The first time Carl Dranoff entered the Victor building on the Camden, N.J., waterfront, he wore a hard hat and steel-toe boots and carried a flashlight—the only way to safely navigate the abandoned manufacturing plant.
Despite the site's appearance, Thomas Corcoran, the president of the local economic development association, knew how to convince Dranoff of its potential. He pried the boards off a window so Dranoff could see the view. “It was astounding,” Dranoff says of the panorama, which included the waterfront, Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and Philadelphia's skyline.
Today, when Dranoff, founder and CEO of Philadelphia-based Dranoff Properties, enters The Victor, he doesn't see graffitied walls and broken bricks; instead, he sees an exquisite lobby, landscaped courtyard, and tenants going about their day. He sees a successful project that has rejuvenated a blighted area. He sees an icon of American industry transformed. And he no longer needs a hard hat.
Indeed, despite numerous obstacles and a rocky history, the 348-unit Victor Luxury Waterfront Lofts has helped spur development of the formerly blighted area. Today, the Camden Waterfront is a thriving urban neighborhood with The Victor at its core.
A FORMER POWERHOUSE Developed originally as a manufacturing factory, the Camden site became a hub of the modern music recording industry for most of the 20th century. But its long history also meant it fell victim to the ups and downs of the economy.
The property's birth began with Eldridge R. Johnson, who founded the Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1901. In 1909, Johnson expanded operations with a waterfront factory to build Victrola cabinets, the casings that combined a turntable and amplifying horn in an attractive wooden cabinet. By 1917, the facility occupied 525,000 square feet and was surrounded by 32 other Victor buildings, which housed everything from phonograph needle production to recording studios.
The massive brick structure's most iconic feature was the 75-foot-high Nipper Tower, which housed huge water tanks used for fire protection. In addition, stained glass windows on all four sides featured the Victor logo—dog Nipper listening to a record player to hear “his master's voice.”
In 1929, the Victor Talking Machine Co. was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America. Not long after RCA's 1985 merger with General Electric, the Camden plant was shut down. The decline of the facility mirrored the decline of the city, which was hit by a recession and the demise of manufacturing in the Northeast.
By the time Corcoran and Dranoff walked into the boarded-up factory, conditions were improving on the Camden waterfront. Developers already had built the 25,000-seat Susquehanna Center amphitheater, the 2 million-plus-gallon Adventure Aquarium, a minor league baseball stadium, and the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial. In planning were transportation improvements to New Jersey Transit's River Line, which runs in front of the building.
A SQUARE DONUT Still, Dranoff had to jump a number of hurdles to get the Victor project going. His first step was a comprehensive environmental reclamation without which the project would be uninhabitable. The Delaware River Port Authority and the state footed the bill for the $7 million cleanup.
The second challenge was securing funding—not to purchase the facility, which the city happily sold for a measly $1, but for the renovation. Lenders were hesitant to take a chance in an unproven market. Finally, Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) agreed to a $30 million loan, half of what was needed. Over the next three years, Dranoff cobbled together the rest of the funding from the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Agency, the Delaware River Port Authority, and his own capital.
Finally, in 2002, Dranoff started transforming the factory into luxury condos. Although the building had great potential with its 14- to 20-foot ceilings, massive columns, and enormous windows, fitting units into the space was a three-dimensional puzzle. The depth of the building posed a particular problem because interior rooms received very little light.
The solution? Expand the building's central courtyard by knocking down a substantial part of the structure. Widening the originally narrow space, and making the building what senior architect George Manos calls “a square donut,” brought more light and air into the center of the building, allowing for units of a reasonable depth with plenty of natural light and creating a courtyard amenity.
In the end, the redesign helped deliver 348 one- to three-bedroom units that range from $995 to $2,500 a month to the Camden multifamily market. Along with exposed columns and beams come gourmet kitchens and oversized closets. And The Victor's tower houses a two-story fitness center with 365-degree views of the Camden Waterfront and Philadelphia skyline.
THE BIG PICTURE As important as the design was the recruitment of retailers for the first floor, Dranoff says. It wasn't easy: “It took a lot of door-knocking, a lot of cajoling, and a lot of tenant improvements,” he explains.
Dranoff was able to secure ground-floor tenants such as a dry cleaner, bank, market, and Italian bistro. As a result, within a year of its 2004 opening, the building was 100 percent leased.
And Dranoff continues to be at the center of all the development action in the area. He's redeveloping an adjacent building—the 86-unit Radio Lofts condos. Indeed, it's hard to believe that most developers refused to walk through The Victor. “We were explorers,” Dranoff says. “[It was] a jewel underneath all the grime and dirt.”
Elizabeth Lunday is a freelance writer based in Fort Worth.
PROPERTY: The Victor Luxury Waterfront Lofts
DEVELOPER: Dranoff Properties
ARCHITECT: BLT Architects
LOCATION: Camden, N.J.
RENT: $995 to $2,500
RENOVATION COST: $52.2 million
LENGTH OF RENOVATION: 2 years
SCOPE OF PROJECT: Turning an abandoned factory into luxury lofts
ACTION ITEMS HIT A HIGH NOTE
Consider these tips when redeveloping a blighted historic building.
- Make sure the fundamentals are strong. Look for basic metrics such as employment base, transportation accessibility, and the potential of the structure.
-
- Hire the best team you can. There's no playbook for large renovation projects. Each one is unique, so assemble a team of architects, engineers, contractors, even marketers, to make creative decisions.
- Be persistent. Have faith in the project to sustain you against the inevitable setbacks and nay-sayers.