IRG Will Convert Former VA Depot into Rail Hub

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ-The former Veterans Administration supply depot on Route 206 here is about to get a new life as a railway shipping hub. The federal government has leased the 165-acre property on a long-term basis to the International Realty Group, and the latter is in the process of launching a rehab of the site’s buildings.

No cost has been announced by the New Jersey-based IRG for the project, which encompasses a makeover of three sprawling warehouse buildings totaling nearly a million sf. The site has been vacant for several years. IRG officials say they are targeting light manufacturing and distribution users for the site.

IRG has also signed a deal with the Edison, NJ-based New Jersey & Northern Railway under which the short-haul carrier will rebuild the site’s four miles of trackage and subsequently provide rail service to and from the complex. Officials of NJNR say it will cost upwards of $2 million to rebuild the on-site rail system, portions of which date back to the early 1900s. NJNR is an affiliate of Raritan Center Railway LLC and operates rail service in and out of the 14 million-sf Raritan Center Industrial Park in Edison, NJ.

Work will proceed without planning board approval from this Somerset County township because, as federal property, the site is beyond local jurisdiction. As federal property, it’s also exempt from property taxes, although local officials and IRG are currently negotiating property tax payments relating to the fact that it’s being converted to private use.