N.J. approves $164M in breaks to lure company to Camden

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved $164 million in tax credits Tuesday for Voorhees-based American Water Works to encourage the company to relocate to Camden.

If American Water Works takes the deal, the company would consolidate current offices in Mount Laurel, Voorhees, Cherry Hill, and Haddon Heights in a new facility to be built in the Gateway District, near Campbell Soup Co. and the future site of Subaru Corp. of America, which last year announced plans to move from Cherry Hill.

During the EDA's meeting Tuesday at the Waterfront Technology Center in Camden, it also preliminarily authorized $50 million in funding for a "health sciences" building in downtown Camden to be owned by Rutgers-Camden and operated by the joint Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors.

The American Water move would bring about 600 employees to Camden, create 100 jobs, and give the company space to grow, according to the proposal.

"This is an important step in our decision-making process," spokeswoman Denise Venuti Free said afterward. The company also is considering a move to the Navy Yard in Philadelphia.

American Water is the latest employer to apply for tax incentives under the Grow New Jersey program.

The program rewards employers that invest in struggling cities as part of the 2013 Economic Opportunity Act. U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, a South Jersey Democrat, championed the law as a state senator, saying the use of tax incentives would lure employers to Camden. Critics say the program simply relocates jobs.

The EDA has funneled more than $630 million in tax credits to businesses that plan to relocate to Camden, including two companies with ties to Norcross' brother George E. Norcross III, a powerful New Jersey Democrat.

George Norcross is chairman of the board of trustees of Cooper Health System and Cooper University Hospital, which last year was awarded $40 million in incentives to move about 350 office jobs from Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel. Norcross also sits on the board of energy company Holtec International, which received $260 million in tax credits to move from Evesham.

A third Norcross brother, Philip, an attorney with Parker McCay who specializes in public financing, represented the 76ers last year as the EDA awarded the team $82 million to build a new training facility on the Camden waterfront. According to state election-law records, his lobbying firm, Optimus Partners, received $126,000 last year from New Jersey American Water, a subsidiary of American Water.

The EDA also has awarded $118 million to Subaru, and $107 million to defense contractor Lockheed Martin to move from Moorestown.

American Water, which posted a profit of more than $400 million last year, provides water and wastewater services to about 15 million people in more than 47 states, including New Jersey, and employs more than 6,400 people nationwide, according to the company website.

Members of the liberal-leaning think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective have criticized the incentives, saying they usually involve the relocation of high-paying jobs from elsewhere in South Jersey and include no strategies for addressing the city's high unemployment rate.

Approvals through the EDA do not require companies to hire city residents or otherwise invest in Camden.

"Every dollar of the corporate subsidies being approved in record numbers today is a dollar stripped tomorrow from the true building blocks of a strong economy, like maintaining high quality schools and roads and strengthening small business development," said Jon Whiten, deputy director of New Jersey Policy Perspective.

On Tuesday, Camden officials said several residents had been hired for construction work on the projects that are underway. And several Camden business owners said they were working with Holtec's contracting firm on providing supplies and labor.

Walt Dixon, who owns a contracting company, said he had sold $29,000 worth of materials to the project over the last eight months.

"They're doing what they said they would - buying local," he said. "I'm hopeful that we will be doing a lot of work with these guys."

Mike Donaghue, owner of an industrial hydraulics company, said he recently added three employees in anticipation of the work that would result from the projects.

"I can see where I'm going to need even more," he said. "I want to be ready for it."

Officials also lauded the EDA's preliminary authorization of $50 million in state funding for the health sciences building. The money would come from a state bond issue approved in 2006 legislation.

Some Lanning Square residents said the project, in their midst, would revitalize the neighborhood and motivate more Cooper employees to move to Camden.

The four-story, 65,000-square-foot facility will have classrooms, lab space, and offices, and will house Rutgers-Camden's Center for Computational and Integrative Biology and Rowan's planned occupational therapy doctorate program.

With Tuesday's approval, the Rutgers-Rowan joint board can move forward with plans to build a campus in the block from Martin Luther King Boulevard south to Stevens Street and from Broadway west to Fifth Street, a prime location near Cooper University Hospital, Walter Rand Transportation Center, and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.