Urban Exploring in NJ ➖Abandoned Catholic Retreat Center - DJI Osmo Pocket 3 (4k 60p)

NJ TRIP PART 2

0:00 INTRO
0:34 juvenile detention center?
1:12 ST. Pius x Retreat
5:21 Ghost Subdivision
6:17 abandoned house
7:38 Bethlehem Loading Company

Here is a description of all the destinations I visited in my 3-day New Jersy trip - chronological order.
After leaving Ocean City, we pulled off the road to camp overnight. 39.259313, -74.672442
➖In the morning, we drove to the first abandoned building. This abandoned building looked like someone was going to renovate it. This place may have been a juvenile detention center, but I'm not sure. 39°24'21.9"N 74°44'32.0"W
➖Estell Manor Park in Mays Landing, New Jersey. The park is home to the ruins of a coal power plant and Bethlehem Loading Company, an abandoned factory in New Jersey that has been standing inactive for a century.
More info here - https://www.jerseysbest.com/community/uncovering-n-j-in-mays-landing-former-factory-hub-harkens-back-to-lost-era/
➖Ghost Subdivision. 39.420498, -74.746178 As I was exploring on google maps, I noticed strange grids of roads in the woods.
- Most of the roads were unpaved dirt/sand. Some of the roads were blocked by fallen trees and debris. Although my little Honda civic wasn't made for off-roading, and I could've easily gotten it stuck, I decided to drive down these roads to explore.
My research afterwards showed these grids are all that remain of what are sometimes called "ghost subdivisions" or "paper subdivisions" - planned communities that were mapped out on paper but never built. Grids from subdivisions that were mapped and sometimes rough-graded decades ago in the Pine Barrens, but never actually built out. After New Jersey created the Pinelands in 1979 and tightened wetlands and habitat rules, a lot of those projects were halted. The plats (and some sandy lanes) still show up on aerials and maps, and a few get used today as firebreaks or informal access tracks
➖The Atlantic City Speedway, aka Amatol Raceway in Hammonton, NJ. This is a 1.5-mile "wooden bowl" speedway (apparently at a cost of over $1 million), which was the biggest on the East Coast when it was constructed. The raceway opened on May 1, 1926, and closed just two years later on May 30th, 1928. But this isn't a straightforward story about a business plan not working out for a bunch of racing fans -- this story involves TNT and World War I. Read more about it here: https://wpgtalkradio.com/amatol-raceway-hammonton-nj/
- I did not take any footage of this place because there wasn't much to see.
➖St. Pius X 39°47'10.5"N 75°02'03.1"W This Abandoned catholic retreat center. This retreat center provided activities such as retreats, recollections, workshops, and meetings. Due to persistent decades-long financial deficits, the Diocese announced it would be closing the center by June 30, 2010. In the final fiscal year alone, it ran a deficit approaching $500,000, and over the prior decade, the Diocese had injected more than $4 million in subsidies. At the same time, capital maintenance costs for aging facilities amounted to nearly $1.5 million.
💵 The property, was sold for $6.3 million by the Diocese of Camden in 2015 to Recovery Centers of America. After acquiring the property, Recovery Centers of America intended to transform it into a substance abuse treatment facility with an adjunct sober living residential community. However, the Gloucester Township Zoning Board denied approval for the renovation plan, citing incompatibility with zoning regulations. In response, the company filed lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing that individuals recovering from addiction are protected under these laws and that the zoning denial was discriminatory. The case appears to remain unresolved in public court records. The facility has not progressed toward redevelopment.
- Video about this place by Kenopsia Explorers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmlfKA8WWHA
➖creek tunnels 39°52'23.8"N 75°03'42.0"W (got no footage)

In the NJ TRIP PART 3, you will see the footage I took at the historic Batsto Village and a nighttime city vlog in Philly.