The Town Center project, originally proposed 18 months ago as a massive residential-retail plan for property around City Hall, has a new developer and scaled-back plans.
Continue reading Town Center scaling back, has new developer
Category Archives: Downtown
Salon seeks downtown space
A “multicultural, full-service salon” has its eye on an Irving Street property but needs a waiver from the Redevelopment Agency to operate at the proposed location.
More Hamilton Laundry photos
Another of the Hamilton Laundry buildings went down late last week.
The demolition of the two-story building exposed the lower part the adjoining four-story building, showing what appears to be a sign about fur storage. We can add that to last month’s list of old downtown signs.
Get your “Home of the Supagown” photos while you still can.
It was six years ago this month that then-Sen. Jon Corzine made the Hamilton Laundry one of his stops on a tour of Rahway. That’s when plans still called for an arts center and independent film theater. Due to flooding at the site last spring, the Hamilton Laundry site instead will be turned into a park and outdoor amphitheater by next fall.
Other interesting items that a simple Internet search yields about Hamilton Laundry includes these alleged OSHA violations from eight years ago.
Units begin to close at Sky View
There have been 34 temporary certificates of occupancy (TCO) issued for units at Sky View at Carriage City Plaza, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. Elizabeth-based Silcon Construction, which built the hotel, has paid $649,000 in water connection and permit fees, Pelissier reported at last week’s City Council pre-conference meeting.
Study to evaluate parking deck, needs
A consultant will evaluate downtown parking needs, including the feasibility of constructing a deck on Lot B (behind East Cherry Street) and adding two levels to the Main Street deck. A preliminary report to the Parking Authority is expected by the end of the year.
Until the residential housing meltdown of the last several years, the parking deck at Lot B (photo, below left) was to be part of The Westbury by Dornoch, which is also constructing The Savoy. Original plans included a 324-space, five-story parking deck, 150 condos and 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Instead, the Parking Authority and the city will take the lead on the Lot B garage. City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the developer would be back-charged for each unit that would require a space in the deck. Changes also will require renegotiations to the redevelopment agreement with Dornoch, which could take several months, said Redevelopment Agency attorney Frank Regan.
Developers have spent about $5.5 million i
n recent years to assemble properties for The Westbury project, according to Regan. That total could surpass $7 million once they acquire the Greek-American Deli on Main Street and a Parking Authority parcel, he added, and so the project has simply become too cost prohibitive to put together at this point.
In an interview after last week’s Parking Authority meeting, Chairman Matt Dobrowolski said there’s already been discussion with the city administration about a possible third location for a parking deck. “We’re looking long-term, not just the Dornoch project,” he said. Adding two levels at the Main Street deck (photo, right) is more difficult with Carriage City Plaza now constructed, he said, but they have the ability to do it although it won’t solve the Lot B issue.
The Main Street deck took about a year to erect and Dobrowolski expects the same timeline with the Lot B deck. Opened in December 2004, the six-story, 524-space deck cost $11 million — $3 million of which is to be paid back to NJ Transit.
Steel going up at The Savoy
Steel began to rise about two weeks ago at The Savoy after months of what appeared to be little tangible activity at the site. Steel for the project had been expected to arrive since February.
Occupancy at one point had been scheduled for June 2007 (according to this December 2006 release), but now is targeted for April 2009, according to Ralph Pascale, sales manager for Maplewood Homes, a division of Dornoch Holdings.
In addition to steel shortages in the construction industry, the project was slowed down by state regulations that require archaeological studies to be done in certain areas. Work is also being done to renovate the sales trailer across the street and remove a pile of dirt from the site, Pascale said.
The four-story project at 1551 Main St. will have 36 two-bedroom and two-bath condos ranging from 1,150 to 2,000 square feet, with street-level retail and underground parking. According to those red banners on fencing at the site (photo left), units will start at $315,000.
Two-way traffic, good; Stop signs, bad
Readers are pleased that downtown traffic is going two ways now, but not very happy about all the Stop signs. It seems they’re not nearly as upset as some merchants about the loss of street parking.
From West Scott to East Cherry
East Cherry Street will be getting “Just A Little Healthier” when the eatery moves in to replace a former soul food establishment by late August or early September.
Whether it becomes a second location or relocates from its current West Scott Avenue digs is “still up in the air,” owner/founder Ron Livingston said in a telephone interview last week.
Just A Little Healthier opened at 228 W. Scott Ave. about a year-and-a-half ago, focusing on low-fat, low-carb offerings and even got a write-up in The New York Times last October. Livingston said the location at 95 E. Cherry St. opened up some time after he started looking into a downtown space, and signed a five-year lease.