Two Warehouses Proposed For Mantua. GCL Station Impact?

Based out of North Jersey, family owned Driscoll Foods is looking to expand its presence in South Jersey with two warehouse buildings proposed for Mantua Township in property across the street from the former Sony complex (Lambs Road).

UPDATE: Article was updated to include official response from the GCL project team regarding this warehouse project and impacts on GCL plans for a station at the same site.

The project looks to gain Mantua Township Land Use approval at a hearing scheduled for next week, November 19^th (7pm)

One interesting aspect about the proposal that might not be readily apparent to some is that the unrelated Glassboro-Camden Line (GCL) project documents show a train station is also planned for this area at Lambs Road, with the associated large parking area and garage for the train station being at the exact same location as the smaller Driscoll warehouse building. Seems two different projects are interested in the same property? Read on for more

Submitted site plan for two warehouses proposed for Mantua Twp

For the proposed warehouses, the location is about 28 acres of undeveloped land across the street from the former Sony Music complex (to the North, other side of Lambs Road).

The property has direct frontage and road access to Lambs Road via the existing Columbia Drive. The site is somewhat an upside down “U”, starting at Lambs Road and then wrapping around behind an existing warehouse building, continuing East behind the Cloud 10 Car Wash and the recently closed Rite Aid.

42Freeway overlay on to Google Maps, to better show project placement

According to the documents submitted for the warehouse approval, all aspects of this warehouse project are on the undeveloped properties (other than extending Columbia Drive into the new warehouse parking lots).

It’s an interesting property to describe because other than about 650 feet of road frontage on Lambs Road, the bulk of the acreage sits behind other buildings on Lambs Road (to the South), Tyler-Mills Road (North), Woodbury-Glassboro Road (East), … and then the Conrail railroad tracks to the West.

The properties are zoned as Industrial District, so the warehouses are a permitted use on the properties.

That being said there are some requested variances such as building height, buffer distance and loading berth sizes… which require the approval from the Land Use Board.

Glassboro-Camden Line (GCL) Mantua-Pitman Train Station Impacts?

I will soon start my coverage of the Glassboro-Camden Line (GCL) which is proposed along the existing railroad tracks on the western border of the properties.

If you’re unfamiliar with the GCL, it is a proposed commuter light rail line with the goal to connect Glassboro with Camden (and in Camden offer pedestrian access to the existing Patco). The GCL project includes approximately fourteen railroad stations along the way, in communities within the counties of Camden and Gloucester.

So again this article is not about the full GCL project… I will be getting to it soon. But I noticed a crossover aspect of the warehouse proposal and GCL projects.

Glassboro-Camden Line Mantua-Pitman station location from the Final Environmental Impact Statement Document – Project Description

As part of my research for the start of my GCL coverage, I’ve been studying the train stations and visiting the locations ahead of an introductory “this is what the GCL is all about” article.

One of the key GCL project documents to describe the project scope is their Final Environmental Impact Statement which lists all of the stations and locations in the Chapter 1 Project Description section.

And it grabbed my attention that the GCL Project Team is planning the “Mantua-Pitman” train station where the tracks meet up with Lambs Road… With a significant GCL train station parking area/ garage planned exactly where Driscoll foods is looking to build a 72,000 square foot warehouse!

The GCL document describes the “Mantua-Pitman” station parking as a garage facility, initially supporting 475 cars and then 15 years later… 1,200 cars.

Clearly both large projects cannot be developed on the same site! And if you know me.. I have to understand more!

UPDATE: official statement from the GCL project team below regarding this warehouse project and plans for a GCL Train Station at the same site:

The GCL Project Team is aware of the proposed development at this location and its potential implications for the planned public parking lot. Although we have made several efforts to engage with the developer to discuss these considerations, we have not yet received a response. As the project progresses, the GCL Project Team remains committed to proactive coordination with stakeholders involved in adjacent real estate developments, such as this one, to ensure the success of both projects.
Glassboro-Camden Line Project Team Statement

Top Map shows where the smaller warehouse is proposed. The bottom map shows how that exact same property was “earmarked” by the GCL team as a large parking garage facility for a train station

I fully understand that it’s one of the challenges of planning a large Government sponsored project such as the Glassboro-Camden Line which can take many years of analysis and design to get to the point of funding and development… and during that time the rest of the world is moving forward with their own plans!

Compare that to private companies like Wawa who when planning a new store which can take years to gain approvals, Wawa (or it’s developers) will simply go in and buy up the properties or lock them in with agreements.. but the Government needs to do full analysis and designs before they can acquire properties.

According to the Glassboro-Camden Line website, the GCL project is currently in the Preliminary Engineering and Design Phase which is intended to finalize the engineering design documents, investigate right-of-way acquisitions and easements as well as utility relocations… leading to the final deliverables which include Design, Build, Operate, Maintain and Finance.

So it is possible that plans have already changed for this GCL Mantua-Pitman Station (beyond the published Final EIS document) but won’t be made available until this current Preliminary Engineering and Design Phase is completed (est 2025).

I should note that this appears to already be the second location for this station… as older documents from 2013 show the train station was planned slightly North, at the Tylers-Mill Road crossing.

The public notice for the warehouse meeting was put in the South Jersey Times on Thursday November 7th just a few days after the election, which I then noticed over the long holiday weekend. Mantua does a good job with putting Land Use applications and associated site plans online ahead of Land Use meetings, but Driscoll Foods documents were not available online until this morning (I emailed about them over the weekend)… so with a few days to the meeting I wanted to get this online.

More to come on GCL soon!