The conceptual design of a 1,000-seat ampitheater on Hamilton Street could come before the Redevelopment Agency next month.
City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said he would request the city engineer to make a presentation on the status of the ampitheater. The Arts District Advisory Board has been working with an architect on ampitheatre concepts. The agency is next scheduled to meet April 9.
State approval for the demolition of the Hamilton Laundry building (below) could come as early as this month with actual demolition by summer’s end. The Arts District Advisory Board will work to complete the design 
for construction to begin next spring and be completed next summer. Funding then would be sought to retrofit the Bell Building (above), so by summer 2010 it’s ready to go for a black box theater. There also would be plans to create loft housing for artists and residents affilated with the arts district programs.
For those who are commuters, it was a pretty good week for news. It looks like NJ Transit will be one of the few places not raising prices this year while it becomes the first transit system in the Northeast to start using Google Transit. But it can’t all be good news, at least for those who travel toward Trenton.
A couple of mentions this past week of “The Wrestler” filming in Rahway; one story about filming at the hospital, and another on shooting at a local bar in Roselle Park.
Forget about Google transit. Everyone uses HopStop.com!!
the state has no money. stop building crap that nobody will visit. boy some people get there pockets lined with greenbacks in this town more then others,lol. that’s not fair!
I think this is great news. The amphitheater would be a great place for music; the challenge will be to keep it from becoming dead space while it’s not in use. I’ll be interested to see what plans are revealed on April 9th.
In general, whether it be at the amphitheater or the new jazz club, can we attract better musicians? I mean I like the idea of first thursdays, for instance, but come on all of the acts are older people trying to relive their high school band days from the 70’s/80’s with music to match. If Rahway is building and becoming an arts district, at some point they have to attract acts to cater to younger professionals.
Anybody hear anything about whether the plans were revealed at the Redevelopment Agency meeting last night? And if so, what’s the scoop?