The park, which projects a build-out of 3.2 million sf, is slated to rise on a 290-acre former brownfield site along the Arthur Kill Strait near Exit 12 of the New Jersey Turnpike. Denver-based ProLogis has approval to restore the 12 acres as part of its fulfillment of an obligation under the state's Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act requiring companies to compensate for adverse wetlands impacts resulting from development. The acreage will be a source of wetlands credits used for other projects in the area.

"Mitigation banking is an important component in offsetting unavoidable impacts that redevelopment projects can have on wetlands," says Glenn Stock, vice president of land development for ProLogis in New Jersey. "The bank at Port Reading will create a new wetlands habitat with improved ecological and aesthetic value and also serve as a resource for developers of projects where on-site wetlands mitigation is not a practical alternative."

"ProLogis is transforming a derelict brownfield site into an economically productive property," says Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, who is a former New Jersey state treasurer. "They are also providing an enhanced wetlands that will offer a mitigation mechanism that other companies planning development projects can leverage."

The mitigation involves a dozen acres of inter-tidal wetlands. To complete the details of the makeover, ProLogis is working with the New Jersey DEP, the US Fish and Wildlife and the Corps of Engineers. Princeton Hydro, a water resource and wetlands consulting firm based in Ringoes, is also involved in the project.

As reported by GlobeSt.com, Port Reading Business Park was originally a Catellus Development Corp. project, inherited by ProLogis when it acquired Catellus in 2005. The latter had purchased the property from its local ownership in 2004 and subsequently launched sitework, including a brownfields remediation program.