Marcal site update: Prep work starting on $100M warehouse to replace burned factory

ELMWOOD PARK — Almost four years after a raging fire destroyed the Marcal Paper factory, developers are gearing up to start construction on a $100 million warehouse project to replace the empty lot that now occupies part of the Route 80 site.

Texas-based Crow Holdings Development hopes to start prep work in the coming days, including the installation of new fencing and bringing in equipment and materials, said Borough Administrator Michael Foligno. The developer said it would begin construction this fall.

Crow Holdings announced in May that it planned to build a 206,000-square-foot “state-of-the-art modern industrial building” on the 12-acre property, with construction expected to take 12 to 18 months.

Marcal, a major employer in the region for almost a century, saw its red-brick factory and famous neon sign obliterated in January 2019, in a blaze that required 400 firefighters from 50 North Jersey towns to quell the flames.

Now, initial site work for the warehouse is getting underway, Foligno said in an interview last week. That entrails moving materials and construction equipment to the site and fencing off the property, work that typically takes up to six weeks, Foligno said. 

“You’re not going to see structures going up yet,” he said. “You have to prepare the grounds. It’ll be preliminary stuff.” 

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Construction is slated to begin “this fall,” Crow spokesperson Adam McGill said in an email, after some “fine details that are being worked out” on the project. 

The redevelopment will generate $34 million in economic activity in Bergen County and 140 short-term jobs, the developer said in May. The company estimates the site will produce an additional $630,000 in property tax payments to the county, Elmwood Park and the borough school district. The warehouse will support the equivalent of 240 full-time jobs, Crow said.

Marcal officials said after the fire that about 500 jobs had been lost, though the business was able to resume some manufacturing on the site in early 2020 after the coronavirus lockdown boosted demand for paper products. 

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record. 

Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100