On Friday, Delimaris' company, Harbor View Associates of Cherry Hill, signed a 30-year lease, renewable for up to 80 years, with the Camden County Improvement Authority. The lease starts at $53,000 per year, with annual increases based on the Consumer Price Index.
Camden officials say that in addition to providing a boost to the waterfront, the development will create 250 service jobs and 50 construction jobs.
``It's an important project,'' said Philip Rowan, executive director of the Camden County Improvement Authority. ``It will bring in restaurants and nightclubs at the waterfront near the E-Centre that doesn't have anything right now.''
According to Rowan, Harbor View expects to get $3.2 million in Empowerment Zone financing for the project. The federally funded program is meant to encourage development in depressed parts of the city by providing loans to developers who build in those areas.
Harbor View is obtaining the loans through a tax-exempt bond issue planned by the state's Economic Development Authority, Rowan said. About $2 million more is to come from individual tenants, who will finish the complex's interior using bank loans, he added.
Delimaris said that Harbor View planned to install six businesses in the complex, including at least two restaurants stipulated by the lease agreement. While no business has confirmed occupancy, Delimaris said he and his brother, Pete - who own Spaghetti Castle in Haddon Township and Balconi restaurant in Pennsauken - were negotiating with several businesses in New Jersey and one in Philadelphia who are ``very interested'' in becoming tenants.
``It's a beautiful area,'' said Delimaris. ``That section is like paradise. There is plenty of business with the E-Centre and thousands of people who work near there, and who go there every weekend.''
Harbor View plans to begin construction on the project in September, Delimaris said.
