Getting in on the action in Camden
Local business owners see opportunity in big corporations' plans to build facilities in the city.
Last year, as companies announced plans to move to Camden with help from state tax incentives, a group of local business owners started talking about how they could get in on the action.
Several of the corporations poised to relocate to the city in the future, including Subaru of America and Holtec International, will build new facilities there. The area's contractors and suppliers saw an opportunity for themselves, said Jim Bannon, general manager of Stelwagon Roofing Supply, which sells roofing materials and has locations in the city's Bergen Square neighborhood and Philadelphia.
Bannon and others formed the Camden Business and Contractors Association, a nonprofit group devoted to getting the city's tradesmen and companies a chance at supplying parts or labor for future Camden building projects.
"If a contractor for one of these projects buys material from us, the city of Camden benefits more from that revenue," said Bannon, whose company employs Camden residents and has local contractors as its customers. "You keep that going and at the end of the day, you're going to have a better city with more jobs. It would be to these companies' benefit to give us a chance."
The association, which also includes such Camden businesses as Cartun Hardware and BDF Industrial Fasteners, launched this month with a networking event at Victor's Pub. Barbara Kelley, who joined the association to help them network, said the turnout included contractors, representatives from City Hall, and developers.
"Everyone said we'd be lucky to get 30 people," said Kelley, of the group Workforce for Economic Revitalization for Communities, which has an office in Camden. "Right off the bat we had about 90. People just jumped on board."
Since 2013, the state Economic Development Authority has awarded $631 million in tax credits to businesses that agree to move to Camden. Energy company Holtec plans to build a 600,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, while Subaru representatives have said they will construct a 250,000-square-foot headquarters and 70,000-square-foot training and engineering center. A new practice facility that will eventually house the Philadelphia 76ers is already under construction.
Bannon said he hoped developers would be open to considering bids for work from Camden businesses such as his, which have succeeded without the hefty tax incentives that are drawing companies there now.
"We're trying to draw attention to the fact that there are thriving businesses in Camden that sometimes get overlooked," he said. "We feel we could be getting a bigger portion of that pie, but maybe people just don't know about us."
For more information about the Camden Business and Contractor's Association, call 856-365-9061.
856-779-3876 @AESteele