After years of legal and environmental delays, construction has begun on a warehouse project at the former Congoleum site on Sloan Avenue, a 65.7-acre property long considered a prime location for redevelopment.
The project, led by Lincoln Equities Group Hamilton Industrial (LEG), will transform the long-vacant lot into the Hamilton Logistics Center, a 420,024-square-foot warehouse located next to an existing building and within walking distance of the Hamilton NJ Transit train station.
Despite the progress, Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin said it is still unclear which company will occupy the warehouse.
“Depending on who the end user is, it may have no impact, be more impactful, or be less impactful compared to what was there previously. A lot will depend on who the end user is,” Martin said.
The site was formerly home to the Congoleum Corporation, which operated a flooring manufacturing facility before shutting down in October 2014. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had identified contamination at the site two years earlier, in 2012, prompting environmental concerns.
In 2016, Commercial Development Company (CDC), a private firm specializing in repurposing industrial properties, purchased the lot and demolished the facility. Four years later, in 2020, Hamilton Township approved redevelopment plans, but legal disputes beginning in 2021 delayed the property transfer.
According to township employee Bianca Jerez, Lincoln Equities Group, Hamilton Industrial initially submitted a permit for the land, but legal challenges led the Hamilton Township Planning Board to deny it. The decision was later overturned in court, and LEG resubmitted the permit, which was officially approved in 2023.
According to real estate listing site Showcase.com, the facility will feature 40-foot ceilings, 84 loading docks, two drive-in doors, 2,200 square feet of office space, and a large parking lot. The $61 million project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2025.
Both the construction and future warehouse operations are expected to impact Hamilton residents, particularly due to increased truck traffic on Sloan Avenue and around the Hamilton train station.
Rosa Ceria, who lives two miles away on Klockner Road, said she is not opposed to the project.
“I’m happy it’s going to be a warehouse rather than apartments, or a casino, or anything else that would cause the value of our house to decrease,” she said.
She added that while increased traffic is a concern, she hopes it will not significantly affect her neighborhood.
“A storage facility isn’t the greatest, but out of the options it’s better and I’m hoping they keep the traffic to a minimum on Klockner [Road],” Ceria said.
A spokesperson for NJ Transit’s Security Media Office said the agency has no safety concerns regarding the new warehouse.
Zachary Geltzeiler, the manager at the QuickChek across the street from the warehouse, said the project will likely benefit his store.
“Between workers and truckers, between the gas and the food, I’m really looking forward to that for business here, I think this is the perfect location for a place like this,” he said.
This article was produced as part of MCCC’s Community Reporting “J Lab” certificate program made possible by grant funding from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and The New School: Journalism + Design.
