Hartz Mountain Industries has scrapped plans to build a large warehouse complex on the former site of a munitions maker after facing almost two years of local pushback on the project, mirroring the opposition that industrial properties have faced across the nation.

The Secaucus, New Jersey-based real estate company has informed the township of Roxbury, New Jersey, that it's withdrawing its application to construct what was originally planned as 2.5 million square feet of warehouse space. The five-building development, to have been called the Roxbury Commerce Center, was slated for a large parcel of land, about 820 acres, that was formerly the site of the Hercules dynamite-manufacturing plant in Morris County.

Hartz unveiled its plans for Roxbury in September 2022, and since then the project has met opposition from some municipal officials, residents and environmental activists, who at times packed hearings to voice their concerns, according to local media reports. The controversy echoed the battles that have erupted countrywide in places where warehouses were proposed: Proponents said the projects created jobs and served the booming e-commerce industry, while opponents argued that warehouses created pollution, traffic and harmed the environment.

The past few years there's been a surge of such conflicts over alleged "warehouse sprawl" in the Garden State, which has evolved into a logistics hub because of its central location in a densely populated region and its proximity to major airports and seaports.

James Rhatican, Hartz vice president of land use and development, on Wednesday confirmed in an email to CoStar News that his firm had sent a letter to the Roxbury Planning withdrawing its application "and is not proceeding with the project."

Hartz declined to comment on why it was scrubbing the development, while Roxbury Mayor Jim Rilee didn't respond to an email seeking comment.

Hartz's original proposal called for only redeveloping 213 acres of the Hercules site, preserving in excess of 500 acres as open space. The real estate firm also said it planned to construct recreation facilities such as football, soccer and baseball fields on the site. Hartz even offered to build affordable housing, at no cost to the township, on a 13-acre parcel on Hercules Road.

But after various public hearings, the plan was changed to only include industrial space, according to DailyRecord.com.

In the more southern part of the Garden State, Carlstadt, New Jersey-based Russo Development faced fierce opposition against to its plan to build a 2.1 million-square-foot warehouse complex in rural Harrison Township. In August last year, a Superior Court judge reversed that municipality's rejection of Russo's plan. Opponents of Russo's project sued.

In its last public statement, Russo said it it expected to move forward with the project.