A property that once served as a home base for a powerhouse in the iron industry could soon see new life.
A Middlesex County real estate investment and development firm is proposing redeveloping the site of the former U.S. Pipe & Foundry Co. into a business park spanning the 135-acre site along River Road in the township and Pearl Street in Burlington City.
If all goes as planned, Matrix Realty Inc. would like to build a 530,000-square-foot warehouse on the property.
Cleanup and new construction at U.S. Pipe, which once employed several hundred people, couldn’t come soon enough for local officials.
Since the plant’s closing in 2008, the site has sat mostly empty with little activity. A number of proposals have come along for the property between the Delaware River and rail lines, but none ever gained traction.
Despite some environmental remediation needed, the site appears to be well-suited for Matrix’s plan for a massive warehouse, with accessibility to the New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes, Interstate 295, rail lines and seaports.