From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

www.preservationonline.org

Campbell's Can Raze 1927 Sears Building


Story by Margaret Foster / July 31, 2007

An ailing New Jersey city will trade a National Register-listed building for the chance to revitalize one of its faded neighborhoods.

This month, Campbell's Soup Company got a green light to demolish the 80-year-old Sears, Roebuck & Company building in Camden, N.J., which has been closed since 1971.

In a letter released on July 19, the state historic preservation office approved Campbell's proposal, which calls for the demolition of the Sears building to make way for its new $72 million office park. The decision overturns the New Jersey Historic Sites Council's 5-1 vote on June 21 against demolition.

Campbell's says the Sears site could become an entrance to its office park, a new building, or a parking lot.

Four groups have filed lawsuits to save the building, including a clothing store that wants to buy and reuse the two-story Sears store.

Campbell's considered leaving Camden, where it opened in 1869, if it could not expand its campus on a nearby 110 acres. (Campbell's, the city, and other groups have signed a project-development agreement, which stipulates that the Sears Building must come down; if it remains, the agreement is null and void.) The company pays the city $1.3 million a year in property taxes.

"If the Sears Building doesn't come down, we would have to consider all of our options," says Anthony Sanzio, Campbell's spokesman. One of those options would be to build on another site outside Camden, he says. "We'd have to consider relocating the company."

Preservation groups had hoped that Campbell's could incorporate the Sears Building into the new complex, using historic tax credits to boost the project. "For a company to threaten to leave the city, to say, 'It's all or nothing,' is outrageous," says Ron Emrich, executive director of Preservation New Jersey.

But after a series of failed businesses, the Sears Building is in poor condition: Vandals have stripped its copper pipes, and rain falls through a hole in the roof. "We've looked at the cost of restoring the building, and by our calculations, the cost of doing that is excessive. It would cost $6 million simply to remediate the mold and repair the roof," Sanzio says. "It's been empty on and off for 30 years. Nothing in that building has succeeded."

Because of the lawsuits, no date is set for demolition. Campbell's must retain parts of the building, document its interior, and design a monument to the old Greek revival building, said the letter, signed by the state historic preservation office, part of the department of environmental protection.

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