From The Press of Atlantic City — Seafood processor Rastelli Seafood, an industrial park tenant, is seeking permission for a $6 million expansion that would double its 35-person payroll.

The company would add more than 42,000 square feet of office and warehouse space to its 13,000-square-foot headquarters at Bremen and Grant streets, northeast of downtown. With clearance from the city and the Pinelands Commission still needed, co-owner Paul Savini estimates construction will begin in fall 2009 or spring 2010.

Growing demand from casino restaurants – some built, some planned – and staying near the ocean are among the reasons the company decided to expand in Egg Harbor City. It considered a move to the Swedesboro, Gloucester County, home base of its sister companies, Rastelli Global and Rastelli Meats.

Savini has followed the uncertain movement toward curtailing tax breaks for city businesses. He’ll apply for whatever’s available from the city when the time comes, but he’s more concerned about the state’s 2.5 percent tax on new construction, something meant to fund affordable housing.

“They just increased the price by $100,000, $150,000. … That’s a new burden that’s put onto us as a small business,” Savini said. “We’ve got to sell $1 million to pay for that.”

Savini declined to reveal Rastelli’s annual volume but indicated it is about $20 million and $40 million.

Rastelli Seafood moved into Egg Harbor City in May 2006 when it bought Black Tiger Co. It closed its on-site retail store in November and remodeled to add a conference room and a new kitchen, among other changes. The site is too far from major highways to make sense as a retail destination, Savini said.

The company sells nationwide and imports from overseas. Most of the space in the new buildings will be freezers to store imported products currently stored outside, Savini said.