The developer behind two downtown apartment complexes has bought up a strip of Pierce Street properties over the past 26 months.

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AST Development has spent a combined $1,630,900 to acquire the four properties that include single-family homes between November 2020 and July 2021, according to property records.

The Lavallette-based developer built the 219-unit Reva Rahway on the site of the former Center Circle facility on Main Street. They partnered on the development of Metro Rahway, a 116-unit complex on Campbell Street. AST presented a concept plan for the former St. Mark’s Church site on Hamilton Street in late 2020 which did not forward.

The properties are assessed for a combined $452,700, with a cumulative property tax bill in 2022 of $31,788.89. Almost half of those figures are accounted for by the largest property of the four, at the corner of Pierce Street and East Milton Avenue. Three of the four homes were built in 1900, according to property records, and combined are almost a half-acre.

The block is within Subdistrict CBD-2  of the Central Business District Redevelopment Plan. Maximum height  allowed within the zone is 4 stories or 50 feet and density of 75 units per acre. For properties of 20,000 square feet or more, maximums are 6 stories or 75 feet and 100 units per acre.

The Central Business District Redevelopment Plan identifies East Milton Avenue from the train overpass to Pierce Street as part of the “Retail Core Area.” The East Milton Avenue property has about 76 feet of frontage across from the Watt Hotel.

The four properties are adjacent to the former Mangos property on neighboring Fulton Street…Become a Patron of RahwayRising to access the remainder of this post, exclusive to RahwayRising patrons.