Second Storage Facility Project Starts in Washington Twp, Twenty Years Later

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A portion of a wooded lot on No Name Street at Greentree Road in Washington Township is being cleared ahead of development of a 112,350 square foot storage facility.

It appears that variations of a storage facility project in the wooded areas around Shoppers Lane goes back over 20 years, based on referenced Washington Township resolutions and newspaper reports.

Omega Storage Facility – No Name Street at Greentree Road

This is the second storage facility being developed right now in Washington Township, as over on Fries Mill Road alongside Verchios Produce and Deli, a Life Storage facility previously started construction and has progress to the actual building construction.

I’ve covered the Fries Mill Road project twice but with construction significantly progressed to be up-off-the-ground, I am getting many questions on what the project is… so it seemed logical to provide an update and images.

Omega Storage – No Name Street

You may not be aware of No Name Street but if you live in Washington Township you’ve likely driven it many times!

It is that small connector road located behind Turnersville Square / Kohl’s shopping center, which connects Greentree Road at the traffic light intersection with Shoppers Lane.

The large wooded lot along No Name Street is where the new storage facility is being developed. The building driveway entrance and front facade will face this small connector street.

It is my understanding that much of the perimeter trees on the lot will remain as a buffer.

Unfortunately I do not have a site plan for this project but it seems to include multiple buildings of which some of them will be two stories tall.

The project most recently moved through approval under Omega Storage of Turnersville, but it has had various LLC names over the last 20 years… possible due to sale of the project over time.

This final variation of the plan was approved in 2021, and had two extensions approved before development started this month.

It seems the first approval was given on a storage facility for the lots behind the extended Kohl’s shopping centers back in 2008… but that was after an earlier denial for the project.

A 2005 Courier Post article calls out a storage facility project for the lot was initially denied by the Township based on the property being zoned for shopping center and not storage facilities. A Superior Court judge then overruled that determination and approved the variance for a storage facility.

This likely puts the initial conception of the project back 20 years. Over that timeframe we’ve seen two significant economic downturns as well as what seems to be changes in ownership for the project.

In 2019 it is a mentioned that early on the project was approved at 81,950 square feet but a court order (likely related to the above legal action) allowed the project to be developed up to 125,000 square feet.

So with Omega in control of the project, they came back to Zoning and in 2019 were granted an approval which increased the square footage to 113,500sf (from the initial 81,950), by adding a second floor to one of the buildings.

Two years later In 2021 the developers returned again to the Zoning Board for additional changes which reduced the size to 112,350 square feet. It is stated this was to accommodate feedback from the Department of Environmental Protection related to wetland buffers. This change also reduces the footprint of the property (and likely preserving more trees).

Life Storage – Fries Mill Road

A new Life Storage brand storage facility is under development on Fries Mill Road next to Verchios Produce.

Representatives of Life Storage had previously shared with me they expect to open early fall of 2024.

As mentioned I’ve covered this twice now, But with significant development in place I’m getting a lot of comments and questions on it.

Simply this is just a photo update to show folks progress on the project as well as to clarify it’s a storage facility, for those who are unaware

This Fries Mill Road Storage Facility project is a three story building totaling 105,000 square feet. It will face Fries Mill Road (with Echo Shopping Plaza across the street).