Revitalizing Camden

Building on the investment of more than $400 million in 22 projects already under construction or which have “aggressive sponsorship” and “momentum,” the Greater Camden Partnership, on April 14, released a 55-page development plan for $440 million dollars in new projects that would attract 3,300 new residents and 2,700 new jobs to the downtown area.

The relocation of the Parkade Building and its occupants, and the recreation of Roosevelt Plaza as a new “marquee attraction” immediately west of City Hall are key elements of the Greater Camden Partnership (GCP) Plan.

“This plan is a bridge between Camden’s Master Plan and the work of the Camden Economic Recovery Board as it directs the State’s $175 million investment in the City’s revitalization,” said GCP Executive Director Steve Dragos.

Describing Camden as “a City whose time has come,” GCP says that some of the projects already under construction and committed will benefit from the State’s Economic Recovery Board funding of more then $60 million for six of the new projects listed as “Current Commitments.”

GCP’s projection of future projects forecasts the need for the private sector to step in to fund and build new projects and rehabilitate existing buildings which GCP says “will be driven by substantial future demands for housing, retail, and office space in Downtown Camden.”

Predicting that the new development will generate $5.6 million in new real estate taxes for the City, GCP projects that in Downtown Camden in the ten-year period between 2002 and 2012:
* Residents will increase from 700 to 4,500
* The student population will grow from 9,500 to 12,600
* The work force will grow from 10,300 to 12,750
* Visitors to the Waterfront will increase from 1,945,000 to 5,795,000

GCP calls its 10-point plan a vision for a “master strategy for revitalizing Center City,” that capitalizes on the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that exists” to combine the:
* City’s existing assets,
* Plans and proposals that are underway, and
* Assistance from the State.

Key points in the GCP Plan, in addition to the creation of Roosevelt Plaza as the downtown area’s “marquee attraction,” include:
* Coordinating the bus, PATCO and Light Rail that intersect at the Rand Transportation Center to create a people-friendly, regional transit terminal
* A “new office core” with 600,000 square feet of rentable space and 225,000 square feet of retail space
* Expansion of the Waterfront, including new restaurants, waterfront housing, and a hotel
* Creation of a “University town” along the Cooper Street corridor
* Creation of a hi-tech, research, and manufacturing corridor between Market and Federal Streets, anchored by the expansion of L-3
* Expansion of the healthcare district to the south of the proposed City Hall marquee complex
* New, mixed-use development along the Market Street corridor from Broadway to the Waterfront

The result, according to GCP, will be “a unified Center City, providing a place where residents, employees, students and visitors will be attracted to live, work, learn, and enjoy leisure time.”

GCP’s proposal suggests that for “the first time in a half-century Camden has the opportunity to reverse the trends of decline and disinvestment” and make its Center City the “economic engine” of a city-wide revitalization.

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Author: Press Release