High hopes in Camden

There's a charter school in New Jersey's poorest city called Camden's Promise, which is a good name for a place where children are educated. A newly announced waterfront development project may hold tremendous promise for the city as well. If it succeeds, it could fulfill long-held dreams of an urban renaissance along the Delaware River, with the strength to lift Camden's neighborhoods beyond the water's edge.

The $1 billion project, announced last week by Liberty Property Trust, is expected to encompass 16 acres near Adventure Aquarium, including offices, apartments, retail, and a hotel. Liberty's involvement gives the project added credibility given the company's lead role in developing the Comcast Center and transforming Philadelphia's Navy Yard into a waterfront business campus.

Liberty is headed by William Hankowsky, a longtime friend of South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross, whose insurance company, Conner Strong & Buckelew, is also an investor in the project. In recent years, Norcross has appeared to take a more personal interest in making Camden a more livable city. He also heads the board of Cooper University Hospital, whose future is inextricably tied to Camden's.

Investors in the waterfront project are expected to ask for government help in the form of tax credits granted by the state's Economic Development Authority. Through the Grow New Jersey program, the EDA has already approved more than $1 billion in tax credits to lure firms to Camden, with new facilities being planned by the nuclear energy equipment manufacturer Holtec International, aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, and automaker Subaru of America.

The tax credits are controversial, with some critics contending that the state won't recoup their value from the companies relocating to Camden, often from nearby locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In a letter to The Inquirer earlier this year, Holtec president and chief executive Krishna P. Singh argued that such criticism ignores what the developers must invest to be eligible for tax incentives that they won't immediately receive. "We are spending $260 million in the hope that we will be reimbursed $150 million in a decade," he wrote.

That Gov. Christie took time away from his presidential campaign to attend Thursday's announcement is a testament either to the waterfront project's significance or to the clout of Norcross, a former owner of The Inquirer along with Hankowsky and Singh. Norcross' brother, Rep. Donald Norcross (D., N.J.), sponsored the bill that created Grow New Jersey when he was in the state Senate.

While the project is already marked by an intermingling of government and business interests that is all too familiar in New Jersey, it could nevertheless be good news for Camden - especially if it can create desperately needed jobs for the city's working-class residents. "Camden's best days are ahead," Christie said. Given the poor city's crime-ridden past, that's not saying much, but the sentiment is well taken. Past state efforts to resuscitate Camden, along with countless supposedly blockbuster developments and proposals, have lacked the scope and investment needed to succeed. The city may stand to benefit from a development without those shortcomings.