The owner of a three-story building on Main Street (1500 Main St. LLC) has plans to give the structure a facelift, including new signage, lights and facade.
The current tenants of the building at 1505-07 Main St. — a Chinese takeout eatery and a beauty supply store — are expected to remain. The top two floors of the building, located at the end of East Cherry Street, currently contain vacant office space but will become two-bedroom, loft-style apartments, one on each floor with rent ranging from $1,400 to $1,600, according to Cynthia Solomon, director of community development.
Plans were presented to the Redevelopment Agency at its meeting April 9 and are expected to come before the Planning Board in the next few months.
The building is next to the former offices of Dornoch — builders of The Savoy and The Westbury — which renovated that space last year before moving. Prior to Dornoch, that property was home to Reggie’s Roast, a coffee shop and distributor, until about 2005.
It’s about time these last few eyesores in downtown get prettied up. Now if we can only can business in there that people would actually want to go to.
wow what a rip off the chinese guy that owns the building and the back porch building is going to charge for the apartments. i rather rent in the apartments behind there for that price,lol. if thats the guy i’m thinking of he is a cheap’o. he wouldn’t put a dime into the building before. must have hit the lottery,lol.
also, check out the improvements going on inside Sound-O-Rama. Hal is dividing his space and the main Street Barbershop is moving in to the other side. Word is that a ‘upscale’ Chinese restaurant is going to move into the barber shop and possibly add a roof-top terrace or dining area.
Condos starting at $300,000. Who do you think the demographic is that Rahway is selling to? I could say more but will wait for your response.
Anonymous – well, if the planned rent truly is a “rip-off”, then presumably the owner won’t be able to rent at that price and will be forced to lower the rent. In the meantime, nothing wrong with the owner having a target and letting the market dictate what the rent will ultimately be.I think an “upscale” Chinese restaurant (i.e. something more than a take-out joint) would be a good idea.Next on my list would be a good Indian restaurant.
Since the back porch was mentioned I’d like to update everyone on it’s current renovations. I saw the near tenants that are renovating the place and they told me that in 4-5 weeks they are opening a Soul Food/Mediterranean Food restaurant with outside seating. The new owners are former residents of River Place and have experienced the noise from the back porch when the lived there. They assured that it wouldn’t be an issue which makes me think they aren’t going to be open late and possibly will not be serving liquor. Does anyone know if an application to transfer the liquor license from the owners of back porch to a new tenant has been submitted?
We definitely need an outdoor seating bar…i miss the Back Porch. The hot summer evenings are coming and i do not want to be seating inside a bar.
I will not miss the back porch one bit. The loud bar scene, broken bottles, and obnoxious smokers will not be missed. With that being said, a nice place to eat and drink outside during the afternoon would be refreshing. Any alternative to CubaNu and Flynn’s would be great.