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Planners have proposed three redevelopment scenarios for the now shuttered Roche campus which sprawls across about 120 acres in Nutley and Clifton.

(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)

NUTLEY — A hotel, retirement community, offices, warehouses and luxury condominiums are all possibilities to replace Roche on its sprawling campus in Nutley and Clifton.

Last week, planning consultants hired by the two towns offered a glimpse of three possible scenarios of mixed-use redevelopment for the roughly 120-acre site, replacing one of New Jersey's most iconic pharmaceutical giants which ceased operations there last month.

The plans conceived by the consultants are ambitious, aiming to leave Roche's glory days in the dust.

A 53-page report by Perkins Eastman, an international planning firm headquartered in New York City, and Real Estate Solutions based in Princeton, gave an overview of three possible schemes that consultants say could generate more than $20 million in tax revenue upon completion. Roche contributed about $9 million in taxes to Nutley and between $4 million to $5 million to Clifton, according to officials.

Read the 53 page report that outlines three options for the Roche property

Their study estimates that redevelopment could create 13,000 to 18,000 jobs, which is music to Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi’s ears. At its height, Roche had 10,000 workers.

"The creation of jobs, to me, is No. 1,"

"We want to do it in a responsible way," Alan Genitempo, township attorney for Nutley, said of developing the site. He and Anzaldi are two of 12 representatives from Nutley, Clifton and Roche who compose the Joint Repurposing Committee, which has met for several months to discuss the property’s future.

Formerly known as Hoffman-La Roche, the Swiss drugmaker moved its headquarters to its subsidiary, Genentech, in San Francisco in 2009 and last year closed its Nutley plant, instead opening a clinical research center in Lower Manhattan.

Here are the three scenarios proposed:

• The first proposes using 2.5 million square feet for biotech research and development and office space. Also, the mixed-use proposal includes a 200-room hotel, 300,000-square feet of light industrial and 613 residential units comprised of luxury condos, age-restricted townhouses and apartments above ground floor retail on First Avenue, the main thoroughfare.

• The second option is similar to the first plan but proposes a 332-unit retirement community near the center of the campus. Light industrial would have a larger presence — about 510,000 square feet — and the hotel, biotech, office and residential components are scaled back in size.

Hoffman-La Roche closed operations at its 119-acre campus in Nutley and Clifton in 2013 and will completely shutter the site by 2015.

• The final scenario proposes the largest residential component — 798 units with the majority made up of condos. It also includes a 100-room hotel, 1.6 million square feet of biotech R&D and offices and 510,000 square feet of light industrial. Instead of a centrally located retirement community, the 312-units for seniors would be set up on the southeast edge of the Roche property, off the southern side of Kingsland Avenue.

“The Roche campus is one of the best suited properties for re-development in New Jersey as it is a prime location with great infrastructure in the heart of a fantastic community,” Tom Lyon, vice president of the Nutley plant, said in a statement.

All three scenarios propose having a medical facility and wellness center near the Route 3 entrance to the campus. They also include parking for about 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles, parks and public squares and introducing NJ Transit service through the site with at least six stops.

The study also accounts for traffic, but consultants say it should be no worse than the volume of traffic during Roche’s peak years.

“I think everyone is optimistic,” Genitempo said.

Anzaldi says Clifton, from the beginning, has not favored bringing in housing or retail — big box or otherwise. He’s not only concerned about adding cars to existing Route 3 traffic, he also wants to see higher paying jobs. He prefers something like a corporate park or warehouse distribution center.

“There was always the discussion, ‘could we get another Roche?’” he added.

With three options on the table, town officials say the next month will be crucial for gathering community input. Nutley's next board of commissioners meeting is Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. and Clifton’s city council meets at 8 p.m. that evening. The respective planning boards will soon decide on rezoning the area, which is currently designated only for industrial, manufacturing, research and office use.

Meanwhile, the environmental remediation of the property is wrapping up and Roche is preparing to submit its final report to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“To date, the data we have collected show no concerns for human health or safety from contamination associated with the Roche Nutley site,” company spokeswoman Darien Wilson said.

Roche recently selected a broker to help market the site and the company plans to sell to a developer by 2015, she said.

Genitempo declined to say which of the three plans he favors but noted that the final scenario, which has the largest number of residential units, would produce the most ratables for Nutley. But that raises another issue: planners estimate that the residential units would bring in about 90 to 140 children.

“We want to have as little impact on the school system as possible,” he said.

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