Meeting Offers First Look at Plans for Proposed Food Innovation and Retail Center in Camden

CAMDEN – The members of a public-private partnership who want to turn the long-abandoned 124-year-old former Campbell Soup warehouse at 300 North Delaware Ave into a four-floor food innovation and retail center revealed its interior plans during a community stakeholders briefing and feedback session on Wednesday, August 8, at Rutgers-Camden.

The way food entrepreneur, celebrity chef and member of the public-private partnership Aaron McCargo Jr., sees it, the center’s first floor would house a marketplace and several small kitchen areas. The second floor would have restaurants, a cigar bar, traditional bars and office space. The third floor would have a larger kitchen, event space, additional office space, as well as a shared lounge and shared conference space and several shared workspaces. The fourth floor would have a gym and an art gallery, and a fish and grow farm would encompass all four floors.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

“It hits five o’clock and everyone who works and lives in Camden knows it becomes a ghost town. People still live here after 5 (p.m.). People still want these things… without getting in the car and going to Cherry Hill, Philly or any place like that,” McCargo said of the plans during the meeting.

The center will collaborate with those proposing to build a food business development center and a food cooperative in the city, said Nichelle N. Pace, the Camden Business Association’s board of directors vice president. The association is also a member of the public-private partnership behind the center.

Pace said if a feasibility study underway determines that the 300 North Delaware Avenue site is not feasible for the center, other Camden sites will be considered. Pace also said that regardless of where the center is built, much of the center’s staff will come from Camden and many of the jobs will not require a college degree.

One stakeholder at the meeting asked where parking would be for center employees and users and how much those individuals would have to pay to park. Pace said those details are still to be determined. Another stakeholder asked if the site would be family-friendly. McCargo said the center would have baby-changing rooms, its gym would have equipment for all ages, an all-dessert restaurant and an observatory.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

In an interview with TAPinto Camden, Pace explained why this center will succeed while others have failed.

“You have two Camden-born and bred folks (behind this center),” she said, referring to herself and McCargo. “We have been approached about doing a food hall or doing a food court, but those were all very basic, one-level ideas. We need something that has innovation tied to it if it is going to sustain (and this is).”

According to Pace, a survey will be sent out in the coming months to seek more public feedback on the center, and the feasibility study will be completed. In addition, the cost of the center, the bulk of its financing, must still be secured. According to Pace, the building has a historic designation attached to it, meaning any plans must also be approved by the state historic preservation office in addition to being approved by the City Council, Zoning Board and Planning Board.

“There is a lot of leg work when you are dealing with a historic building,” Pace said in the interview. “You cannot just jump with both feet into buying the site without knowing what kind of pushback you are going to get for your site plans.”

Thus, Pace said, it is too early to set a construction start date, but once the first shovels are put in the ground it could take approximately two years to complete the center.

Several stakeholders at the meeting not directly affiliated with the public-private partnership appeared to support the project.

“This is phenomenal and covers a lot of ground, especially when you have a facility you can rent,” said Yocontalie (“Connie”) Jackson, whose website states she is a member of the city’s arts and historical commission. “Being able to buy fresh fruit, all those things, is phenomenal.”

Added Kevin Barfield, who described himself as a volunteer for the Camden for Clean Air and a past president of the Camden County NAACP, and several city organizations for several decades, “Nothing has ever come on this level that reaches the community… I am so happy I came here tonight.”

No opponents of the project spoke at the meeting,

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net