Holt Logistics Corp. plans on buying Paulsboro riverfront land
PAULSBORO — Holt Logistics Corp., which services terminals in the Ports of Philadelphia, appears set to add about 10 acres of borough property along Riverview Avenue adjacent to its shipping facility here.
The Borough Council recently approved selling the properties for $1.8 million to Boro Redevelopment Partners, a corporation buying the land for Holt. Since early 2022, Holt separately has bought at least 10 other small properties along Riverview Avenue, spending about $2.8 million in the process.
The sale requires the company to agree to a redevelopment agreement with the borough that will govern what happens on the land. And the borough still must satisfy a demand from Holt to change the area’s residential zoning to a manufacturing zone or something similar.
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Holt, which has headquarters in Gloucester City, did not respond to a request to comment on its proposal. Its Paulsboro Marine Terminal encompasses 190 acres, with three berths.
Holt plans to use the area for offices and training facilities, to be developed in the next two to five years and not to expand the Paulsboro to terminal, according to its representations to Paulsboro.
“And we’re in negotiations with that,” Mayor Gary Stevenson said. “Look. They may want to do certain things. We may not want them to do things down there. We just want it all in writing. It’s basically the lawyers are dealing with it, to be honest with you.
Stevenson leaves office at the end of the year and expects an agreement by that time.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Stevenson said. “Like I said, I don’t want to see it turn into containers. Heavy trucks going down that street and all that.”
Holt paid between $165,000 to $750,000 per property in its private purchases, with the $750,000 going to buy 95 Riverview Avenue from the American Canadian Youth Bishopric. Most properties were bought for $250,000, according to tax records.
The borough land basically runs along the Delaware River between Mantua and Nassau Avenues. The area for years was the focus of a plan for residential development built around a marina.
Stevenson said the project never gelled over several generations.
“In the meantime, Holt bought out other houses, other properties,” Stevenson said. “And basically, our big footprint, that we were maybe going to use, shrunk. And there’s just not enough land there for us to do anything anymore.”
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Borough OKs selling riverfront land to Holt, talks continue on uses
