Proposed downtown office tower would become Camden’s tallest building

A 25-story office tower proposed for a major crossroads in downtown Camden would be the tallest building ever erected in the city.

The $500 million Beacon Building would be constructed at the long-vacant northwest corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard, across Broadway from a rebuilt Walter Rand Transportation Center (WRTC) and across the boulevard from the expanding Cooper University Health Care campus.

The tower “will be a statement building,” County Commissioner Jeff Nash said, adding that the developers have determined there is a significant market for modern office space in downtown Camden.

The statement, he said, is that the city is making enough progress to sustain a 25-story office building, and additional development, around an improved transit hub downtown.

Said Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr: “Public safety improvements, the WTRC improvements, and increasing private investment in the city have attracted companies … that are interested in coming to Camden.”

A public-private partnership between the Camden County Improvement Authority and Gilbane, a global construction and real estate firm with offices in Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia, is developing the tower.

The tower would rise several stories higher than Camden’s nearby City Hall as well as the Northgate 1 high-rise near the Ben Franklin Bridge. It is a companion project to the long-planned reconstruction of the WRTC, the facade of which looms over a mostly vacant street of Broadway that once was lined with stores.

Buildings along the east side of Broadway from Federal Street to the boulevard, including the transportation center, will be demolished.

In 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that New Jersey would provide $250 million to overhaul the transportation center. A portion of that money will now be used to build parking for the center near the tower site, but the bulk of its financing will be from other sources.

Built in 1989 and named for the late New Jersey state senator and Camden champion Walter Rand, the facility has been battered by decades of heavy use. Walter Rand serves two dozen NJ Transit bus lines and the NJ Transit RiverLine, and includes the PATCO line’s Broadway Station.

“Gilbane looks forward to continuing our work as master developer to advance the goals of this transformative project under our agreement with the Camden County Improvement Authority and in partnership with City and County leadership, Cooper University Health Care, DRPA and New Jersey Transit,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Cooper will need the additional office space to support the health system’s $3 billion expansion plan, public relations manager Wendy A. Marano said.

“The Beacon Building is the perfect location for Cooper to serve as an anchor tenant to meet its expanding needs and long-standing investment in the City of Camden,” Marano said.

Nash compared the Camden project to Helix NJ, a mixed-use complex in downtown New Brunswick, where construction is underway on the first of what will be three towers totaling 1.5 million square feet of retail, office, research, and residential space.

The latest Downtown Camden Master Plan, the result of a collaborative process cosponsored by the county and the Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors and managed by Camden Community Partnership, notes that 150 acres of real estate in the heart of the city are devoted to parking.

While the expansion of educational and medical facilities have made some areas of the city more vibrant in recent years, Camden remains home to long blocks where parking lots dominate and buildings are few.

One exception is the cluster of coffee shops, eateries, galleries, and other small businesses along the 200 and 300 blocks of Market Street and on Third Street between Market and Cooper, where interesting facades of the old Camden endure.

“I just heard about the tower building from someone this morning,” said Rosemari Hicks, who opened her Nuanced Cafe, an art-and-craft-filled space on the 200 block of Market Street, in 2021.

“Where did the tower come from? Where was our chance to have some input into that project?” she said. “The Black and brown micro-businesses in Camden need to be part of these conversations from the start.”

Kristine Kennedy, the executive director of Camden’s Business Improvement District and Special Services District, said the tower development can boost the economy downtown.

“We welcome projects that will improve the density of workers, visitors, and residents in downtown Camden because that is what is needed to support a healthy commercial district with thriving small businesses.” she said.

“One thing we need to keep in mind about a proposed big new building in Camden is how many big buildings have been taken down over the years and replaced by parking lots.”