For one thing, Duke has revealed that it has an institutional partner in the project, namely the San Francisco-based Stockbridge Real Estate. And while plans aren't firm, the industrial buildings will be razed to make way for a mixed-use development. Finally, published reports put the sale price at $76.5 million. While declining to confirm or deny that number, "if you were to publish that, we wouldn't take issue with it," a Duke spokesman tells GlobeSt.com.

Altogether, there were 21 bidders for the property, which GM used to build cars and, during World War II, fighter planes, before shuttering the facility in 2005 as part of a company-wide restructuring. At its peak, the plant employed 6,000. When it closed, that number had been reduced to about 1,500.

"We are pleased to join forces with Stockbridge to enter the New Jersey market by developing this former General Motors plant," says Bob Chapman, Duke's COO, in a statement. "We are equally pleased that GM has again selected Duke to be the developer of its former manufacturing sites."

That track record includes a recent project Duke did in redeveloping a former GM assembly plant in Baltimore. The company recently completed the first of two industrial buildings on a 184-acre site near the Port of Baltimore, a property now known as the Chesapeake Commerce Center.

"We feel that, together with the community, we will create new economic opportunities and jobs for New Jersey, while we further strengthen our strategy to develop property sites near key US ports," Chapman says.

"As a private equity investor, we look for a combination of factors in deciding to make a particular investment," says Stockbridge managing director Dan Weaver. "We think this is a terrific site and believe that Duke's expertise will lead to long-term value creation for the partnership."

Duke officials say that specific plans for the project, expected to be a combination of retail and industrial, will be released at a later date. The first order of business will be to tear down the existing buildings and remediate the site, which is expected to take about a year. The remediation issues, according to the New Jersey DEP, which has studied the property, involve soil and shallow groundwater contamination.