The developers are the J. Wiss & Sons Co., manufacturers of shears, scissors and snips in Newark for the last 115 years, and the Motor Club of America, which has had its home office in the city since 1926.
The plan is the first in Newark's vast urban renewal program in which the sponsor, or developer, will be the actual users of the new facilities.
The Fairmount project was formerly known as the United Hospitals project, but was renamed when United Hospitals scrapped plans to build a new medical center under the urban renewal program.
Richard R. Wiss, president of the company, said it is planned to expand the present factory building, and to build a new research and engineering building, a new warehouse, relocate receiving and shipping facilities from Littleton Avenue to off-street premises, an additional factory building and a modern office building fronting on Central Avenue.
The MCA plans to erect a new six-story home office building on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and S. 7th Street, with parking for 250 automobiles on space running south to 11th Avenue, according to Samuel Green, executive vice president. MCA's present office is located at 449 Central Ave.
The announcement was made in the office of Mayor Hugh J. Addonizio at a conference attended by business leaders and city officials. The mayor said the companies' decisions to remain and expand in Newark represented a "significant" development since other projects all have had outside sponsors. He added:
"This project is also of great significance, I feel, because it shows that Newark is still attractive both to industrial and commercial users well away from the central business district. It again demonstrates the importance of government and private investment, working together to rebuild the worn out central cities of our country."
Wiss and the MCA will develop facilities to be bounded generally by Littleton Avenue, 11th Avenue, S. 7th Street, Central Avenue and W. Market Street. Under the plan, S. 6th Street will be vacated between 11th Avenue and Central Avenue to allow for the Wiss Co.'s new loading and parking facilities.
The 12-acre tract lies across Central Avenue from the expanded and refurbished Liberty branch of the National Newark & Essex Bank which will be dedicated tomorrow, and the planned new gas station facilities of the Humble Oil Co.
The mayor and Louis Danzig, executive director of the Newark Housing Authority, asked the City Council to approve an early date for a blight hearing on the Fairmount project. A blight declaration is required before the project can qualify for the $8.5 million in federal funds earmarked for it.
Wiss said that when he is assured of the availability of additional land, construction will begin immediately of some of the new newly-planned facilities on land now owned by the company. He said 550 persons are employed at the Newark location, and "this force will be increased by reason of the contemplated expansion."
Wiss said as early as 1949 the company began expanding to Maplewood. The company, at that time, favored sites outside Newark because of high city taxes, high cost of land here and outmoded building codes. In 1962, Wiss said, the company acquired additional acreage in Union, adjacent to the Maplewood plant, for possible future use at lower land costs and tax rates than Newark.
Wiss said the plant presently occupied about 150,000 square feet. The new facilities will add about 60,000 square feet, but some 10,000 square feet will be torn down in obsolete buildings. He said parking facilities also will be increased from 140 to 350 spaces.
Green said "success and growing pains of the MCA bring with them the need for expansion... and Newark still looms as the most desirable site for our expansion." The proposed MCA building will offer some 70,000 square feet, with features in the design to add 30,000 square feet if needed.
Green said Newark presently derives $21,000 from the site under consideration, and estimated this figure will jump to more than $30,000 upon completion of the proposed MCA building. If the additions are made, the annual tax should go to $40,000, he said. He also said that if MCA remains in Newark, the city will retain an annual franchise tax of more than $11,000.
According to the MCA construction timetable, redevelopment is slated to begin Jan. 1, 1966.
Both the Wiss Co. and the Motor Club of America said they would apply for full tax concession benefits under the Fox-Lance bill, and the mayor said he is prepared to recommend the full abatement. The City Council has the final say on such a contract, which permits developers to pay 15 per cent of gross income for a period of 15 years in lieu of taxes.
The 85-acre Fairmount Hill project is bounded generally by Central Avenue, S. 7th Street, 11th Avenue, Littleton Avenue, 12th Avenue, Norfolk Street, Hartford Street and W. Market Street.