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Camden's Subaru drive-thru

An HQ plan perfect for suburbia

Camden's Admiral Wilson Boulevard, site of the world's first drive-in theater, is about to become the home of a drive-in/drive-out corporate headquarters for Subaru of America.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign and members of the "South Jersey Urbanist" Facebook group say the headquarters proposal -- set for a final city planning board vote Tuesday -- will create a car-centric island more suited to suburbia.

Subaru is moving from Cherry Hill to the Gateway District, a 13-acre office park being developed by the Campbell Soup Company, which has its world headquarters there.  The district is well east of downtown and is at a pedestrian un-friendly distance from mass transit.

Hailed nevertheless by some Camden boosters as a potential economic boon to the beleaguered city, Subaru's  move is being underwritten in part by $118 million in state tax incentives.

"If the point of spending all this public money is to bring vitality to the city, this site does not seem to be designed to do that as well as it could," says Jason Miller, a leader of the Urbanists Group.

The TSTC blog recently displayed images of the proposed campus, showing two cookie-cutter office buildings marooned  in a sea of parking lots. The plan calls for more than 1,000 parking spaces.

Even though fewer than 600 people are expected to work there.