Sustainable landscaping at new Cherry Hill Subaru dealership will follow carmaker’s eco-friendly image
The site held Subaru corporate headquarters from 1986 until 2018 when it moved into a new $118-million campus in Camden.
When Subaru vehicles roll into a newly approved Cherry Hill dealership, they’ll be surrounded by landscaping different from most commercial developments.
Subaru, which promotes an eco-friendly corporate image, will plant sustainable landscaping that the township planning board has agreed will not require a permanent irrigation system that’s a requirement in Cherry Hill’s zoning ordinances for other commercial projects.
Instead, the drought-resistant plantings in the native pollinator garden will not include turf or require fertilizers, mowing or an irrigation system, said Bernadette Szakal, associate director of real estate and corporate facility services at Subaru.
She told board members the plan follows Subaru’s corporate landscaping philosophy that was designed by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for the carmaker’s Camden headquarters, according to the board resolution adopted on Monday memorializing approval of the project’s preliminary and final major site plan with bulk variances.
The only irrigation will be from water trucks that temporarily water the landscaping after the initial planting, Tom Morris, vice president of public gardens and landscape operations at the Horticultural Society, told the board.
Neither Szakal nor Morris was available for comment beyond their board testimony.
First approved in 2023, the new Subaru dealership required amended plans that include site design changes to reflect New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection flood hazard regulations. The Cooper River is across Park Boulevard from the property.
Another twist to the dealership move from across Route 70 to the now-vacant land: The site held Subaru corporate headquarters from 1986 until 2018 when it moved into a new $118-million campus in Camden. The Cherry Hill headquarters building was demolished in 2019.
The Subaru showroom, service area, and other offices will occupy a 67,035-square-foot building footprint at 2235 Route 70 eastbound that includes a 21,840-square-foot showroom and 36,350-square-foot service area. Site plans call for 658 parking spaces, of which 454 will be used to store Subaru’s car inventory.
Ziad Nashed, owner and operator of Subaru of Cherry Hill, told board members the dealership employs 72 and operates from Monday through Saturday.
Nashed testified his employees also use a system that solves the noise pollution that’s hotly criticized by neighbors of other dealerships.
Rather than use a vehicle’s key fob to sound a vehicle’s horn to locate it, the Subaru dealership tracks its vehicles with a digital phone-based system that does not sound the horn.
Inquirer South Jersey
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