Let’s talk about a topic that has been widely discussed for at least the last year. In fact, in the coming weeks, this will probably be a very big topic once again: the bank building at the corner of the Black Horse Pike and Church Street.
Social Media Buzz and Removals
There were actually several discussions about this topic earlier today on some of the Gloucester Township Facebook groups. Some of those discussions still exist, and some have been removed for one reason or another. My guess is that the original poster thought the direction of the comments wasn’t going in a positive direction, so they chose to remove the post. Just a guess. If so, I get it. Some of those discussions can spiral and get pretty nasty.
Getting Up to Speed: The Bank Building’s History
If you are not familiar with the bank building, let me get you up to speed the best I can. It sat abandoned for many years and was quite the eyesore in an area that the township has wanted to turn into an Arts District for at least 15 years. At some point in the last two years, or maybe even longer than that, the township decided to buy the building for about $330,000. At the time of the purchase, many residents questioned why the township would acquire a building like this when we were in so much debt already. Remember, this was happening during the same time they were telling us we needed to sell our sewer system to pay off all of the debt we were in.
Transparency Concerns and Asbestos
The residents who questioned this purchase were told that it was a great price and shouldn’t cost any more than about a million dollars worth of work to get it to a usable point. There was never any mention of the building having asbestos until it showed up on a council meeting agenda to clean up the asbestos. When our Council was questioned if they knew about the asbestos, they responded that they did. That didn’t leave residents feeling very comfortable about the level of transparency during a transaction they didn’t think we should be making anyway.
Soaring Costs and Grant Money
Fast forward a few years, and here we are with a building that has cost taxpayers over four and a half million dollars. You can argue that some of the latest money to go into the building came from grants. Grant money isn’t magical; it still comes from tax dollars.
Questions of Use and Accessibility
The cost isn’t the only thing on the mind of residents. A lot of people question the use of this building. So far, it appears that much of what takes place there will be organized by Mainstage. Other events will have to go through the township for approval. Will you or I ever be able to use this building for an event? That remains to be seen. But if it’s anything like the 1.4 million dollar batting cages they are also looking into, only township leagues will have access to those.
Will This Help Downtown Blackwood?
The biggest question now is, will this actually help downtown Blackwood? In my opinion, the answer to that is no. Blackwood needs a destination for all people, not just a few people who belong to some of these select organizations.
“Would You Rather It Remain Abandoned?” – A Shortsighted Question
The critics of this project are always met with the question, “Would you rather it just remain abandoned?” That seems a little shortsighted. While I don’t heavily favor government entities buying private property with taxpayer money, there are instances where this will work.
A Successful Alternative: The Pitman Model
Pitman is a great example of the government partnering with private industry to create something successful. If you aren’t familiar with the project I’m talking about, Pitman also had a bank building sitting unused. Pitman bought that bank, revitalized it, and rented it to the owners of what is now Merriman’s Pub. They also lease the liquor license to the owners. If you aren’t familiar with what it costs in New Jersey to get a liquor license, it’s often more expensive than the building itself.
Missed Opportunity for Gloucester Township?
Gloucester Township owns at least one liquor license. It’s almost as if we could have done the exact same thing.
Another Option: Local Breweries
A cheaper alternative than using a full liquor license would have been to maybe attract one of many local breweries. I bet if you ask the owners of Farmers and Bankers Brewing, they’d tell you they love that they are in a historic bank. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to NJDrinks.com, but there are some amazing breweries and distilleries that are successful but are in terrible locations.
Caring for Gloucester Township
When it all comes down to it, the people that have spoken out against this are only doing so because they care about the people in Gloucester Township. They know not everyone has the money to spend on projects like this. Every single one of those people wants nothing more than to see Downtown Blackwood and the rest of Gloucester Township thrive.
This is just my own personal opinion.
By the way..
Harmony Hall is set to open on September 13th. (Suspiciously close to election day) 🙂
If you want to attend the grand opening you can find more information here.
https://glotwp.com/news/harmony-hall-gloucester-townships-new-arts-community-space/
