Commercial Development Company Inc. closed on the 65-acre site
HAMILTON -- The Congoleum factory has sat empty since the company vacated it in late 2014, but a new owner has emerged and has plans to clean up the contaminated site and redevelop it.
Commercial Development Company Inc., a leading North American commercial real estate and brownfield redevelopment company, closed on the 65-acre site Dec. 22, the company announced Tuesday.
Congoleum, which manufactures, cuts and distributes vinyl flooring materials, wanted to consolidate its operations and in October 2014, closed the 1 million-square-foot plant on Sloan Avenue and laid off 65 employees.
Decades of manufacturing resulted in environmental contamination, which prohibited a traditional real estate transaction, CDC said.
In fact, another firm, New Mill Capital Holdings, had been in talks in late 2014 to buy it, but cited the "ancient" plant, access issues and environmental remediation as obstacles.
But CDC's plan allowed Congoleum to sell its surplus factory, divest legacy environmental liabilities and guarantee environmental clean-up of the site. One of its affiliates, Environmental Liability Transfer, Inc. posted financial assurance and assumed responsibility of the environmental issues.
EnviroAnalytics Group, another affiliate, is working with the state on finalizing a cleanup plan and following remediation and demolition, will prepare the site for future redevelopment.
Company officials say the site sits in a prime location with its proximity to Interstate 295, Trenton and the Hamilton train station, which serves 5,000 passengers daily to New York City and Philadelphia.
"The logistical attributes and location of this industrial campus in Hamilton represents a tremendous opportunity for new development, and we are very excited to see the economic and environmental benefits this transaction brings to the area," executive vice president Steve Collins said. "CDC's acquisition and ELT's assumption of environmental risk is the first step toward repurposing and returning this site back into productive use."
The plant is the lone industrial building in an area that the township has long hoped would become a cultural destination. Redeveloping the site into a hotel or transit village has been its desires since the layoffs were first reported.
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.