By EILEEN STILWELL
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Camden has been on Tom Darden's radar screen for more than three years.

And why not?

A poor city with a rash of abandoned industrial sites on a river is a perfect fit for the Raleigh, N.C.-based investment company.

Darden, CEO of Cherokee Investment Partners, LLC, has been cleaning up contaminated real estate, or brownfields, for resale since 1990. Part capitalist, part environmentalist, Darden uses investment capital from large pension funds, such as Washington state and California, university endowments and a handful of rich private investors.

So far Cherokee has invested more than $1 billion in some 300 properties in 35 states, Canada and the United Kingdom. It employs 33 people in Raleigh and another 30 at satellite offices near ongoing projects, including Elizabeth, San Francisco, Denver and London.

The company has transformed a paint factory, turned multiple dumps into golf courses and is waiting to begin work on a weapons arsenal in Los Angeles.

Where most people see blight and liability, Darden sees opportunity to recycle and make money along the way.

New Jersey is a bonanza for a company like Cherokee.

"We've spent more money in New Jersey than any other state," Darden said Wednesday at a press conference in City Hall announcing Cherokee's latest venture in Camden's Cramer Hill section.

Cramer Hill is Cherokee's fourth project in the state. Groundbreaking is imminent on a combination hotel and conference center, office complex, residential community and two golf courses on a 785-acre site in East Rutherford along the Hackensack River. More than half the acreage is covered by a collection of landfills.

By comparison, 89 acres of the 450-acre Cramer Hill site are covered by the Harrison Avenue landfill. It also offers 2.7 miles of waterfront.

In Elizabeth, Cherokee built the Jersey Gardens Mall on a landfill and is remediating property in Bayonne for another golf course overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan.

"Whenever I see a landfill these days, I see a golf course. In fact, there are over 60 courses in the U.S. that started out as landfills," said Darden, a Yale-educated lawyer with an environmental planning degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Developers are partial to golf courses because groundwater under most landfills fails to meet environmental standards for residential quality.

Cherokee also has a bid in to develop Petty's Island, a jewel of land in the Delaware that is owned by Citgo Corp. and is part of Pennsauken.

Though Cramer Hill and Petty's Island are neighbors, Darden said the two projects are unrelated.

"Cramer Hill will move forward whether we acquire Petty's Island or not," said Darden.

Cherokee calls itself a "horizontal developer." That means it acquires the land and permits, decontaminates it, adds the requisite infrastructure, such as roads, water, sewer and utilities, navigates the project through local planning and zoning boards, then sells off parcels to "vertical developers." They build the homes, schools and shopping centers.

Environmentally, Cramer Hill is a daunting project. In addition to a sprawling landfill, large portions of the tract are on a flood plain. To compensate, Cherokee will cover the entire 450-acre site with two to three feet of fill, probably dredge spoils from the Delaware, said Anselm Fusco, vice president of development for what is now known as Cherokee Camden.

"We've done it before. It's not as difficult as it sounds," said Fusco.

Cherokee hopes to have all permits in place between nine and 12 months. Remediation could take two years.

"You can expect to start seeing things going up about three years from now. First residents will probably move in in four years," said Fusco.

Cherokee's $200 million investment in Cramer Hill is envisioned to be worth $1.2 billion when the project is complete 10 to 15 years from now. Then, it is expected to generate $20 million a year in property taxes.

Cherokee will petition the Camden Economic Recovery Board, which is responsible for allocating the state's $175 million gift to the city, for money to build a bridge over the Cooper River to Route 130 to improve access to the neighborhood.

"We're looking for between $80 million and $100 million in public support for a variety of infrastructure costs," said Eric D. Wisler, Cherokee's attorney.

Susan Bass Levin, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, said the project would qualify for state loans and grants for the affordable housing component.

"In a project of this magnitude, every state department needs to be pulling in the same direction," Levin said.

Cherokee has partnered with Michael's Development Co. to build 700 to 800 affordable housing units, and OKKS Development, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, a division of Orleans Homebuilders Inc. Since OKKS was created in 2002, it has approvals to build about 250 affordable housing units in three Philadelphia neighborhoods.

"We estimate the Cramer Hill houses - single family homes - will sell between $85,000 and $100,000," said Michael S. Schurr, president of OKKS.

Michaels is no stranger to Camden, said Joel B. Silver, vice president of the Marlton division. Michaels completed 253 units in McGuire Gardens last year and will soon build another 200 units at Roosevelt Manor, both Camden public housing projects.

"When it comes to luxury living, you've heard of Society Hill and Chestnut Hill. Next, it's going to be Cramer Hill," said Camden Chief Operating Office Melvin "Randy" Primas.