Keeping with a pattern of falling crime rates throughout the county and state, Rahway’s crime rate dipped 9 percent last year, according to the state’s annual Uniform Crime Report (UCR), released last week.
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Jeweler to take last Park Square retail spot
Kennedy Jewelers will fill the final retail space at Park Square, moving four blocks from its current location.
Mayor James Kennedy said a 10-year lease is up on his East Milton Avenue and Fulton Street location and the new space, at the corner of Elm Avenue and Irving Street, is smaller, thus more affordable. “I like the street parking and cozier feeling,” he said in an email, describing it as “more ’boutique-ish.'”
Kennedy, who ends his fifth term as mayor at the end of this year, said it will be his fifth location in 32 years.
The other two retail tenants at Park Square are expected to be Davis Financial, a Linden-based CPA firm, and Deisel Training Center, a strength training and tae kwon do facility. The target for occupancy is December while Kennedy Jewelers could be January of February, according to Matt Dobrowlowski of Iozzi-Williams Village Green ERA, the exclusive listing agent. All three of the tenants have signed either four- or five-year leases in the range of $22 to $23 per square feet annually.
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Here’s a cool photo gallery in Crain’s New York, “Musty streets now hot strips,” featuring half a dozen “formerly forgotten streets becoming urban destinations, boasting a growing crop of trendy eateries and boutiques.” How’d they do it? “It requires daring entrepreneurs seizing the opportunities of cheap rents and an underserved market, as well as landlords hungry enough to take chances on unproven operators.”
Foreclosure for Carriage City Plaza
Foreclosure proceedings will begin on Carriage City Plaza, a 16-story hotel and condo project that was the centerpiece of redevelopment efforts the past decade. Of the 222 units at Sky View at Carriage City Plaza, 62 units have closed and another 72 leased, leaving 88 units.
El Bodegon undergoing transformation
The Rail House 1449 to replace David Drake
Restaurant David Drake will be replaced by something called The Rail House 1449. New signage went up in the window earlier this week.
Salon, bakery sought for East Cherry Street
Hoping to fill two vacant storefronts, a local property owner came before the Redevelopment Agency last month for assistance but it looks like the locations will remain vacant for now.
Continue reading Salon, bakery sought for East Cherry Street
Does this building look familiar?
The former Beverage Shop building on East Cherry Street has undergone a transformation of its exterior as plans continue to turn it into a police assistance center.
Police Chief John Rodger hopes to have new signage and awning completed before the holidays while a local electrician’s union will be donating resources.
The heating, ventilation and air conditioning is just about completed and there’s some asbestos abatement to be done, said Rodger, who has been pleased with the pace of progress over the last month to six weeks.
The facade would have been $15,000 if they had to pay for it, said Rodger, and still to be done are things like acquiring classroom and cubicle furniture and installing flooring and a phone system.
Rodger hopes to have the building at least partially in use by January or February and be completely finished by March.
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Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway was downgraded by Moody’s Investors Services, according to a report in Crain’s New York last month, and expects to end 2010 with “sizable operating losses,” like it did in 2009. The rating agency downgraded the hospital’s long-term debt rating and lowered its outlook from “stable” to “negative,” citing declining admissions.
Amphitheater to be re-bid
A judge ruled this week that construction bids for the Hamilton Street amphitheater must be re-bid.
Redevelopment Director and City Administrator Peter Pelissier said there was some ambiguity about some portions of the lowest bid, which was rejected, and so the judge felt it should be re-bid.
Opening of new bids is scheduled for Dec. 15 and is scheduled to be awarded at the Dec. 22 Redevelopment Agency meeting.
Groundbreaking could occur as early as mid-January, according to City Engineer James Housten.
The Redevelopment Agency awarded a $4.95-million construction bid last month to Rahway-based Berto Construction, however, Kenilworth-based W.D. Snyder Company had the lowest base bid at $4.65 million but it was rejected as a “deficient bid proposal” for a “material breach.”
The facility originally was anticipated to open in May and be ready for use in July, said Pelissier, adding that the timeline could still be feasible.
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For those interested in a district-by-district breakdown of Tuesday’s election, here they are in a Google spreadsheet. Democrats carried about 60 percent of the vote in local races, with Rick Proctor carrying 16 of 24 districts for mayor against Pat Cassio, who carried the 3rd and 6th wards. Turnout was about 48 percent.