OENJ Cherokee Proposes Auto Hub for 290-Acre Tract

"We plan to take advantage of the property's deepwater-channel access," according to an OENJ spokesperson. "It also has the advantage of a major Conrail, Norfolk Southern and CSX rail terminal, which makes it ideal for intermodal and port-related use."

But the process could be daunting. While the company hopes to have site work underway later this year, the project must still travel through a complex array of federal, state, county and local approvals. In their public pronouncements, Woodbridge township officials have been less than positive toward the project, this despite OENJ's stated willingness to pay Woodbridge a $3 million host fee. The potential for increased truck traffic is one of the key local issues.

OENJ Cherokee, which is part of the Raleigh, NC-based Cherokee Investment Partners, has had some success in redeveloping the highly industrial, contaminated waterfront in southern Hudson, Union and Middlesex counties. The company had a hand in developing the 1.3-million-sf Jersey Gardens Mall on 166 contaminated acres in Elizabeth, NJ, remediating the site and taking it through approvals before selling it to Ohio-based Glimcher Development, which built and opened the mall three years ago.

OENJ is also planning to develop Bridgeview Center, a 700,000-sf office complex and ferry terminal on 40 acres it still owns adjacent to the Jersey Gardens site. And the company is developing mixed uses, including Hudson County's first 18-hole golf course, on a site it's currently remediating in Bayonne, NJ, just south of the proposed Military Ocean Terminal redevelopment site.

As far as the Port Reading site, OENJ has a reluctant development partner in the Port Authority of NY/NJ. While the auto import hub project would dovetail nicely with the PA's plan to expand related facilities all along the waterfront, PA chairman Jack Sinagra has said publicly that "we won't participate in it" unless Woodbridge Twp. officials are on board.

Selling points for OENJ Cherokee as the proposal enters the hearing phase include pollution cleanup and enhancement of wetlands with a waterfront park. Company officials promise 300 permanent jobs at the site, as well as "several hundred construction jobs" during the five- to seven-year build-out.