What is the Real Reason for Lawsuits? Buildings would Block the Boss’s view of Delaware River
GLOUCESTER CITY, NJ (December 18, 2025)(CNBNews)--Holt Logistics and Cresmont Limited Partnership have filed another civil action against the City of Gloucester City and the Gloucester City Planning Board. The Holt and Cresmont lawsuit is an attempt to stop the construction of two large multi-use buildings at the former US Coast Guard property on King Street. The Coast Guard abandoned the property in 1986, and moved into a new base on the Philadelphia side of the river.
According to a rumor, Holt is against the development because the buildings would block his office view of the river.
According to Mark Matthews, editor of the 42 Freeway blog, and former Cleary’s Notebook News reporter, Holt Logistics, which maintains its corporate headquarters in the former Coast Guard building, filed a new civil action on November 26 seeking to revoke the redevelopment designation of the property in an effort to invalidate the project’s approvals. This would be their third complaint regarding the Redevelopment Plan.
Meridia On The Pier
The Gloucester City project, known as Meridia on the Pier, is proposed for 101 South King Street. The development would transform approximately 4.5 acres of undeveloped waterfront land—extending into the Freedom Pier area—with two large mixed-use buildings.
In 1996, Gloucester City designated the extended properties, including the former Coast Guard base now used as Holt Logistics’ headquarters, as areas in need of redevelopment.
1967 HOLT ARRIVES IN GLOUCESTER CITY
Thomas J. Holt Sr. staked his claim in Gloucester City in 1967 when he bought half the site of the former New York Shipbuilding Co. The state bought the rest, across the border in Camden, and turned it over to South Jersey Port Corp.
In 1980, with a heavy infusion of your tax dollars called UDAG grants, Holt expanded the half-mile waterfront property he started in Gloucester City into the largest refrigerated and dry warehouse facility on the East Coast. This was also the beginning of talks about developing the City’s waterfront. A North Jersey developer proposed plans to build “Hollywood East” on the City’s waterfront.
The family name became synonymous with hard work, shrewd and intensely private business dealings and expansive holdings in four states and Puerto Rico.
When the now-defunct Holt Group filed for bankruptcy in 2001, it reported annual revenues over $300 million and more than $350 million in debt.
The Holts lost ownership of the Gloucester Terminal in bankruptcy, along with holdings in Puerto Rico and Wilmington, Del., but bought the Gloucester Terminal back from bondholders last year. Also in Gloucester City is Holt\’s corporate headquarters, in a former Coast Guard building on the waterfront, under a 99-year lease.
\”That lease sickens me. I don\’t know how they got away with it, because we would like to use that land for other things,\” said Gloucester City Mayor William James, who describes a prickly relationship with the city\’s largest employer and taxpayer.
The Holts pay about $1.1 million a year in taxes and payment in lieu of taxes to the city, or nearly 11 percent of its tax base.
But Gloucester Terminal consumes much of what could be a picturesque waterfront. It also is noisy, gritty, non-stop and located across the street from private homes.
”The industry is an eyesore and Holt is a necessary evil,” said former Mayor Bob Bevan.
”We’re trying to get him to put up buffers and to move his headquarters elsewhere. But they\’re an amazing group. According to his lease, if we move \’em, we have to build \’em another building. We\’re just no match,” said Bevan.
According to a AI search Holt has had similar leases with other agencies. The marine terminal has been paying a $1 a year since 1993 to lease land under the Walt Whitman Bridge.
The situation in Gloucester City has parallels with other long-standing Holt leases with public entities:
- DRPA lease (2022): In 2022, a Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) inspector general’s report found that Holt’s lease for land under the Walt Whitman Bridge—for which Holt paid $1 a year—had not been updated since 1993 and needed renegotiation at market rates.
- DRPA negotiations (225): The DRPA formally initiated renegotiation efforts with Holt in early 2025 to increase the rent to market value, sparking discussions and an appraisal process.