New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno visited Camden today to highlight business relocation and expansion in the city. The Lt. Governor met with local business leaders and mayor Dana Redd.
One of the highlights of her visit was a tour of the Catapult Learning headquarters at the Ferry Terminal Building on Aquarium Drive. Catapult moved its headquarters from Philadelphia to the Camden waterfront last year. Instrumental in the relocation was the company’s execution of a state Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP) grant of $1.16 million over 10 years. The grant, which was based on the creation of 80 new jobs in New Jersey, helped Catapult offset the cost of relocating from Philadelphia.
Catapult Learning, formerly known as Sylvan Education Solutions, is a national leader in providing educational services to public, charter, private and religious school students. Catapult employs 3,000 teachers and staff throughout the United States and provides support to nearly 1,500 schools.
Another highlight was the Lt. Governor’s tour of the headquarters of the Campbell Soup Company which has been in Camden for almost 150 years. Campbell Soup Company recently invested more than $90 million to build a 80,000-square-foot employee center. The new campus will serve as the cornerstone for further development of the city’s Gateway District and potentially lead to a new office park that will attract other businesses to the city. Campbell Soup Company is the largest private taxpayer and employer in Camden with about 1,200 jobs in its world headquarters at Campbell Place and a total of 2,083 employees statewide.
In relocating to New Jersey, Catapult officials cited the pro-business stance of the Christie-Guadagno Administration. They are not alone. Three other companies moved last year from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. They were:
· Telamon Corporation, which moved from Levittown, Pennsylvania to South Brunswick, thanks to a BEIP grant of $102,079 over 10 years. The firm provides a variety of services to the telecommunications industry. As a result of the state’s assistance, the company expects to create more than 30 new jobs within the next two years and leverage public/private investment of more than $1.4 million.
· SSM Industries, which relocated from Philadelphia to West Deptford with help from a BEIP grant of $609,000 over 10 years. The move brought 70 jobs and $2.15 million in capital investment to West Deptford. SSM Industries is a metal fabricator and installer that supplies HVAC units to universities, laboratories, and hospitals.
· A.J. Drexel Plasma Institute, which recently signed a 10-year lease for 20,000 square feet of wet labs on the fifth floor of the Waterfront Technology Center at Camden. The wet labs were constructed through the state’s Economic Development Authority with the goal of attracting more biotechnology and life sciences businesses to the area, which is already happening.
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