Secaucus-based Hartz Mountain recently withdrew its application to redevelop the former Hercules manufacturing site near Parsippany into a five-building, 2.5 million-square-foot commercial warehouse property.
The company, which announced details of the project in September – it would leave approximately 500 acres of the 820-acre site as open space – withdrew its application for zoning relief, an application with the Roxbury Planning Board meetings.
The news was first reported by Fred Aun of TapInto Roxbury.
Officials at Hartz Mountain, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.
The site would have had tremendous impact in Roxbury.
Hartz, in earlier filings, said more than half of the property would be made available to the public in the form of trails, parks and sport fields — with large portions of the property undeveloped.
The company said only 213 acres would be developed for commercial use. In addition to the approximately 500 acres that was scheduled to preserved as open space, an additional 13 acres will be utilized to satisfy Roxbury’s required affordable housing obligation, based on the township’s 2020 legal settlement with the Fair Share Housing Center.
At the time, Hartz said the project is a spec project with no particular prospective tenants.
The project was the subject of much discussion in town – and at planning board meetings. But, according to TapInto Roxbury, town officials were surprised by the decision.
Roxbury Planning Board Chairman Charles Bautz told TapInto that Hartz Mountain’s decision took him by surprise.
“It blows my mind,” he said. “I have no idea why they would pull it.”
