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5 Million Sq Ft Warehouse Park Proposed For Logan at Commodore Barry Bridge. 20 Year Development Window

5 Million Sq Ft Warehouse Park Proposed For Logan at Commodore Barry Bridge. 20 Year Development Window

A new warehouse park is being proposed on approximately 615 acres of land on the South side of the Commodore Barry Bridge in New Jersey.

This area is known locally as Raccoon Island, and is currently undeveloped and appears to be farmland most recently.

Five buildings are planned for the project with a total of over 5 million square feet of space. The developer is asking for the approval to have a development window of 20 years to fully build out (once the first building receives final site plan approval)

Three of the five buildings will be over 1 million square feet each in size.

This information comes from a public legal notice, announcing a Logan Township Planning Board Hearing on Thursday September 8th. As we get more information on the project, there is a possibility for additional updates… including the meeting outcome.

This is a big project no doubt but honestly there are MANY millions of square feet of warehouses developed already in this western Gloucester County area, and many millions more planned.

But this plan has been in the works for a while with the town, with the Planning Board meeting in September is a public presentation of the developer’s the final plans.

Raccoon Island Redevelopment area in Logan at the Commodore Barry Bridge. A new warehouse park is being proposed

A year ago in August 2021, Logan Township created a redevelopment area for the exact same properties, which was called “Redevelopment Plan : Raccoon Island” (PDF) (Courier Post)

This was clearly driven by the developer’s earlier discussions with the town on the project.

Five million square feet of warehouses take a long time to negotiate and plan, even before the first shovel hits the ground!

Logan Township has been a hot-bed of warehouse development for over 50 years… long before the current mad rush to build distribution centers in New Jersey.

The towns location along 295 have easy access to major roadways which lead to the key high population Mid-Atlantic markets which has long attracted companies with distribution needs.

Because of the large warehouse buildout in town, Logan Township benefits from the lowest property tax ratio in Gloucester County.

This is absolutely beneficial to residents who then receive lower property taxes. But it’s also a key aspect for developers and companies who will save significantly on the large tax bills a massive building will have. I would assume that is also a factor fueling the interest in Logan Twp warehouse development.

The broader area of (south) West Gloucester County is also benefitting from the location’s access to large volume roadways, large swaths of available land and in most of those towns… favorable tax rates.

As many already know this area of Gloucester County (Logan, Woolwich and Swedesboro) is rapidly becoming a warehouse distribution “juggernaut”, with massive new warehouses recently developed… and MANY more are approved.

42Freeway has been following along with these plans and approvals for years but previously wasn’t positioned to follow them. I’ll soon have a some “catch-up” posts on the area.

I am currently working on a main page redesign for 42Freeway which will better highlight different types of posts.

Other communities throughout South Jersey are experiencing interest from developers in developing warehouses also. Basically it almost seems wherever there is undeveloped land someone is interested in putting warehouses there. We recently have covered proposed projects in Blackwood and Deptford

Keep scrolling and reading for more details as well as some property tax commentary.

Raccoon Island Logan Township is along the Delaware River next to the Commodore Barry Bridge. Pureland is also in Logan, and has been successful for decades

Raccoon Island Warehouses Overview

The developer behind this project is listed as Logan-Apex, LLC.

Checking the business documents this leads to an office owned by Crow Holdings, which is the holding company for Tramwell Crow, a large developer based in Dallas Texas.

Crow Holdings Industrial page states they have 60 million sq ft of industrial space developed at a $6.4 Billion project cost.

They have $19.8 Billion in active industrial projects in process.

For the Logan Township project they are proposing five buildings.

  • Building 1 is proposed to be 1,170,000+/- square feet with 170+/- loading docks, 250+/- trailer parking spaces (165+/- banked trailer parking spaces), and 510+/- car parking spaces (190+/- banked car parking spaces).
  • Building 2 is proposed to be 890,500+/- square feet with 150+/- loading docks, 190+/- trailer parking spaces (75+/- banked trailer parking spaces), and 390+/- car parking spaces (210+/- banked car parking spaces).
  • Building 3 is proposed to be 1,199,250+/- square feet with 190+/- loading docks, 290+/- trailer parking spaces (145+/- banked trailer parking spaces), and 480+/- car parking spaces.
  • Building 4 is proposed to be 1,218,750+/- square feet with 200+/- loading docks, 250+/- trailer parking spaces (230+/- banked trailer parking spaces), and 500+/- car parking spaces (110+/- banked car parking spaces)
  • Building 5 is proposed to be 691,900+/- square feet with 120+/- loading docks, 190+/- trailer parking spaces (70+/- banked trailer parking spaces), and 325+/- car parking spaces.

The plan will also include “off-tract” improvements, including utility infrastructure, road improvements and more.,

As mentioned, since this is such a large project the developer has asked for a development window of 20 years.

The legal notice words that request as:

… grant General Development Plan Approval for a period of twenty (20) years from the date on which the Applicant receives Final Site Plan Approval of the first section of the proposed industrial park

Logan-Apex legal notice for Logan Twp Raccoon Island development.

Basically they are asking for approval on a framework of the fully completed industrial warehouse property now, and will fill in buildings overtime.

I’d imagine that over time as each building comes up for development there is a likelihood of further Planning Board approval requests… each building could vary as it gets time to develop.

I see this actually as a fair way for the developer to present this to the town.

Even if all of the buildings are NOT 100% defined at this time, the core approval now defines the full scope of the project and allows Logan and other government entities to make sure all infrastructure that is initially developed will support the fully completed project.

Tax Benefits – Smart Growth for West Gloucester County

As mentioned, Logan Township has for many decades utilized it’s location to establish itself as a key area for distribution centers.

The Pureland Industrial Park was probably the earliest known industrial warehouse development in the area.

In the late 80s through the 90s I worked for Yorkship Business Supply out of Cherry Hill, and even back then Pureland was known as a big deal in South Jersey distribution centers. And the area has grown significantly with more warehouses.

And with that has come significant tax benefits to residents, and warehouse owners.

The Gloucester County Property Tax ratio chart

Logan Township while having a large area of land (26 sq miles), only has a resident population of around 6,000 residents.

Much of Logan has been farmland or distribution centers.

This also means they have a small School District… which in most towns is a very large expense.

Now consider that Gloucester Township is about the same land mass size (slightly smaller at 23 sq miles) but has TEN times the population of Logan.

And in Logan all of those distribution centers are very valuable, and pay a lot of taxes.

So with a lot of taxes coming in from big buildings and businesses, coupled with a small population and equally small school district costs.. that equals a low tax rate.

As an example, consider a home assessed at $250,000 (Gloucester County reassessments were done a few years ago, so most of these numbers across towns should match up

Estimated taxes on a home assessed at $250,000 in several area communities:

TownshipRateProperty Taxes
Logan Township2.1655412.50
Deptford Township3.2248060.00
Washington Township3.2858212.50
Monroe Township3.6419102.50
Gloucester Township (Camden County) *3.8869715.00

Note: Gloucester Township is in Camden County and it’s property assessments may have been done in a different timeframe which may slightly skew the number.

Simply the homeowner property taxes in Logan township are almost half of core 42Freeway area towns.

More on this in a subsequent post.

Meeting Details

This is an in-person meeting

Thursday, September 8, 2022, commencing at 6:30 P.M.
Logan Township Municipal Building
125 Main Street
Bridgeport, New Jersey,