The expansion of an international food and wine distributor in Bayonne is “99 percent done.”
The new warehouse of Royal Wine Corp., also known as Kedem Wines, is nearly completed at 22nd Street on the east side of town, according to Eric Alderman of the Cameron Group. An offshoot company, Cameron Royal, has developed the new Royal property.
Royal Wine is said to be the largest producer, importer, and distributor of kosher wines and spirits in the world, and is also a wholesale distributor and owner of kosher food products. It has facilities on LeFante Way, including its older corporate offices, and production, warehouse, and distribution facilities.
“This facility has larger, greater capacity and is better for shipping and distribution,” Alderman said. “It also has a brand new three-story office on it.”
Things came together for Royal Wine a few years back after the purchase of land adjacent to the Bayonne Crossings shopping center, according to Alderman.
The company had wanted to enlarge capacity and use land behind the shopping center, is able to do so.
The new facility has been operating for a month, and is basically crossing its “T’s” and dotting its “I’s” when it comes to construction completion.
“The ‘punch list’ items are being done,” Alderman said. “At the end of any construction project, the small items have to finished, completed, or repaired, whatever. All you have is a punch list of minor items. The building is deemed to be essentially complete.”
And that’s a good thing for the company because it’s in its busy period of the year, from November to April, during Jewish religious holidays.
“Everybody is excited: we as the developer, the city now, and obviously the owner are happy to be in a new facility,” Alderman said. “Working in cooperation with the city and state, they were able to stay in Bayonne rather move anywhere else.”
For more than 50 years, the company has been owned and operated in the United States by the Herzog family, whose winemaking roots date back eight generations to 19th century Czechoslovakia. Royal was formerly located in Brooklyn.
Alderman said the new plant has 500,000 square feet of space.
“It’s an old, established company that needed to build a facility to keep pace with their global growth,” he said.
Kosher wine in the United States alone is big business, with upwards of $28 million in sales, according to one estimate.
“Wines from Israel are very much in demand — there is a lot of interest; many new wines and vintages, and a lot of growth and movement,” said Jay Buchsbaum, vice president of marketing for Royal Wine Corp./Kedem. “The single strongest growth area in the kosher wine world is Israel, hands down. We almost can’t bring it in fast enough, and some of the wineries can’t produce enough volume to satisfy U.S. demand.”
“This facility has larger, greater capacity and is better for shipping and distribution.” – Eric Alderman
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Open and occupied, the Royal Bayonne plant is operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy from the city. Alderman expects its work on the new facility to be 100-percent completed in a few weeks and anticipates it will receive its permanent certificate of occupancy shortly thereafter.
“It’s a great thing for Bayonne,” said Robert Wondolowski, municipal services director and Mayor James Davis’s point man on development in the city. “I’d like to bring in more industry like that, obviously.”
Final brickwork and internal systems are among the last remnants of work to be finished, according to city officials.
Wondolowski said Royal’s migration from Brooklyn to Bayonne is no surprise.
“It’s the type of thing that’s happening now,” he said. “A lot of these companies from Brooklyn and Queens are coming here. The price per square foot is so different.”
Another agreement
Wondolowski said that development interest in the city continues to escalate, not just at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, but at midtown and downtown sites as well. With the recent agreement to relocate a lubrication technology company to the city, he said city officials are envisioning technology as a driver in attracting businesses here.
Fluitec, a company with offices in Jersey City, has signed a lease to come to Bayonne, according to Wondolowski. Fluitec offers additives that extend the life of machine lubricants five to 10 years.
“They are a Silicon Valley-backed firm, opening up in Bayonne,” he said. “I’m also speaking with other technology firms who are interested in making their U.S.-based or worldwide-based headquarters here. Our thoughts are that we want to make the Bayonne area a site for innovative technology.”
Wondolowski said Bayonne is attractive to Manhattan or Jersey City companies as a cost-effective alternative. Besides the city’s lower price per square foot to purchase or lease, he touted its proximity to key areas and what he said is the administration’s commitment to bringing businesses back to Bayonne.
Fluitec is expected to bring 60 jobs to the downtown area.
“If we could get more companies like that out of Silicon Valley, that’s where we really want to go,” he said.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.