Three years to the month after breaking ground, Park Square has 33 units occupied.
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Hamilton amphitheater sketches
Designs for the Hamilton Street amphitheater have been drawn up and are awaiting approval by the Arts District Advisory Board.
Surface lot coming to Lot B area
That mound of dirt near Lot B on Main Street could be on its way out in the coming weeks. During this month’s Redevelopment Agency meeting, City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier was hopeful that the dirt and sales trailer at The Westbury site on Main Street could start being moved within the month.
Dornoch, which had planned to construct a multideck parking facility with condos, will lease the site to the Parking Authority for surface parking until a deck is constructed. Pelissier said the Parking Authority will work with the city and Union County to create the surface lot, first leveling out the site and laying gravel until it’s resurfaced in the spring. He expects another 100 spaces could be added.
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Worthwhile piece in New Jersey Monthly about hyperlocal Web sites and the evolution of local, online news. Good thing we got in on the ground floor in Rahway — second anniversary (what!?!) just about a week away.
Models open at Riverview Manor
Model units have opened at Riverview Manor, a 13-unit townhouse complex at the end of Lennington Street, near Routes 1&9.
City explores privately-built parking deck
City officials are planning to meet with developers about possibly constructing a privately-built parking deck.
Pizza Patrol peruses pies in Rahway
Nothing about foreclosures or DEP brownfield sites today, just a quick fun Friday post.
The Star-Ledger Munchmobile’s Pizza Patrol recently visited Rahway, among other Union County sites. Of course, Nancy’s Townehouse got raves for its thin crust, as well as their sausage pie. Meanwhile, across town at Papa Vito, they weren’t thrilled with the plain slice, ranking it among the bottom five, but loved the lasagna slice.
It reminded me of our semi-annual/semi-random pizza poll. Take a look at our results from February and the year before that, when we were just getting started.
Foreclosures begin on final 19 Riverwalk units
Bank of America has started to foreclose on the 19 remaining unsold units at Riverwalk, said Redevelopment Agency Attorney Frank Regan at the agency’s meeting last week. The city also has begun the process on seven of those units for failing to pay property taxes, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.
Parsippany-based Diversified Communities built the 86 Riverwalk townhomes off East Milton Avenue several years ago and at one point had considered plans for another three dozen or so on the neighboring Kings Inn property. The last Riverwalk unit to sell (that I could find) went for $420,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The city still is pursuing the developers for failure to complete improvements, including street paving and striping. Regan said he was contacted by an attorney for the homeowners’ association to determine whether the improvements could be completed and paid through a mortgage commitment or if the city could complete the improvements and assess the units.
The city and county did some paving work on Essex and Johnson streets in the spring and will pursue the developer in court for reimbursement, but other work remains, such as drainage.
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Since we’re on the topic of foreclosure, here’s a Wall Street Journal story from yesterday about foreclosures hitting top-tier markets.
Rahway among DEP-selected brownfield sites
Rahway was among six sites chosen as Brownfield Development Areas last week by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The designation allows towns to identify clusters of brownfield sites, which have been abandoned or underutilized because of known or suspected contamination, for coordinated remediation and redevelopment. More importantly, cities are eligible for up to $5 million in grants annually for investigation and remediation along with the assistance of a case manager to oversee the process.
There were eight sites eligible in Rahway:
– The former Hamilton Laundry site where a 1,100-seat amphitheater is planned
– Myron Ross Park on Essex Street
– Park Square
– The proposed Station Place project on the site of A&M Supply on Campbell Street
– The former Wheatena factory on Elizabeth and West Grand avenues
– City Hall Plaza (due to the Police Department’s gas pumps)
– The Savoy
– The Westbury