How New Jersey's Top Political Boss Came to Own Some Of Camden's Most Valuable Land

This article was produced in partnership with the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.

For decades, Camden’s waterfront sat vacant, a sea of parking lots with sweeping views of the Philadelphia skyline. Two private developers tried and failed to revitalize the area. But in 2013, George E. Norcross III, New Jersey’s most powerful political boss, helped to usher in lucrative tax breaks for Camden, making waterfront land more attractive in the state’s poorest city.

Now, federal investigators are looking into some of the real estate deals that followed, according to sources with knowledge of the ongoing inquiry.

The original developers are largely gone, and Norcross, his business partners and clients of his brother Philip’s law firm own most of the land in the redevelopment area on the  waterfront. The Democratic power broker has denied any wrongdoing, saying the tax breaks spurred a “rapid and stunning renaissance” in Camden.

Listen to the story and click on the image below to visit our interactive map and learn more.

These properties on the Camden waterfront, owned or connected to political boss George Norcross and his brother, have been awarded hundreds of millions in tax breaks.

(Airbus Defense and Space)

Note: This audio has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to the owners of a hotel on the waterfront. George Norcross's insurance brokerage and his business partners were among the initial investors until the project's ownership changed hands in 2017.

This report was produced with support from the McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark School of Journalism, City University of New York.

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ProPublica and WNYC are spending the year investigating the power and influence wielded by party bosses in New Jersey’s political system. If you know something about the state’s controversial tax incentive program, we’d like to hear from you. We’d particularly like to hear from:

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