Subaru Of America Applies For New HQ Site In New Jersey
December 8th, 2014 1:52 AM
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Subaru of America is applying to move its headquarters four miles west of its current home in Cherry Hill, N.J., setting up shop in Camden, N.J.
The new site — adjacent to Campbell Soup’s Campbell Gateway District — will house over 500 employees and various sales, marketing, service and administration functions within its 250,000 sq-ft floor plan, uniting said functions from the three separate sites in southern New Jersey where they currently reside.
The application is subject to approval by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, with negotiations to come with developer Brandywine Realty Trust. The final decision is expected in April of 2015, with completion of the project by late 2016 or early 2017.
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I live across the river in Philly, and like this move. The Camden waterfront has been developing for a long time, and now has an aquarium, minor league baseball stadium, leading concert venue, and the Camden campus of Rutgers University, which includes a law school. None of these, however, has a large 9-5 employee base that could support more restaurants, shops, etc., but the proposed Subie headquarters probably will. I think it will be great for Camden, which needs all the help it can get. The new location also makes it easily accessible by train from Philly, which is a nice bonus, and might make Subaru a more attractive employer for highly educated urbanites in Center City. I know Subaru's traditional base is in New England, but they're enormously popular around here too, so the location isn't as incongruous as you might think in that respect. If it even matters.
The all wheel drive will come in handy navigating the largely unmaintained roads in Camden. I wonder if they were constrained by their location in Cherry Hill, it appears small from the street. I thought it was a bank when I first noticed it. Not for nothing but the property taxes in Cherry Hill are beyond ridiculous.
So Caddy sets up shop in SoHo, and Subaru sets up shop in New Jersey. Tony Soprano would never drive a Subaru. Lena Dunham is never going to drive a Caddy. If these two brands traded HQ's, it would make much more sense.
I had a lot of dealings with the Japanese back in the late seventies when they were having their heavy duty presses manufactured in the USA. I used to deal with their buying agents in NYC. Their offices were like a palace. The presses i shipped went from 5 to 15 tons each and they told us which Japanese steamship company to use. I was told to make arrangements to move a 15 ton press to one Brooklyn pier for loading and the next week was told to pick up the unit from the pier and move to an another Japanese carrier for loading. I told them it would cost a small fortune to move this unit a few blocks for all the road permits, labor and rigging. They could care less. Word came from Japan that they had a better price from the new carrier. Just do as you were told. This when shipping rates from the USA were regulated by the Federal Maritime Commission. Even to this day the Japanese leave a very bad taste in my mouth. Have never wanted to own a Japanese car after dealing with them for 5 years. I always bit my tongue and management always asked me how i did it with out losing my temper. I never forgot how they treated me and my company.