So. Bruns. delivers FedEx good news
Planning Board OKs distribution center for Stults Road property
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

FILE PHOTO A new FedEx distribution center will soon be located at the site of this former pesticide factory on Stults Road, South Brunswick.

The South Brunswick Planning Board approved what will soon become a new Federal Express distribution center last week.

The owner of the property, Matrix Development Group, will now begin construction on a 213,000-square-foot distribution center for the delivery company. Currently, the property is the site of a small office building that will be demolished when the tenant's lease runs out in 2011, which will prompt Phase II of the development, adding 52,000 additional square feet of space.

The Stults Road property is the site of a former chemical pesticide plant that was found to be polluting the groundwater and soil in the mid-'80s with compounds like DDT and DDD. While the property was the subject of environmental cleanup efforts, about 15 percent of the soil remains mildly contaminated, though those sections have been capped and the area has been deemed safe by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

An application for a 407,400-square-foot warehouse on the tract was approved in July. The plan proposed last week will shrink the already approved warehouse by almost 200,000 square feet to meet FedEx's needs.

A principal with Matrix, Kenneth Griffin, said that after approval, the company began seeking tenants for the building and eventually struck a deal with FedEx. The delivery company needed a new distribution facility, which has different design needs than an ordinary warehouse, and plans for a new application were created. Griffin said the location was ideal for the company due to its proximity of Exit 8A on the New Jersey Turnpike.

In the first phase, the facility will employ 344 people, 111 of which will be van drivers. The second phase will bring 183 extra employees. The building will use porous pavement in a little less than 10 percent of its employee parking lot in order to control stormwater.

The firm's traffic engineer, Karl Pehnke, said there will be some impact on commuter traffic in the area due to the delivery vans, but since the building will be in an industrial area and many of the vehicles would be going toward the turnpike, it would distribute well. Pehnke said that according to data provided to him by FedEx, the vans tend to arrive in shifts, which breaks up any traffic.

"There are very distinct shifts going in and out of these sites," said Pehnke.

Peak traffic hours for the site will be between 6-10 a.m. and 5-6 p.m. In these hours, about 145 cars are expected to be added to the road.

The firm's planner, Edward Kolling, said the facility will help the town in a number of ways. The project complies with the idea of smart growth, since Matrix is reusing an abandoned site instead of building on pristine land. Also, having FedEx in South Brunswick would bring jobs and help the local economy, he said.

The board echoed these sentiments as they unanimously approved the application.

Mayor Frank Gambatese, who sits on the board, called the project "a good adaptation of an existing contaminated site."

"If you take a look at the site right now, it will aesthetically give it a totally new look. ... It will add to our growing inventory of warehouses and distribution sites and it will bring jobs," Gambatese said.

In recent weeks, the board also approved a 352,812-square-foot warehouse near the turnpike exit, as well as a 190,000-square-foot expansion to a 413,112-square-foot warehouse.