Giant warehouses are coming to Jackson. Here's what's likely to happen

There's no more available land in Lakewood's 2,200-acre industrial park, the second largest municipal industrial complex in New Jersey, so where are developers who want to build new warehouses in the area going?

Jackson.

Lured by available land and its three exits off Interstate 195, the east-west artery that connects the Jersey Shore to the New Jersey Turnpike, developers are eying the township’s tree-covered land.

You don't need to look further than the 1 million square feet of warehouse space now under construction on the edge of Adventure Crossing USA, the sports and entertainment complex on Monmouth Road at the I-195 interchange. Those two warehouses, which do not yet have tenants, are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.

The boom of online shopping, fueling the need for next-day or same-day shipping and fulfillment, has continued to gin up demand for warehouse space across New Jersey even as buying over the internet has softened from its pandemic-fueled highs in 2020 and 2021.

A lack of available buildable land around New Jersey's ports and along the Turnpike, a vital north-south route, has pushed warehouse development into the state's suburban communities, including Monmouth and Ocean counties and, along nearby connector highways like Interstate 195 and Route 33, a state road.

"It is just a desperate search for sites that have some accessibility," said economist James Hughes, former dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

At the same time, Lakewood's population growth has fueled a regional need for warehouse space.

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Lakewood's industrial parks don't have any available land for new warehouses, said Steven Reinman, executive director of Lakewood's Office of Economic Development. "It has been quite a long time since we were facing any significant vacancy," he said.

The need is spilling over into surrounding towns like Howell and Jackson. "Jackson definitely has the land to work with," Reinman said. "We are happy to see some interesting things going on there."

“It is the biggest industrial market in Ocean County, where are they going to go?” said Douglas Twyman, senior managing director at Colliers, a commercial real estate brokerage. "They are not going to Brick. They are not going to Toms River. Jackson is a logical spot for industrial development, close to 195."

Residents near these warehouses worry about the developments' effect on their community.

"The city keeps saying that traffic is not going to be an issue, but we are getting tons of trucks and big rings and things. It's extremely dangerous," said Tracy McKinney, a resident on Holly Tree Court, near the Adventure Crossing warehouses. "We picked Jackson so we wouldn't be around that."

Township planners are reviewing plans that could bring a total of more than 1 million square feet of additional warehouse space to Jackson.

For instance, a developer wants to build seven 100,000-square-foot warehouses on Wright Debow Road. Another proposal would seek to build two warehouses on West Commodore Boulevard, totaling 340,060 square feet.

Over the next several months, planners are expected to consider developer proposals to construct a 60,023-square-foot warehouse on Cedar Swamp Road and a 132,500-square-foot warehouse on West Commodore Boulevard.

"A big reason why Jackson is so popular with warehouses is because of the tremendous growth of Lakewood" and the Orthodox community, said Adventure Crossing USA's developer Vito Cardinale, founder and president of Cardinale Enterprises. "The I-195 corridor has a couple of exits in Jackson. They are very, very productive, easy-to-reach properties that warehouses would be a benefit on."

Mark Fowler, managing director for Newmark in East Brunswick, has watched the industrial market grow on Route 34 in Wall and on Route 33 near the New Jersey Turnpike.

In some respects, Jackson is well positioned. Land for industrial development is in demand and it's close to the Turnpike, the destination for industrial users. "I think as long as the demand stays, people are going to have to go to Jackson whether they like it or not," Fowler said. "It has a lot of potential. Once a building goes up ... and the first tenant signs a lease, then it will snowball."

Another question: will large commercial brokerage firms consider Jackson to be a part of the Exit 7A market? "If it has that then the cachet goes up," he said.

Another factor: affordability. Warehouse rents have shot up in places like Bergen County, which is $15.10 per square foot and Central Jersey, including Robbinsville, at $13.32 per square foot, said site specialist John Boyd Jr., principal of the Boyd Company Inc. of Boca Raton, Florida. Meanwhile, rent in Jackson is at $11.15 per square foot, he added.

"Jackson presents a cost savings of millions of dollars annually," Boyd said.

Elected Ocean County officials also has made it easier to locate fulfillment and distribution centers within their municipalities at a time when there is organized local opposition elsewhere, Boyd said. "Absent any type of real alternative industry, they're fishing where the fish are."

In Jackson, environmentalists are sounding the alarm. The township has sensitive environmental and watershed land, said Doug O'Malley state director of Environment New Jersey.

"The town of Jackson is working to give a green light to every development and industrial project they can," O'Malley said. "What you are seeing now is a free for all and you're ending up with watershed lands that are being paved over ,and unsustainable levels of traffic."

The township's trees and woodlands are important to the environment and to protect water quality, said Janet Tauro, NJ board chair of Clean Water Action.

"When these projects are looked at, I feel they are looked at as well, 'the zoning allows it, there's a chance for employment, access to 195,' but the environment gets short shrift," Tauro said.

David P. Willis: dwillis@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Will Jackson NJ become a magnet for warehouses?