| April 10, 2013 KSS & Prologis Celebrate Superfund Renewal Imperial Bag & Paper Company, a wholesale packaging distributer, will occupy 395,000 square feet while Ahold Inc. and Peapod, ecommerce food retailers, will occupy 345,000 square feet. An additional 140,000 square feet of speculative space will also be developed. Pulaski Distribution Center is strategically located four miles from the Port of New York/ New Jersey and approximately three miles from New York City and the New Jersey Turnpike. Extensive environmental clean-up work has been completed at the site under the supervision of state and federal regulatory agencies. Since acquiring the 50-acre site in 2008, Prologis has worked in close partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to implement a development plan that returns the site to productive use and will result in permanent capping and closure of the landfill. Once fully developed, the property will include a LEED Certified, 880,000-square-foot logistics facility with the remaining land returned to green space. "This is an important development project for Jersey City that will transform this former waste disposal site, help to advance economic conditions, and improve the local community," said Edmund Klimek, partner at KSS Architects. "By identifying strategically-located properties, applying our brownfield development and redevelopment expertise, and bringing Class-A facilities to market, we are able to offer our customers a key location in northern New Jersey, one of the most dynamic and land-constrained infill areas in the U.S.," added Jay Cornforth, president East Region, Prologis Americas. Employing one of the first applications of Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) technology in the United States for a distribution center, the new warehouse facility is forging new ground for structural design. An alternative to a more traditional pile-supported foundation system, CMC reinforces soil by drilling with a hollow auger and creating a cement-based column through the auger. For a site like this one where the soil could shift as the capped former landfill decomposes, CMC offers a stabile, cost-effective building solution that is quiet to install and neighbor friendly. Combined with an active ventilation system to remove underground methane and escaping gases, the Prologis Pulaski Distribution Center's design responds to the site's unique environmental challenges. Wednesday's event featured a bevy of high-profile speakers, all recognizing the project's environmental and economic benefits. "When I first got this assignment in the mid-1980s, the site was surreal, other-worldly," added Ken Kloo, NJDEP Director of Remediation Management. "There were exposed barrels, intense fires underground, small fissures where trees and roads would just collapse and disappear. Twenty-eight years later all that has changed. The fires are extinguished and through remediation we now have a site that will not only be a benefit to public health, but also the economy." "I wonder if the drivers going over the Pulaski Skyway in the 1970s could ever have imagined anyone being able to relax and enjoy open space and conduct business on this site," said John La Padula, Deputy Superfund Director for the Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno touted the site's strategic location, given its proximity to New York City and central hub of roads, rails, sea and air travel, and thanked Prologis and its tenants for creating and keeping jobs in New Jersey. Jerramiah Healy, Mayor of Jersey City, echoed her sentiments. "This fallow land that only produced aggravation and pollution is turning into something very positive," said Mayor Healy. "It will bring 800 jobs with Peapod and Imperial Bag and 260 construction jobs, including union labor. It is an incredible metamorphosis." About KSS KSS Architects LLP is an award-winning architectural design firm with offices in Philadelphia and Princeton, N.J. Founded in 1983, KSS specializes in the design and planning of educational, corporate, commercial and industrial buildings. Named AIA New Jersey's Firm of the Year in 2002, 2005 and 2009, KSS has a diverse breadth of work that includes the new Corporate Headquarters for Burlington Coat Factory, the new LEED Gold Campus Center at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Teachers Village in Newark, N.J., and the Sustainability Action Plan for the City of Newark. For more information, follow KSS Architects on Facebook and visit www.kssarchitects.com. About Prologis Prologis, Inc. is the leading owner, operator and developer of industrial real estate, focused on global and regional markets across the Americas, Europe and Asia. As of September 30, 2012, Prologis owned or had investments in, on a consolidated basis or through unconsolidated joint ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 565 million square feet (52.5 million square meters) in 21 countries. The company leases modern distribution facilities to more than 4,500 customers, including manufacturers, retailers, transportation companies, third-party logistics providers and other enterprises. Media Contact (for hi-res images and interviews) Gwen McNamara, LEED AP Communications Director, KSS Architects LLP 609.921.1131 x1045 | gmcnamara@kssarchitects.com |
| April 5, 2013 KSS Celebrates With Burlington Coat Factory "This is an exciting day for Burlington Coat Factory. I would like to thank Governor Christie, Acting Governor Guadagno and the State of New Jersey for making it possible to maintain and grow our corporate headquarters within the state," said Burlington Coat Factory President and CEO Thomas Kingsbury. "I would also like to thank Florence Township Mayor Craig Wilkie and the Florence Township officials for their contributions and support." "We are thrilled to be working with Burlington Coat Factory to create an iconic building worthy of the company's storied history in New Jersey, and to develop a workplace environment that is equally dynamic and engaging," said Sheila Nall, ASID, LEED AP, Principal and Director of Interior Design at KSS. The new multi-tier building will feature an open and collaborative office layout, as well as a fitness center, conference space, a large multi-purpose training area, outdoor meeting and lunch space, and café. The Headquarters is expected to be completed in the summer of 2014. The new building is being made possible in part through a $40 million Grow NJ grant awarded to Burlington Coat Factory by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. "What you see happening today could have been happening in Pennsylvania," said Acting Governor Kim Guadagno. "But Burlington Coat Factory was not about to leave New Jersey on my watch. Thanks to bipartisan support for incentives, we were able to retain 600-plus employees and the iconic name of Burlington Coat Factory. … New Jersey is a great place for Burlington Coat Factory and other businesses to grow." About KSS KSS Architects LLP is an award-winning architectural design firm with offices in Philadelphia and Princeton, N.J. Founded in 1983, KSS specializes in the design and planning of educational, corporate, commercial and industrial buildings. Named AIA New Jersey's Firm of the Year in 2002, 2005 and 2009, KSS has a diverse breadth of work that includes the new Corporate Headquarters for Burlington Coat Factory, the new LEED Gold Campus Center at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Teachers Village in Newark, N.J., and the Sustainability Action Plan for the City of Newark. For more information, follow KSS Architects on Facebook and visit www.kssarchitects.com. Media Contact (for hi-res images and interviews) Gwen McNamara, LEED AP Communications Director, KSS Architects LLP 609.921.1131 x1045 | gmcnamara@kssarchitects.com |
