is a place-based economic development program to support mixed-use, transit-oriented development with tax credits to commercial and residential projects that have financing gaps. As a performance-based program, projects must certify that all commitments established at time of approval have been met before receiving their first disbursement of tax credits.
