BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP -The following article was written by Steven L. Lubetkin  of Cherry Hill.  His contact info is at the bottom of this article.  The Haines Industrial Center offers access to trains, bus lines and an easier commute for workers

Until recent spikes in fuel costs, the decision to locate a warehouse or distribution center frequently hinged on how close a site was to big cities and major highways.

These days, the decision takes into account an industrial park's room for expansion, multimodal transportation options and, increasingly, the availability of workers, as well as public transit options to carry those workers to the facility, observers say.

"Initially there was a heavy value placed on location and transportation cost. As the logistics modeling has gotten better, the labor element has become more of a factor, not so much in terms of cost, but in availability," says Louis J. Battagliese Jr., a King of Prussia, Pa.-based partner with Jackson Cross Partners, a real estate brokerage firm.

A dearth of public transportation is often the limiting factor. Indeed, certain locations in central New Jersey, like Cranbury, where there are already 40 to 50 million square feet of warehouse space, have reached the limits of the available labor pool because of the lack of good transit, says Richard Cureton, president of Whitesell Construction Co., a Delran-based developer of warehouse and distribution properties in South Jersey.

The importance of work force comes at a good time for Whitesell's Haines Industrial Center on Route 130 near Interchange 6 of the New Jersey Turnpike, according to Cureton. His firm owns and operates the 700-acre facility in Burlington Township.

Access to public transit is a factor weighing in Haines' favor. Two stops on NJ Transit's River Line and several bus routes serve the Center, which is nearly equidistant from labor pools in Camden and Trenton, Cureton says. NJ Transit says ridership at the two stations increased in the second quarter of 2008 versus the same period last year. "Like the success stories of Portland [Oregon] and Baltimore, where they put in light rail systems, it takes 10 to 20 years until people adjust their lifestyles, but with the fuel crisis, I think it's going to take a lot less time than that," Cureton says.

Rail is becoming popular for moving more than people.

Whitesell is seeing increased interest in rail shipping after years in which shippers were mainly interested in truck haulage, as the cost of trucking has soared along with fuel prices.

"I can only imagine it's going to increase exponentially in the future. Rail is on the way back," Cureton says, noting that Whitesell is developing a 430,000-square-foot facility for International Paper at the Haines Center, featuring rail access to the Conrail Shared Services line that is served by CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Shippers say the competition between CSX and Norfolk Southern at the facility keeps rail shipment prices about 30 percent lower, according to Cureton.

Another advantage for centers like Haines is the diminishing space for development, Cureton says. "I don't see a lot of newer construction happening in the next 10 or 20 years."

Haines Center has capacity for nearly 9 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space. Less than 5 million is currently built out, according to Karen Dolan, vice president of marketing for Whitesell.

But even as rail and public transit connections surge in importance, good old-fashioned location still plays a role for companies.

The Haines Center is near the middle of the New Jersey/Pennsylvania corridor, and sits astride the connection between the New Jersey Turnpike and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

For Battagliese, whose firm often works with Whitesell, Haines represents the "last best center" in South Jersey. Shippers there can get a reliable mix of rail, truck and intermodal traffic options without looking at northern New Jersey, with its terminal costs and heavier congestion.

A county official says the center has added 1,500 permanent jobs and generated "significant" tax revenue.

"The Haines Center has been a huge asset to the county," says Joseph Donnelly, deputy director of the Burlington County Freeholders. He notes that the center's accessibility to highways, rail and mass transit makes the center "an absolute home run."

Steven L. Lubetkin is a freelance writer based in Cherry Hill. He can be reached at editorial@njbiz.com.