4000 Redbank Road

The project includes financing public infrastructure improvements in support of the redevelopment of the former Ford Transmission Plant site remediated by The Port and W.P. Carey and its affiliates. The Covenant Not to Sue was received on September 13, 2006, and Regency Centers LLC purchased the property in September 2006. The Port worked with Regency Centers (site owner and developer) on the issuance of TIF revenue bonds. The principal amount of the Bonds was $7.675 million and was used to finance a variety of street and road improvements, a police substation at the site and related safety equipment, stormwater detention and other storm sewer improvements, as well as other public utility improvements.

The project is in support of an approximately $60 million mixed-use redevelopment of the site including a major retailer, outlot uses including restaurants, additional retail development, and a commercial office building, all on the 35-acre site.

The property consists of 35.53 acres that had previously been used as a manufacturing facility for Ford Motor Company. The property included an abandoned 629,000 SF former Department of Defense / Ford Motor factory built in 1947. Primary access to the site is Red Bank Road, which needed to be widened from two lanes.  Stormwater needed to be upgraded, to alleviate  Red Bank flooding.

Site areas that needed investigation included the assembly department, degreasing operations, heat treat area, chip handling area, underground storage tanks, drum storage area, PCB-containing electrical transformers, coal storage area, railroad sidings, plating line, and building-wide sub-grade structures. Chemicals of concern included volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, total petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, and PCBs. Remediation of soil and groundwater included excavation of soils and off-site disposal.

During remediation, previously unknown basement substructures were discovered, which involved the excavation of an additional 24,000 tons of soil and 3,000 tons of concrete. During demolition and remediation, more than 1.5 million tons of steel and 120,000 tons of concrete were recycled. An environmental covenant restricts the land use to commercial and industrial and restricts groundwater extraction to investigation and remediation purposes.