It’s easy to call the groundbreaking ceremony in Perth Amboy later Thursday morning another milestone moment in the redevelopment of a 73-acre tract of land that has faced numerous environmental issues for decades.
And the event, which will celebrate BridgePort II, a high-capacity storage and distribution center being built by Bridge Industrial, will do just that.
The Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency feels the project’s grand opening is just as much about the future.
The redevelopment agency, joining with Parsippany-based project developer Bridge Industrial, sees it as a large-scale, state-of-the-art industrial campus coming to a city with high demand and a skilled labor force.
BridgePort II will comprise two logistics facilities (Building A, totaling 243,600 square feet, and Building B, which totals 800,000 square feet) across the site.
Located on the banks of the Arthur Kill, BridgePort II is being heralded for its strategic location near the desirable Exit 10 submarket off Interstate 95 and the Outerbridge Crossing, which offers prime accessibility to the New Jersey Turnpike and eliminates the need for trucks to travel through the town — minimizing impact on city roads and the local community.
Once completed, BridgePort II is expected to transform a portion of Perth Amboy’s historic shoreline from contaminated Brownfields into a state-of-the-art industrial complex providing great jobs and a stable tax base for the community, Perth Amboy officials have said in the past.
That’s a far cry from what the land used to represent.
For 80 years, this industrial site was a smelting and refining facility owned and operated by American Smelting and Refining Co. Since closing its doors in 1979, many tenants and environmental issues prevented redevelopment of the site.
Commercial Development Corp. acquired the site from ASARCO in 2009.
The event Thursday marks another step forward.
The groundbreaking, held at 1160 State St., is expected to include remarks from Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez (D-Perth Amboy), Department of Environmental Protection Assistant Commissioner David Haymes, Perth Amboy Mayor Helmin Caba, Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Tashilee Vazquez and Bridge Industrial’s Jeff Milanaik.
