2M-SF Industrial Complex Slated for Exit 12

But the project won't come cheaply. The tract, adjacent to the Turnpike's Exit 12, was used as a landfill for 30 years before being closed in the 1970s and will need substantial remediation. Local officials have pegged the cost of cleaning up the site in the $30-million range. Officials also say it will take up to 18 months to get that done, so actual construction isn't likely to start much before late 2006 or early 2007, according to estimates.

The site was proposed for retail development a few years ago, but market conditions turned industrial development into the best bet, according to officials. The plans are general at this point, but according to Paul Slayton, who heads Slayton Development, national distribution and manufacturing companies are the target users, Local officials also say they hope to attract commercial users to back up the industrial development.

"We will be turning an abandoned brownfield site into a hub for hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax ratables," Reiman told reporters after the agreement was signed.

While officials haven't released the projected development cost of the project, or estimated tax revenues, projections are that the built-out project will generate upward of 400 jobs. The development timeline depends on the remediation process and state and local permits.

Another issue that needs to be resolved is the vehicular capacity of Exit 12, the key point of access to the site. Exit 12 has been notoriously overburdened with traffic for years, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation and New Jersey Turnpike Authority are slated to begin work on a major upgrade of the interchange later this year.