By Rick Taylor, Mayor of Pennsauken Township
Business is booming in Pennsauken. There are a lot of large companies that are making the decision to call our town home.
You have Princeton Tec, a manufacturer of flashlights, head lamps, and other technical lighting sources for outdoor and scuba use, moving into Pennsauken, bringing over 150 jobs with them. There’s also Stay Fresh Foods, a company that provides high pressure processing for the food and beverage industry; they’ve already bought their new building on Sherman Ave. This will create another 40 jobs for our town. Then there’s Berry & Homer, a large format digital printer specializing in printed graphic and visual communications like car wraps, murals and banners; they’re making the move to town from Philadelphia. Red Hawk Distribution, a company that makes and distributes pillows and cushions, is making the trip from New York. Dicalite, a company specializing in diatomaceous earth and perlite products, has also made the move to Pennsauken.
In March, I helped cut the ribbon on Restaurant Depot’s new 75,000 square-foot facility adjacent to their old property. Since opening in town in 2000, this wholesale distributor to the food industry has invested millions into Pennsauken. And there’s Material Handling Supply, Inc., a company that offers a complete line of new and used/reconditioned forklift trucks for sale and rent, as well as an extensive selection of material handling parts and services; the move of their headquarters to town will create almost 60 new jobs.
This is all very exciting business news for Pennsauken.
And it’s not just new businesses coming to town; LiDestri, which came back to town several years ago, is currently expanding, with the potential to create dozens of new jobs; Commercial Furniture Interiors, or CFI, is currently undergoing expansion to make room for more inventory; Puratos, which initially broke ground on a 170,000 square feet, $42 million state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in 2011, has already exceeded their original plans for expansion; and SodaStream, located along Thomas Busch Memorial Highway, is also undertaking a project that can potentially create almost 30 new jobs.
The bulk of this business growth would not be made possible without the New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act. Passed in 2013, this piece of legislation merged New Jersey’s economic development and incentive programs in order to enhance the state’s ability to attract and retain businesses, all while creating new jobs. Using the incentives offered through New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act, we’ve been able to entice businesses to come here. But it’s not as easy as waving a magic wand. Our economic development team of Terry Carr and Larry Cardwell have put in a lot of work, both with these companies and with state officials, to make these business moves a reality. Some of these deals have been several years in the making. And they’re not done; currently, Larry and Terry are working with four additional companies that have been approved for tax incentives to make the move into town or undertake development projects here.
Within the last five years, Pennsauken businesses have invested well over $100 million into our community. And with the incentives provided through the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program, made available to businesses through the Economic Opportunity Act, our town will offer at least 500 new jobs by 2018. In addition, we’ve spoken to these new businesses looking to hire and asked them to strongly consider Pennsauken residents for available positions that they’re qualified for.
And we can’t forget the many smaller businesses that have hung their shingle in town: the mom and pop stores, local chains, and sole proprietorships that make up the vibrant fabric of our community. From the family doctor’s office to the place with the best hoagie, we have businesses of all shapes and sizes here in Pennsauken. And whether they are bringing dozens of new jobs to town, or just making sure that a family can get some groceries for dinner, they are important to our town and the people who live here.
