Kris Kolluri, CEO-select of Camden’s most ambitious economic development organization, says he vividly recalls the first time we spoke. It was 2015 and a brand-new, locally owned restaurant called Newtown Kitchen was being forced to relocate due to an “eds and meds” project. Says Kolluri, who starts his Cooper’s Ferry Partnership job on Jan. 15: “You gave me an earful.”
Says Frank Moran, who will be sworn in as Camden’s new mayor Jan. 1: “Kris is respected throughout the state. He understands the needs of our residents. And I look forward to working with him.”
Ground was broken two months ago for a $70 million Rutgers-Rowan Health Sciences building on a site formerly occupied by Newtown Kitchen and other small businesses. And last week, it was announced that Kolluri would replace the well-regarded Anthony Perno at the helm of Cooper’s Ferry, a nonprofit organization created three decades ago to redevelop the downtown waterfront.