Campbell Soup Gateway District Master Plan
Project Stats
- Location
Camden, New Jersey
- Size
100 acres
- Role
Master Planner
- Expertise
A city gateway to spark visibility, growth
The Campbell Soup Company served as the master developer for the Gateway District, one of Camden, New Jersey’s most prominent areas, and has been charged with raising the city’s profile. The Gateway District surrounds the company’s headquarters and is highly visible from a network of major roadways that define its limits. The team crafted a master plan to reinvigorate the area, highlighting the potential of the Gateway District, developing a vision for a dynamic corporate environment and a mixed-use district that promotes a safe, healthy, and prosperous community.
Community, resiliency and prosperity
The plan for the 100-acre district creates an accessible neighborhood defined by high-quality sustainable architecture and landscape. Converting a low-density, auto-centric area into a diverse, walkable district required rezoning and creating a plan to attract large anchor partners as well as a broad range of tenants to bring vibrancy to the district. The urban design vision also proposes specifc development strategies to maximize opportunity around new transit stations serving the district. Each area on the site was evaluated based on its strength as a community assset and ability to be redeveloped in alignment with the overall plan. This data revealed three zones which the team categorized as preserve, enhance, and transform. In “preserve” areas, existing assets could be leveraged with minimal changes. Areas where more extensive changes and interventions were necessary were termed “transform,” while areas that only required moderate changes and investments were labled “enhance.” The team proposed a cohesive network of public open spaces which include streets, plazas, parks, and a reinvented waterfront designed to offer a variety of public amenities.
The design team paid significant attention to the floodplains of the Cooper River, which intersect the project area. At the time of planning, about 5% of the district stood susceptible to a 100-year flood, prompting development mindful of green infrastructure and flood-relief measures. The plan proposes ways to leverage new flood-resilient landscapes as part of a larger network of publicly accessible trail and park spaces.
Major new investments and city life
Walkable, attractive and with an enriched public realm, the Gateway District plan leveraged a vacant building to develop a vibrant office park that has helped attract additional development in the city. The original Camden Gateway District contained several projects within it, including an 80,000-square-foot employee center and renovations to existing buildings on the Campell Soup Company campus. Ten years on, the plan has resulted in $1.8 billion in reinvestments in Camden, public investments like the 25-acre Gateway Park, and new corporate tenants including Subaru’s $120 million research and administrative headquarters, demonstrating that plans built on strategy will stand the test of time.
