Vopak and its joint venture partner, Tanco Terminals, have purchased the northern State Street site with plans to develop an independent third-party storage facility for petroleum and biofuel products.

Mayor Wilda Diaz welcomed the news, which will revitalize a 23-acre site that has been vacant for the past 17 years and bring workers back to the property.

“This is a turning point for our historic city. It’s the start of the future for the city,” Diaz said. “This will create jobs so desperately needed. This will open doors for other company to come to Perth Amboy.”

Diaz urged Ralf D. van der Ven, Vopak North America Inc. director of business development, to hire local residents to work at the site.

“We have a lot of laborers who could be trained to do this job,” Diaz said.

Kenneth McKee, Vopak director of human resources, said the company would be interested in working with local trade and technical schools.

Van der Ven said Vopak still is defining its development plans for the site, which is not expected to be operational for about two years. Construction is scheduled to begin next year. John Bolton, who formerly worked for Chevron, has been hired as the general manager for the site.

Information about the cost of the redevelopment and the number of people the site would employ was not immediately available.

“New York Harbor is a very important harbor in the global economy,” said van der Ven, adding that the company’s customers have been interested in storage facilities in New York Harbor.

He added that the Perth Amboy site is good because it’s close to the ocean.

“We’re excited to be in Perth Amboy,” he said.

Vopak plans to use the Perth Amboy location for the receipt, storage, handling and dispatch of petroleum and biofuel products, in particular the frontage along the Arthur Kill, a major shipping channel.

Vopak purchased the site next to Chevron from Hess, which operated on the property from 1952 to 1994. The whale-shaped site with large empty fuel-storage tanks, rail loading racks and a dock has been vacant since then. The site borders the Arthur Kill and the Woodbridge Creek.

The dock is slated to be repaired.

“The dock area is where everything will start,” van der Ven said.

During a tour of the property, van der Ven pointed out that the former helipad, which a large “H” for Hess,t has not been used since the late 1980s.

Van der Ven said the tanks are being inspected. The company hopes to reuse the large tanks, while others will be demolished.

“There is a lot of activity going on, but it’s a lot of preparatory work. We’ve had several versions of plans,” he said adding that a lot of contractors will be on the site. “We’re trying to reach out to local contractors.”