New Owners Of New Jersey 'Bat Cave' Building Offer Update

This story was updated at 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 13.

GARFIELD, NJ — You may be unfamiliar with The Wildlife Education and Conservation Center in Garfield, but that's probably only because you know it by another name: New Jersey's Bat Cave.

The Garfield conservation center is home to 100 animals that include, in addition to bats, sloths, wallaby and a number of reptiles. Some of those animals are members of an endangered or protected species.

For those animals, their current home is in jeopardy, according to The Wildlife Center's Joseph D'Angeli.

D'Angeli started an online petition recently, stating that new ownership of the building has led to an uncertain future for the status of the lease, which ends in April. He said he was in the process of signing a five-year lease extension with his former landlord in January when, swiftly, the offer was rescinded due to the sale.

Now, he's unsure what the plans are for the building, let alone his animals.

To add insult to injury, this entire situation comes after he's spent thousands of dollars on an expansion and renovation project, D'Angeli said.

"Many of you have known that we had been putting thousands of dollars into the lower level of the wildlife center so that the animals could have bigger exhibits and so that we could have a larger occupancy for visitors," D'Angeli wrote.

While this project was underway, D'Angeli told NorthJersey.com that there was never any talk of his landlord moving on from the property.

"There was never any mention of him selling the properties," D’Angeli said. "I would never have done all this if I thought someone was going to sell the building. I know they don’t have to tell me, but it would have been nice as human beings."

The center is a non-profit and, according to Mayor Richard Rigoglioso, a valuable part of the community.

"We want to do all we can to help Joe stay in Garfield," he told NorthJersey.

"I hate to see anything happen to a thriving business that gives back to the community and gives back to the school district."

As of 12:50 p.m. on Dec. 9, just under 3,000 people have signed a petition asking the new owners of the building to keep the wildlife center as a tenant.

Snowball Developments Responds

The company which now owns the building has added a portion to their website directly responding to the Wildlife Conservation Center.

In that response, the company said they have spoke to D'Angeli, and touched on the challenges of the space.

Read the full statement below:

Since Snowball Developments acquired the Midland Industrial Complex in August 2021, we have been actively engaging with commercial tenants (including Joe D’Angeli) to understand their evolving space needs at the property.

However the existing configurations and age of the buildings located at 303-305 Midland are challenging to reconcile with a modern industrial commercial property. We fully empathize with Joe's impatience while we finalize our plans, which is why we offered a short term extension and advised him to consider contingency plans for relocation approximately one month ago.

We are working on several iterations of development schemes and will be very eager to share these plans with the public soon via this website. We believe these will be well received by the community and will welcome your feedback at that time.