BERKELEY – An Amazon warehouse is a possibility for the former Beachwood mall site, but officials said that is far from a done deal.
It came to a head when a local resident pointed out the language in the redevelopment plan, calling it a “last mile” warehouse. This is the terminology used by Amazon. The retail giant wants warehouses in smaller towns in order to make deliveries faster.
The redevelopment plan is opening the door to Amazon, but doesn’t guarantee that company will be walking in, Township Business Administrator John Camera said.
This plan, going back to 2009, was to include big box stores, retail pad sites and more. However, retail has changed since then.
“The need for brick and mortar big box stores has diminished over the past several years due to online purchasing and COVID really finished the job,” Camera said.
Since the redeveloper was having difficulties attracting retail tenants, more uses were added to the site. In other words, the town changed the zoning to open it up to distribution centers, warehouses, solar fields, and recreational facilities (iPlay America, as an example). The goal was to increase the variety of possible tenants, not to pave the way for a specific tenant.
“I believe a lot of big box retailers and delivery companies use these types of distribution facilities,” Camera said. “The Township has not and is not dealing directly with any potential tenants. The redeveloper has talked about numerous possibilities for the site, but at the present time they do not have a signed lease with anyone.”
Steve Kelly, who handles Amazon’s public relations for south and central New Jersey, said the company does not share information about where a new warehouse might be built.
“We are constantly exploring new locations and weighing a variety of factors when deciding where to develop sites to best serve customers, however, we have a policy not to provide information on our future roadmap,” he said.
According to Bloomberg.com, the online retail giant was setting up between 1,000 and 1,500 warehouses around the country in order to honor faster delivery promises. They were starting to lose market share to Target and Wal-Mart, who were using their established brick and mortar stores to guarantee same-day delivery.
This move would hurt UPS and the US Postal Service, who have been delivering packages for Amazon.
According to a Business Insider article, there have been recent issues at an Amazon warehouse location in Milford, near Boston, where drivers have caused damage to local buildings. However, since they are independent contractors, not employees, Amazon is not responsible for these workers. There were also reports of dozens of trucks operating at 10 p.m. While an Amazon location would bring jobs, critics say independent contractors don’t get paid as well and don’t have insurance or job security.
When the redevelopment plan was changed earlier this year, they listed a number of possibilities for the site, also including a convenience store, gas station and a fast food restaurant. It was noted then that this is still very early in the planning stages and things could still change. The plan was just for the front 40 acres or so, facing Route 9.
The maps they showed the Township Council were just conceptual. There are no set plans. The presentation was just done to allow the plans to go forward.
It is likely to be many years before this could come to fruition. The Department of Environmental Protection, the borough’s land use board, the Department of Transportation, and a number of other bodies have to sign off on it.
Traffic is a consideration. Route 9 has only had small changes over the decades, and the population has only increased. A representative of the redeveloper said the DOT’s stance is that if the new development has equal to or less traffic than the old mall in its prime, then Route 9 won’t see any major improvements. The redeveloper will likely just make better driveways and intersections.
If there is more traffic than originally intended, then the redeveloper would have to come up with a way to ease congestion. One option could be the Western Boulevard extension. This would take Western through the property and to Route 9. The exact route is unknown but it would allow distributers to access the Garden State Parkway better, and people could skip whole sections of Route 9.
The shopping center was built by the Johnson family and named the Beachwood Mall because Johnson was mad at Berkeley officials at the time, according to oral history. Johnson operated an asphalt plant behind it, and even parked a plane in the mall’s basement. His daughter Priscilla Oughton inherited the property after her father died in 1999.
The cost to clean up the entire area was estimated in the tens of millions. That’s why it was established as a “redevelopment area.” This is a designation decided by the state. If a property fits a number of requirements, it is open to cost saving programs and even environmental clean-up funds. It is made to entice investors to take an underutilized property and make something out of it. It encourages the redevelopment of old buildings instead of cutting trees to develop new buildings.
M & M Realty Partners and Lennar Corporation formed a joint venture where they will redevelop the spot. Years ago, they intended on making a mix of commercial, office/professional, and residential buildings. They had planned big box spots, pad sites, and a downtown walkable feel.
