Area Description
The 9.3 square mile Town of Kearny is located in the northwestern corner of Hudson County, in northeastern New Jersey. The Borough of North Arlington and the Town of Lyndhurst border the Town to the north. The Towns of East Newark and Harrison form the southwestern border of the Town. The Hackensack River forms the Town’s eastern border, the Passaic River forms the western border, and the southeastern border of the Town is formed by the confluence of the two Rivers into Newark Bay. The Town can be divided into three distinct geographic areas, The Uplands, Kearny Meadows, and the South Kearny Peninsula, commonly referred to as South Kearny.
The Uplands
The Uplands contains predominantly development residential and commercial areas in the Town. The Uplands are located between the eastern bank of the Passaic River and the western boundary of the Kearny Meadows. This area is traversed by several important north-south transportation corridors including Passaic Avenue, Schuyler Avenue, and Kearny Avenue. The Uplands are immediately adjacent to the central business districts of the Towns of Harrison, East Newark, and the Borough of North Arlington.
Kearny Meadows
The Kearny Meadows occupies 59% of the land of the Town. The Meadows are located between the Hackensack River and the Upland section of the Town. The Kearny Meadows is recognized as a unique ecosystem and makes up the southern portion of the Hackensack Meadowlands.
South Kearny Penisula
The South Kearny Peninsula is an isolated landmass that serves as the confluence of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. Its waterfront access and situation along major transportation routes has contributed to developing South Kearny as an industrial center.
Strength of Location
New Jersey-New York Metropolitan Region
The location of Kearny within the northern New Jersey-New York metropolitan region presents numerous opportunities for economic development as well as convenient access to the richest markets for goods and services in the world. The Town is situated in close proximity to several major transportation routes, including the New Jersey Turnpike, Interstate 280, and U.S. Routes 1 & 9, 3, 7, 17 & 21. Many important freight and passenger rail lines connecting New York City with the continental United States traverse the Town. Additionally, Kearny is located within several miles of the ports of Elizabeth and Newark, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport.
UEZ Community
Kearny’s status as a UEZ community is greatly enhanced by its geographic location within northeastern New Jersey. Kearny is strategically located within 10 miles of New York City, and is virtually at the center of the Boston-Washington megalopolis.
Within a mere radius of 250 miles lies one of the richest markets for goods and services in the nation as well as an enormous concentration of purchasing power, disposable and household incomes. Twelve states, with over 60 million consumers, possessing a net purchasing power equal to $1 trillion, are literally within overnight delivery range of Kearny.
Vast and well-developed infrastructure surrounds Kearny to further compliment its strategic location. Kearny offers access to major interstate highways, world-class air facilities, deep-water ports, and transcontinental rail lines. Kearny is the epicenter of the Northeast marketplace; your bridge to regional, national and global commerce.
Kearny’s central location and the surrounding infrastructure offer the potential for reaching over 20% of the nation’s net effective buying power.
There are 407 acres in South Kearny that are part of Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) #49, operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Created to stimulate international trade and investment, FTZ #49 is the largest continuous foreign-trade zone in the U.S. and consistently ranked #1 for foreign value of merchandise received. With buildings totaling over 6 million square feet, companies active within the FTZ can benefit from deferred duty rates, reduced delivery times due to simplification of import/export procedures and lower insurance costs.
Kearny has been designated as an Opportunity Zone. This is a new community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The Opportunity Zones program provides a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into Opportunity Funds that are dedicated to investing into Opportunity Zones designated by the chief executives of every U.S. state and territory.
Leveraging one of the most successful Urban Enterprise Zone programs in New Jersey to augment its strengths, Kearny nurtures the perfect environment for business growth and development.
