Washington Township is auctioning off a 14.40 acre, municipally owned parcel in the Sewell section of Gloucester County, putting a rare, fully entitled inclusionary housing site directly into the hands of the developer willing to bid the most for it. Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Co. is managing the sale on the township’s behalf through an accelerated online bidding process that closes September 16th at 11 a.m., giving builders, investors, and housing specialists a defined window to size up a site the township itself rezoned specifically to help meet a legal obligation.

A Site Built Directly Around a State Housing Mandate

The parcel sits at the intersection of East Holly Avenue and Densten Road, boasting roughly 1,098 feet of frontage along East Holly Avenue and more than 550 feet along Densten Road, surrounded by established residential neighborhoods and preserved open space. What makes the site genuinely unusual is not its size or location but its zoning. Washington Township recently created an entirely new zoning classification, Residential Affordable Housing Inclusionary 1, or RAHI-1, and applied it specifically to this parcel as part of the township’s court supervised Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, the legal mechanism New Jersey municipalities use to demonstrate compliance with the state’s constitutional affordable housing obligations.

Under RAHI-1 zoning, a developer can build up to 10 residential units per acre, translating to a potential yield of more than 140 multi-family units across the full site, subject to final architectural and engineering approval. In exchange for that density, state fair housing law requires that at least 20 percent of the total units built be set aside as affordable housing for low and moderate income residents, meaning whoever wins the auction is not simply buying land, they are buying a specific, legally binding role in helping Washington Township satisfy its current Fourth Round affordable housing obligations under New Jersey’s Mount Laurel doctrine.

Infrastructure Already in Place

Beyond its zoning and density allowance, the site carries a practical advantage that tends to meaningfully speed up a project’s timeline, direct access to both public water and public sewer service already run to the property, removing one of the more common and expensive hurdles that can stall a large residential development before it ever breaks ground. That infrastructure access, paired with the site’s location in a genuinely high demand commuter corridor with quick access to Route 47, Route 55, Rowan University, and the greater Philadelphia region, gives the parcel a level of development readiness that municipally auctioned land does not always come with.

Sewell itself has increasingly become one of Gloucester County’s more sought after addresses, with newer housing stock, well regarded schools, and steady buyer demand from both the Philadelphia and South Jersey markets. A large scale inclusionary project landing in that specific submarket carries real implications for the local housing supply, adding both market rate and affordable units to a community that has, like much of New Jersey, faced sustained pressure on housing affordability and availability in recent years.

Why a Township Would Auction Off Its Own Land

Municipalities across New Jersey have increasingly turned to public land auctions specifically to help satisfy their affordable housing obligations, since selling a township owned parcel already zoned for inclusionary development to the highest qualified bidder can move a required project forward faster than waiting for a private landowner to initiate one independently. Washington Township’s decision to rezone this specific parcel before bringing it to auction reflects that same strategy, effectively pre-clearing the site’s intended use so that whichever developer wins the bidding can move directly into site planning rather than starting from a blank zoning slate.

Interested bidders are required to register in advance and review the township’s full due diligence property package before the September 16th deadline, standard practice for a competitive, accelerated municipal land auction of this scale. For Washington Township, the sale represents a fairly direct trade, converting a piece of municipally held land into both immediate sale proceeds and a concrete step toward satisfying a legal housing obligation the state has made increasingly difficult for any New Jersey municipality to simply defer.