By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — Mayor Dave Fried wants the Township Council to authorize new tax incentives for a 1-million-square-foot warehouse project that Matrix is proposing to build in a section of its business park near Route 539.
Matrix has agreed to build the mega-warehouse “on spec” in an already-approved 176-acre redevelopment zone if tax incentives are provided to make the project economically feasible, the mayor said. State law allows municipalities to offer property tax abatements to spur economic activity in redevelopment zones.
Mayor Fried said he will be presenting a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) proposal to the Township Council Thursday (July 12) that, if approved, would provide the tax breaks Matrix needs to move forward while still providing the township with $13.75 million in total revenue over the next 20 years.
Executives from the giant online retailer Amazon joined Gov. Chris Christie at a Statehouse news conference in May to announce a commitment to build two large warehouse distribution centers, each about 1 million square feet, in New Jersey in 2013. Amazon officials said at the time that they had not yet chosen the locations.
Mayor Fried declined to discuss Tuesday whether Amazon might be eyeing the Matrix property in the Southeast Industrial Area redevelopment zone for one of its New Jersey distribution warehouses.
”Matrix is building this on speculation,” Mayor Fried said. “I will tell you that I don’t think they will have any trouble filling the space.”
Matrix Senior Vice President Ken Griffin did not return messages Tuesday before The Messenger-Press went to print.
The Southeast Industrial Area redevelopment zone where the warehouse would be built is comprised of nine mostly vacant lots located between Interstate 195 and Gordon Road near the township’s border with Upper Freehold. The rest of the 434-acre Matrix Business Park is not in the redevelopment zone.
Last fall, the Township Council adopted a redevelopment plan for the nine Matrix lots, along with a five-year PILOT program designed to help Matrix offset the expense of a required environmental cleanup. A 64-acre section of the tract closest to Gordon Road is contaminated with arsenic, dieldrin and chlordane from pesticide use associated with farming in the 1940s and the cleanup is expected to cost $813,000, according to a consultant’s report done last year.
The ordinance listed for introduction on the Township Council’s agenda tonight (Thursday) would offer a longer 20-year PILOT program. Township Economic Development Director Tim McGough said Tuesday the proposed ordinance provides a “second option” that would “work better for the financial model that’s going to allow them to build what they’re going to build on spec.”
Mr. McGough said the payments to the municipality required under the PILOT would increase each year of the 20-year program. For example, in 2013 the payment in lieu of taxes would be $342,903; in 2022 the payment would be $628,777; and in 2032 the payment would be $1,469,125.
Collectively, the municipality would receive $13,755,040 over 20 years in lieu of property taxes, according township officials.

