Editor’s Note: This story was originally produced for our content partner, GlobeSt.com.
FLORENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ—(SBN)—NFI, a Cherry Hill-based supply chain solutions provider, has broken ground on a facility that Mike Ricketts, the president and founder of Quality Packaging Specialists International, says will create “a transcending future” for his specialty packaging company.
At groundbreaking ceremonies attended by New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Florence Township Mayor Craig Wilkie, Ricketts tells GlobeSt.com exclusively that the new 377,440 square foot facility at NFI Park at Florence Crossings, will enable his company to “stay ahead of the curve in the packaging industry.”
Watch our exclusive video news report about the project in the player below.
SBN-NFI Groundbreaking for QPSI from PodcastSteve on Vimeo.
Mike Ricketts, president of QPSI, specialty packaging company that will occupy a new 377,000 square-foot facility in Florence Township, NJ (Jake Kozmor Photo for StateBroadcastNews.com. Used by permission)
“In the contract packaging space, you’ve got to keep bringing something new to the table,” says Ricketts. “We’ve been able to do that over the last 25 years. We’ll be able to develop new package designs and concepts into the future.”
QPSI, which previously operated from Moonachie, NJ, will establish its new corporate headquarters and packaging supply chain center of excellence at the site. QPSI provides packaging supply chain solutions in the pharmaceutical, health, beauty and consumer goods sectors. QPSI joins Subaru and three other tenants at the complex.
GlobeSt.com NJ editor Steve Lubetkin interviews NJ Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno at the groundbreaking in Florence Township, NJ (Jake Kozmor Photo for StateBroadcastNews.com. Used by permission)
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno tells GlobeSt.com exclusively that Grow New Jersey credits awarded to QPSI for the project not only helped keep the company in New Jersey, but also enabled the firm to draw in several of its clients in other states to a deeper business relationship in the Garden State.
“My job is to cut through red tape and make sure businesses get answers,” she says. “That helps businesses have confidence in New Jersey again. So if the numbers work, and we can show them they are welcome here, then these companies will stay here and grow here.”
“With the building for QPSI, we’ll have finished out 1.7 million square feet at the park,” said NFI president and vice chairman Jeff Brown. “We’re finished from an industrial standpoint. We still have some retail opportunities along Route 130.”
Brown says NFI will work with the township and other major firms like Burlington Coat Factory to develop the retail frontage of the site in a way that “benefits the entire community.”
The strategic location of Florence, NJ places QPSI at a crossroads of major highways with easy access to the New Jersey Turnpike, Route 295, Interstate 95, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The architect for the QPSI project is KSS Architects and the general contractor is Arco Design/Build NE. CBRE was the real estate broker for both sides of the transaction and Taylor, Weismann & Taylor are the civil engineers. The project is expected to be completed in April 2017.
Steve Lubetkin is the news director for StateBroadcastNews.com. Steve’s journalism background includes print and broadcast reporting for NJ news organizations. He refocused on multimedia journalism and podcast production after a long career in corporate branded journalism and public relations.
He has won numerous awards for his audio and video news reporting from the Garden State Journalists Association, and he has also been recognized for video by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has produced a wide range of audio and video podcasts in his other role as managing partner of State Broadcast News’s parent, The Lubetkin Media Companies.
Steve is co-author, with Toronto-based podcasting pioneer Donna Papacosta, of the book, The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional.
In March 2021, he was elected to the board of directors of the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and in July 2021 he was named secretary of the chapter. In August 2021, he was honored by SPJ with one of the organization’s 2021 Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Awards, given to regular members of an SPJ chapter who go above and beyond in serving their chapter.
Steve has been the computer columnist for the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey, since 1996.
Steve also has reported on-camera and produces virtual conferences for NJSpotlightNews.org, a public policy news coverage website focused on New Jersey government and industry; and for clients of StateBroadcastNews.com, a division of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC.
From May-November 2019, he produced and reported a weekly podcast, The CRE News Hour, a news and features program focusing on the commercial real estate industry.
From 2014 to 2019 he was New Jersey and Philadelphia editor for GlobeSt.com and filled in covering Chicago/Midwest and Atlanta.
Steve has also served (from August 2017 to March 2018) as national broadcast news correspondent for CEOReport.com, a news website focused on practical advice for senior executives in small- and medium-sized companies.
Earlier in his career, Steve reported on rock music at the Jersey Shore for the Asbury Park Press, and was a broadcast news anchor and production engineer for WJLK-AM & FM, then owned by the Press. He also worked as a general assignment reporter for the Red Bank Register, Shrewsbury, NJ.
You can email Steve at steve@statebroadcastnews.com.
