Council plans action on mill redevelopment

Pa. company pitched office buildings at Roebling site

By: Molly Petrilla
   ROEBLING — After more than three decades of abandonment, the former steel mill site may soon return to life.
   The Township Council planned to introduce an ordinance at its meeting last night authorizing it to sell the site to Preferred Real Estate Investments, Inc. of Conshohocken, Pa.
   The ordinance will be discussed at a public hearing before it is passed in late September or early October.
   While portions of the 176-acre property will remain in the township’s hands, the majority of it — about 160 to 170 acres, according to Township Administrator Richard Brook — will be available for Preferred Real Estate’s redevelopment project.
   The company will likely construct an "office campus" which will be rented out to corporate clients, while the unsold portions will be leased to the Roebling Historical Society for a new museum and to NJ Transit.
   In addition, the area classified as "slag" — the byproduct that forms when steel is created or melded together — will remain undeveloped.
   According to Mr. Brook, the township is also working with Preferred Real Estate to ensure that some developed areas can be enjoyed by both residents and inhabitants of the new office buildings.
   For example, he said, the township would like to see a lighted walkway installed along the Delaware River.
   Though the council originally planned to introduce the ordinance at its Sept. 6 meeting, Mr. Brook said "as with all negotiations, there are times when issues arise at the last moment."
   "Not everything had been firmly agreed upon by the parties (by Sept. 6)," he said. "And the township decided it was better to regroup, talk to the company, and then move forward when the issues and concerns had been resolved."
   Mr. Brook also said the ordinance and development plans will be "much easier to discuss once we know that both sides have agreed on all the points."
   Overall, Mr. Brook said, the development possibility is "a tremendous opportunity, not only for the township, but for the village of Roebling."
   After the Roebling Steel Mill closed in 1974, the site passed through multiple hands, many of which used it as a dump site.
   By 1983, the EPA had declared the 200-acre property a Superfund site in need of serious attention and toxic waste removal.
   To date, the EPA has spent $46 million on cleaning up the site, and for the past three years, the township has been in negotiations with Preferred Real Estate.
   "We’re looking at a property that was the cornerstone of that part of the community for many years," Mr. Brook added. "The opportunity to revitalize the property is something that the township wants to seize and take advantage of because this has long-term positive implications for the whole township."