Gloucester County warehouse project has been undermined by a ‘rogue’ employee and rival firm, lawsuit says
The suit says an employee of Active Acquisitions leveraged his relationship with Harrison’s mayor, Adam Wingate, “to sow doubt within the township.”
The developer behind a massive mixed-use project in South Jersey has filed a lawsuit accusing a “rogue” employee of derailing municipal approvals and plotting to steer the property to Rowan University and a rival firm.
For more than two years, Seth Gerszberg and his Englewood, N.J.-based firm Active Acquisitions have been pursuing a development at the intersection of Route 322 and Route 55 in Gloucester County including proposals for 10 warehouses, a wholesale retail club, a hotel, and 117 single-family homes.
An affiliate of Gerszberg’s firm agreed to buy the property — totaling 429 acres, about 29 times the footprint of Lincoln Financial Field — in May 2023 for $23 million from Madison Richwood Village LLC, the suit says.
But the government approval process hit a snag in recent months, the suit alleges, as Gerszberg’s project manager, Sean Earlen — a land-use consultant, former mayor of Lumberton, and chair of the Burlington County GOP — “leveraged his close personal relationship” with Harrison Township’s mayor, Republican Adam Wingate, “to sow doubt within the township” about the viability of the development.
Yearslong saga
It’s the latest twist in a development saga that dates to 2008, when plans for a walkable town center in Harrison’s Richwood section were unveiled, including talk of a new elementary school and liquor licenses for restaurants in what had been a dry town.
But development efforts went nowhere, and the new push for warehouses — in a region that’s added tens of millions of square feet of warehousing space in recent years to meet demand for online shopping — has faced some resistance from residents in the affluent rural town of 14,000.
Now those plans could be in question.
According to the suit, Earlen has been pushing the current property owner, Madison Richwood, to do a deal with Rowan and Ohio-based Fairmount Properties LLC, which has been pursuing a “wellness district” at the university featuring proposals for a headquarters for Inspira Health, a hotel, as well as shops and restaurants.
At some point last year Rowan negotiated a deal with Madison Richwood to buy the property for $31 million, plus another $10 million in 2026, the complaint says, in an effort to “fulfill the university’s vision for a comprehensive plan at the Route 55/Route 322 interchange.”
As the township’s confidence in the warehouse project has eroded, the suit alleges, a neighboring property owner filed a lawsuit in October challenging Active’s government approvals.
The developer — which has industrial and residential projects across New Jersey — has sunk roughly $4 million to obtain the necessary approvals for the project and $7 million in “consultant and development expenses,” according to court records.
Gerszberg, who before his work in real estate was cofounder and president of hip-hop fashion brand Marc Ecko Enterprises, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
What does Rowan say?
The most recent suit, filed this month in Bergen County Superior Court by Active affiliate ActiveRWHA Property LLC, names Earlen and Fairmount Properties as defendants. It alleges interference with contractual rights, misappropriation of trade secrets, and defamation, among other counts.
Representatives for Fairmount and Rowan — a public research institution that isn’t a party to the suit — did not directly answer questions about whether they intend to buy the property. Neither Earlen nor Wingate — who took office as mayor last year — responded to requests for comment.
Randy Ruttenberg, a Fairmount principal, said the suit is “completely without merit” and called it an “ill-advised attempt to disrupt the very straightforward development process we continue to diligently pursue for the benefit of the entire region.”
“Fairmount Properties is focused fiercely on executing their own world-class development, and no matter what obstacle is placed in our path, we will not be distracted, bullied or deterred,” he said in a statement.
Joe Cardona, a spokesperson for Rowan, said it would be inappropriate to comment on pending litigation. “Rowan remains focused on its academic mission and on conducting all institutional planning activities responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws and governance standards,” he said in an email.
Madison Richwood affiliate Madison Marquette — a Washington, D.C.-based real estate investment and operating company — said in court papers that Gerszberg’s concern about a sale to Rowan is “without merit.”
Madison Marquette “will not sell the property, as defined in the [purchase and sale agreement], to Rowan, Fairmount, or any other entity while the PSA is in full force and effect,” firm president and managing principal William Sudow said in a court filing in a related case that has since been resolved.