Camden's Sears building closer to the end?

The long-standing battle over the old Sears building on Admiral Wilson Boulevard flared up again yesterday as the Camden Redevelopment Agency voted, 4-1, to seek permission from state and local officials to demolish the beaux arts-style structure.

In applying to the New Jersey Historic Sites Council and the Camden Historic Review Committee, the agency is seeking to raze the building to make way for Campbell Soup Co.'s recently announced multimillion dollar expansion of its world headquarters.

Luis Quinones was the lone dissenting vote yesterday.

"I don't believe enough effort has been made to salvage the building before they try to destroy it," Quinones said after the meeting.

Those in favor of razing the building say the Campbell's expansion will be an economic boost to the city and region. They point to it is an important part of the city's overall revitalization.

Gov. Corzine attended the news conference when the Campbell's expansion was announced in February, and later touted it in his annual budget address.

Activist Frank Fulbrook said Campbell's should incorporate the building into its expansion plans. The building is listed by both state and local entities, as well as federally, as a historically significant site.

"To me saving the Sears Building is a battle worth fighting," said Fulbrook, who joined the building's owner, Mark Willis, nearly a decade ago in blocking the Whitman administration from razing it as part of a cleanup of Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

Kelly Francis, head of the local Camden County NAACP, who said he and his family used to shop at the store, said that to destroy the building was to destroy people like himself: "That is a part of Camden's history. We've already lost so much of our history to outside interests that have no regard for . . . Camden."

The building, built in 1927, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Theodore Z. Davis, Camden's state-appointed acting chief operating officer, authorized an agreement recently that allowed Campbell's to move forward with its proposed expansion.

The Campbell's project is expected to cost $72 million, with an additional $12 million for land acquisition. Construction would begin in May and be completed in November 2008.