Plans Outline $250M Waterfront Redevelopment

The estimated price tag for the project has been put in the $250-million range. For that amount, the mostly derelict industrial land would re-emerge as a mixture of upwards of 1,000 homes, a retail component and a marina. Southport, as the project is being called, is still in the early stages of planning, according to city solicitor James Maley, but the mix of housing, retail and waterfront access is what's on the agenda.

"This will be a new neighborhood in the southern end of town," Maley said at a public hearing for the project late Wednesday. "This is the kind of development that turns a community around."

City officials say they expect to have a development deal done by the end of the year. But it's estimated that an actual groundbreaking may not occur much before late 2006, because the project faces a number of obstacles. Among them is the fact that the former manufacturing site is a brownfield site that will need substantial remediation.

There is also the matter of ownership of the site: almost two dozen different owners are involved. But as Maley pointed out at the hearing, it's also in a redevelopment zone, and eminent domain would be an option for assembling the site. Overall, city officials are projecting an eight- to 10-year build-out once all of the obstacles are hurdled.

Financing is part of the current negotiations, say city officials. The final package is expected to include a combination of private money from the five developers, as well as state and federal grants and aid relating to the remediation and the fact that it's a redevelopment project. The Camden County Redevelopment Authority is part of the funding mix.

The Southport site is also adjacent to the site of a proposed $60-million retail/residential project called Gloucester Point. The latter is much farther along: Atlanta-based Beazer Homes and a local partnership headed by developer Butch Berglund expect to start construction next spring. Their joint venture would put 160 residential units and more than 50,000 sf of retail space on an 11-acre, 3,000-foot industrial pier once occupied by a GAF paper mill.