The 14-acre stretch of now-vacant land on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, bounded in the south by Park Boulevard, has a storied history.

From 1960 to 1978, the land held the Latin Casino, a 1,500-seat dinner club that hosted superstars from Frank Sinatra to the Jackson 5. Rhythm and blues singer Jackie Wilson in 1975 was performing on stage when he had a massive heart attack that left him in and out of comas until his death in 1984.

The Latin Casino building was demolished in the early 1980s and, in 1986, Subaru of America moved into a new $18 million headquarters building on the site. The company outgrew it and moved to a new $118-million headquarters in Camden in 2018. The old building was torn down in 2019.

Now the Subaru name may rise again at the 2235 Route 70 property. The dealership selling Subarus in Cherry Hill wants to move less than a mile from its current operation on Route 70 to a new showroom and service facility to be built on the site.

Representatives of Star Real Estate of Cherry Hill II LLC on Tuesday evening appeared before the Cherry Hill Planning Board seeking approval for its plans to construct a building with a 64,035-square-foot footprint, including a 21,840-square-foot showroom, 36,350-square-foot service area and a 5,845-square-foot driveway.

Applicant testimony went beyond 11 p.m. and future testimony was moved to the board's July 17 meeting. The public will have an opportunity to testify at that meeting.

A large slice of the land facing Park Boulevard and the Cooper River is in a flood plain and would hold only some parking spaces, according to the plans. The applicant is seeking a variance to be allowed a total of 20% open space on the site, where 25% is required. 

The land still is owned by Subaru of America, and the Planning Board application shows that Star Real Estate would purchase the property.

One mile of Route 70 is peppered with new car dealerships, from Tesla in the east to Audi in the west.

Some dealership-neighborhood relationships have turned bitter.

For years, homeowners in the Locustwood section have warred with Cherry Hill Dodge over complaints of test drives on residential streets, unloading cars on public roads and excessive noise. Cherry Hill Township recently rescinded its permission for the Dodge dealer to expand its parking lot, a move that has resulted in a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Camden.

But Ziad Nashed, the owner of the Subaru dealership that neighbors Cherry Hill Dodge on Fulton Street, told Planning Board members at the meeting that he believes when the public is allowed to testify at a future meeting that his dealership will be viewed as a good neighbor in the Locustwood section.

Nashed has owned and operated the Subaru dealership at 1800 Route 70 since 2006.

"All of the cars are delivered on our property," he said, and no unloading would occur on Route 70 or Park Boulevard if the dealership moves.

He said he expects that between 100 and 150 cars will be delivered each month, with eight to 10 cars carried on each truck.

One complaint about Cherry Hill Dodge has been the repeated use of car horns to locate vehicles in the parking lot by workers using the key fob. 

Nashed said that when his workers are hired they are told the rules.

"Every one of them knows not to do that," Nashed told the board. The worker might hit the horn once, but not repeatedly, he added.

An operations statement filed with the dealership's proposal to the board states it will be made clear to customers and staff technicians on where they can go for test drives.

They will be told "to depart the facility from the rear side (Park Boulevard), make an immediate right behind the Audi dealership, turn left onto Route 70 and then a U-turn at the Pennsauken Wawa Shopping Center and return to the facility," according to the statement.

The applicant also addressed a hot topic in Cherry Hill: What will happen to the trees?

Engineer Ahmad Tamous, of Bohler Engineering in Mount Laurel, said 265 trees would be eliminated by the project, but 349 would be planted. Between five and nine large mature trees on the property will be saved, he said.

The applicant also proposes 673 parking spaces where 261 spaces are required, according to its application. Vehicle inventory would use 412 of the spaces, it notes.

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