A national issue of what to do with disused office buildings in the post-pandemic world will play out at the upcoming Mount Laurel Planning Board meeting when members consider proposals to replace offices with warehouses.
The owner of a massive commercial office complex on about 34 acres on Gaither Drive proposes to demolish all but one building and construct a 437,262-square-foot warehouse with 107 loading docks.
A 45,120-square-foot expansion of existing warehouse space on an adjoining property at 204 East Park Drive also is scheduled before the Planning Board, which meets June 8 at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Court Room at 100 Mount Laurel Road.
And yet another warehouse project, with testimony continued from the May 4 board meeting, calls for a commercial office building at 907 Pleasant Valley Avenue to be torn down and a 214,665-square-foot refrigerated warehouse to be constructed.
A developer plans to transform 34 acres on Gaither Drive in Mount Laurel from commercial buildings to a 437,262-square-foot warehouse (yellow border). One of the commercial buildings would be retained and the others demolished. In a separate proposal, a property owner (orange border) wants to add a 45,120-square-foot warehouse next to the existing one.
Office space, particularly with more employees working remotely, has fallen vacant across the country and owners are trying to repurpose former work spaces as residential living or, as in Mount Laurel, tearing down offices and replacing them with warehouses. The Pleasant Valley Avenue offices, for example, were used as a call center for Freedom Mortgage Corp., according to property records.
"Office-to-industrial conversions typically require the demolition of the office building, not the retrofit of the building into a warehouse, which needs high ceilings, vast parking space and additional power," according to the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, an organization of developers and owners.
As vacancy rates for office buildings have risen, the vacancy rates for industrial space, such as warehouses, remain relatively low, which "will continue to support growth in rents and property values," according to an association forecast for the first quarter of this year.
Gaither Drive project
This site, bounded by Gaither Drive and East Park Drive, now contains several one-story office buildings. Owner Gateway Park LLC, has five office buildings, ranging in size from 50,158 square feet to 86,217 square feet, on the land.
Four of the five buildings would be demolished, according to an environmental review letter on file with the Township. A 65,451-square-foot office building would be retained.
Besides 107 loading docks, the 437,262-square-foot warehouse would have 224 car parking spaces and 104 trailer parking spaces, according to plans.
The property is zoned industrial.
East Park Drive project
Owned by Leventhal Realty (NJ) LLC, based in Kearny, Hudson County, this site has an existing warehouse used by Fedway Associates Inc., which calls itself "New Jersey's leading wine and spirits distributor."
Plans call for an expansion, with a 45,120-square-foot, free-standing warehouse next to the existing one.
Pleasant Valley Avenue project
Continued testimony is scheduled on the proposed refrigerated warehouse that would have 28 loading docks, 130 car parking spaces and 25 trailer parking spaces.
Owner NJ Mount Laurel Pleasant LLC of Bethesda, Maryland, seeks approval for preliminary- and final-major-site plans for the project on the 12-acre site in addition to a height variance. It proposes a building height of 54.9 feet where 50 feet are permitted.
A 47,366-square-foot, one-story office building would be demolished.
The property is zoned specially restricted industry.
The Planning Board has begun to hear testimony on a proposal to tear down the commercial office building (yellow border) at 907 Pleasant Valley Avenue in Mount Laurel and build a 214,665-square-foot refrigerated warehouse.
70and73.com has a new, regular feature article called Fixtures, which celebrates the aspects of our suburban life that have become fixtures in our world. Often, they can be businesses. But not always. If you have a nominee, send it to contactus@70and73.com.
70and73.com FIXTURES:
- Staying power: Cherry Hill's Springdale Farm has been working the ground for 74 years.
- For 30-year owner of Diane's water ices in Voorhees, life has been continuous flavor hunt.
- Inspired by Grateful Dead, Woodstock Trading Company in Cherry Hill around since 1980s.
- Online orders? Not at 65-year-old Carl's Shoes in Moorestown. It's all about 'sit and fit.'
- Erlton Bicycle Shop in Cherry Hill has spent nearly 50 years putting suburbia on two wheels.
