TIM TAI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
[The Read the full story link at the bottom has been corrected]
Melanie Burney reports for Philly.com:
A grandiose plan to revive and restore Camden’s great musical history at one of the last remaining RCA Victor buildings has hit a sour note. Instead, the place where Frank Sinatra signed a contract and Fats Waller made phonograph recordings has been sold for $13.5 million to a South Jersey metal recycling firm.
Located at Front and Cooper Streets, the eight-story building has been called the most historic place for recorded music in the world. It is where the Victor Talking Machine Co. built a music dynasty in downtown Camden, churning out records and legendary artists such as Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday recorded for the label.
Last year, a developer announced ambitious plans to transform the site into a commercial office space with a nod to its musical past, including a Victor museum, a recording studio, a rooftop restaurant with a scenic skyline view, and an entertainment venue. The proposal called for bringing back the studio and stage where artists recorded and live orchestra performances were held.
But that lofty vision was scrapped when Millennial Place sold the building to EMR Eastern, marking the second time the property has changed owners in just over a year. Instead, the building will bring more office workers and another business venture to the bustling waterfront.
The Bellmawr-based company plans to relocate its national headquarters and about 120 employees to the 90,000-square-foot building by the summer, said president Joseph Balzano Jr. The total project is expected to cost about $33 million after renovations, he said.
The interior had been gutted by the previous owners and few changes are planned for the outside, except replacing broken windows, Balzano said. The lobby and seventh and eighth floors where phonograph recordings were made by Enrico Caruso and Camden’s Russ Columbo and where Sinatra signed his first contract with Victor Studios will be preserved, he said.
“It’s a beautiful building,” said Balzano. “It’s nice that it has some historic significance.”
TIM TAI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The former Camden City School District headquarters, once part of the RCA complex in Camden, has been sold for $13.5 million to a metal recycling firm.
The building is part of what little remains of the former 58-acre industrial Victor Talking Machine Co. complex. The company began in a small machine shop on Front Street that produced Victrolas. It grew to a massive operation that covered the equivalent of 10 city blocks, churned out 800,000 records a day and had sales over $400 million.
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