The old GM plant in Ewing, N.J., once churned out planes during World War II. But after closing in 1998, the factory sat vacant for years. Now it's being transformed into a large mixed used development that will serve as a town center for the sprawling suburb of Ewing Township. 

Long a center for manufacturing and heavy industry, New Jersey has no shortage of industrial sites that have seen better days. But thanks to the state’s two-decade-old brownfields initiative, some are now being transformed, like the old factory in Ewing, into ambitious, mixed-used projects. 

And riding the trend has been Spiezle Architecture Group, with the Camden, N.J.-based firm having carved out a niche as the planner on a number of major brownfields redevelopment projects, including the one in Ewing. 

“New Jersey being the most urbanized state in the nation, with a lot of industrial sites and abandoned industrial areas and limited open space, has led the way in the last 20 years in trying to find ways to promote brownfields redevelopment,” said Angelo Alberto, a principal at Spiezle. “It has become a model for other states to follow.” 

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