Polyfil USA breaks ground on $12M headquarters expansion

Kimmerle-led approvals clear path for 28,000 s/f addition

Shown from left: Richard Jecmen, senior associate – Angelo Baute, Project Manager – George Kimmerle, founding partner (all with Kimmerle Group); Juan Castaneda, managing director (Polyfil USA); NJ Senator Anthony Bucco; Jonathan Sackett (Rockaway Twp. Council V.P.); and Michael Walsh (CEO of Corporate Contracting).

Rockaway Twp., NJ — Polyfil USA, has broken ground on a $12 million expansion and renovation (of a 1960s-era factory and warehouse facility) project in Rockaway Twp.

Their 59,000 s/f industrial facility will soon be expanded with a 28,000 s/f addition through an inventive site plan approval that not only awarded these increases but was achieved without a single additional s/f of impervious area added to the site, a key to gaining this important entitlement. In fact, despite relocating four loading docks, parking areas, entry and service points and other site and building improvements, the plan results in an actual reduction in impervious surface across this 5+ acre parcel.

This victory wasn’t achieved without hurdles, the 5.3-acre site located on Green Pond Rd., sits within the New Jersey Highlands Preservation Area and had to be recaptured from environmental extinction over the course of a six-month entitlement effort led by Kimmerle Group (KG), in conjunction with Dewberry Engineering, this prevented Polyfil from leaving Rockaway and possibly the Garden State altogether.

“The KG team filled a role as development advisor and manager, a scope that included selecting, retaining and managing the efforts of legal, civil, environmental and agency liaisons/expeditors for this complex approval,” said George Kimmerle, PhD. - “Our ability to spearhead complex entitlement programs is one of the significant differentials that sets our firm apart!

Additional team members included Neil Yoskin, Esq., of Cullen and Dykman,Glenn Kienz of Weiner Law Group, David Glass of CLB Partners and Mario Ianelli of Dewberry.

Racing against a mid-summer (2023) deadline for the adoption of new NJDEP inland flood plain regulations, the project team received full approvals from the NJDEP, the Township of Rockaway and the County of Morris in October of ‘23. Those approvals followed a filing date literally just moments before the July 4th weekend, narrowly beating the enactment of the inland water regulation deadline.

“The automation of industrial processes in American factories has led to an entirely different land use profile for these users, innovations not anticipated in local zoning ordinances that address an earlier time and need,” Kimmerle added.

The existing building consists of 59,000 s/f, to which a 27,000 s/f warehouse addition is being added. The current building will be replanned for all assembly and fabrication uses. In addition, a second-floor mezzanine will be expanded to accommodate executive and administrative uses. Below that structure will be an expanded lab for material testing and employee use, including a lavatory, locker room and cafeteria. An employee training room will also be added to the updated space.

Corporate Contracting, Inc., the commercial builder based in Parsippany, headed by CEO Michael Walsh, will handle the renovations and construction of the new facility.

Renovations to the existing space and new warehouse are estimated to cost $8 million, as well as a $4 million investment in a new line of machinery.