Gloucester County Times Article - 06/08

Sports, health facility planned By Jessica Driscoll
MANTUA TWP. - A vacant Lambs Road property once thought to be contaminated will soon be transformed into a sports and wellness facility that promises a "unique experience" for athletes, their parents and the general public.

"This facility will contribute new tax ratables and job opportunities , bring Mantua and neighboring communities closer together, and develop an underutilized site," said Michelle Bruner, coordinator of Mantua township's Economic Development Committee.

"It will fulfill not only local, but regional needs for traveling athletic organizations and for the public as a whole."

The facility, Total Turf Experience, is the brainchild of four Washington Township developers. It will have six professional-grade, lighted and environmentally controlled indoor fields, two full-sided outdoor fields and an operations building to include physical therapy, sports medicine, a karate school, a speed and agility school, a fine foods bistro and a sporting goods store.

Several notable sports figures - including Philadelphia Kixx coach Don D'Ambra and Andy Logar, who played for the Milwaukee Wave, the Delaware Wizards and the South Jersey Barons - will run the facility's programs and clinics.

Total Turf Experience will be constructed on a 16-acre parcel of the Lambs Road Associates site adjacent to Struthers-Dunn, an abandoned electronics plant on the township's Pitman border which is listed among the state Department of Envioromnmental Protection's Known Contaminated Sites. Remedial investigations of Struthers-Dunn are expected to be completed by June 2008.

"We've been working closely with NJDEP the whole time," said Mayor Tim Chell. "The Lambs Road Associates site has been determined safe, and they are aware of all of our redevelopment plans. I'd love to demolish the Struthers-dunn site today if I could, but we have to follow certain remediation requirements."

Chell said Total Turf Experience contributes significantly to Mantua's redevelopment goals.

"A site that previously scared people off will now provide a real asset to the community," he said. "It is of low impact use, since that acreage had been vacant for a long time. And except for some minor concerns about traffic, both we and the leaders from Pitman are very excited about it."

Both the township and the developers hope to begin construction in January 2008 for projected completion in September of that year.

"Aside from the fact that there were previously no local centers for turf sports, we also want to bring a healthy environment, " said Jerry McGough, a redeveloper for Total Turf Experience. "For players, parents, senior citizens and the public, we want to create an experience. From health food and smoothies, to video streaming to the restaurants from the fields inside the facility, we hope the township will be impressed."