New developments across New Jersey are replacing former corporate headquarters, but one such project recently approved in Cherry Hill feels a bit like déjà vu.
The Township Planning Board last week approved moving a Subaru of Cherry Hill dealership from one side of Route 70 to the other, onto vacant land that, until 2018, housed Subaru of America’s corporate headquarters, which moved to Camden.
The new dealership will have a 67,035-square-foot building footprint, including a 21,840-square-foot showroom and a 36,350-square-foot service area, according to plans submitted to the Township.
First approved in 2023, the new Subaru dealership required amended plans that reflect site design changes to comply with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection flood-hazard regulations. The Cooper River is across Park Boulevard from the property.
Subaru’s five-story former headquarters at 2235 Route 70 eastbound wasn’t the property’s most storied occupant.
The Latin Casino, an entertainment hotspot with national acts, opened on the site in 1960. They tore it down in the early 1980s.
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, and Johnny Mathis performed at the 1,500-seat dinner club, according to Concert Archives.
A new dealership will stand out for another reason, its landscaping will differ from many other commercial projects.
It has Planning Board permission to ignore a Township zoning ordinance requiring a permanent irrigation system ordinarily required for landscaping at new commercial developments.
Turf is not part of the plan, and drought-resistant plantings in the native pollinator garden will not require fertilizers, mowing, or an irrigation system, said Bernadette Szakal, associate director of real estate and corporate facility services at Subaru, which promotes an eco-friendly corporate image.
The landscaping follows Subaru’s corporate landscaping philosophy, designed by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for the carmaker’s Camden headquarters, according to the board resolution.
Tom Morris, vice president of public gardens and landscape operations at the Horticultural Society, told the board that the only irrigation required will be from water trucks that temporarily water the landscaping after the initial planting.
