Burlington Stores Inc. is leaving South Jersey after 54 years for a new home in Philadelphia.

The Burlington Township-based discounter has announced a $370-million deal to buy a 14-story office tower a short distance from the city's 30th Street Station.

Burlington Stores is expected to bring up to 2,000 jobs to 3151 Market St. over the next five years.

Coming next year; Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace set to make South Jersey debut

The deal was helped by incentives worth $30 million from Pennsylvania and at least $7 million from Philadelphia.

In addition, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and SEPTA will give "deeply discounted commuter savings for new Burlington employees in the city," a press release from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said.

He praised the Sept. 3 announcement as "a major win" for the city and state.

"Burlington is a fast-growing Fortune 500 company and they have committed to invest hundreds ofmillions of dollars in our economy." Shapiro said in the statement.

"The company expects to relocate approximately 1,600 employees to Philadelphia, with the potential to grow to as many as 2,000," said the city's mayor, Cherelle Parker.

Burlington Stores, which started in a coat factory in Burlington City, has 1,300 stores in 47 states. It has a goal of operating 2,000 stores.

It operated for years from bare-bones settings as Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse, but broadened its inventory over the years to add all sorts of apparel, housewares and other items. It rebranded from 2014 to 2016, taking the emphasis off coats.

The company went public in 1983 when it had 31 stores. A private equity firm acquired it for $2.06 billion in 2006, when the firm operated 368 stores. It went public again in 2013 as a 621-store chain, according to its online history.

.Its new headquarters are to occupy a 441,000-square-foot building in Schuylkill Yards, a development by Brandywine Realty Trust. The sale is expected to close by Sept. 30.

"As the size and complexity of our business has increased, we've outgrown our old headquarters,' said Michael O'Sullivan, Burlington's president and CEO.

Company executives "were strongly attracted to the energy, talent, and infrastructure that Philadelphia hasto offer," he said.

But a South Jersey business leader also pointed to the lure of incentives and the challenges facing local companies.

Christina Renna, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, said her group has warned for years "about the cumulative impact that New Jersey's high taxes, increasing employer costs and regulatory burdens can have on the state's competitiveness."

"When a company founded in South Jersey can move just a few miles across the Delaware River and find a more attractive environment for its future headquarters and growth, we need to pay attention," Renna said.