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Park Square update: October

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The first rental units of Park Square are expected to come on line by October. Once the exterior brickwork is finished on the four-story development, streetscape along Irving Street will begin, with a target of Sept. 1.

Certificates of occupancy will be done by floor — about 20 units at a time — said Eric Harvitt of Keasbey-based Landmark Companies during a tour of the project earlier this month.

The Main Street side of the project (right) is expected to be completed in about 18 months and should move quicker since there are no design decisions to make, as it’s very similar to the Irving Street structure.

Park Square will have 159 rental apartments: 63 units on Irving along with 7,000 square feet of retail space, and 96 units on Main Street, with a courtyard and driveway between the two buildings. Retail tenants also are expected to begin operation by the fall; they are in discussions with a coffee/teahouse and an optometrist.

The project broke ground more than a year ago and occupies a block of downtown that once housed, among other things, a bank, hardware store, boarding house, gas station and thrift shop.

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New demolition contract for Hamilton

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A new contract — $90,000 more than the original bid — was awarded for demolition of the Hamilton Laundry building. City Council on Monday night accepted a $369,500 bid from Meco Demolition of Bensalem, Pa., the second lowest-bidder. LVI/Mazzocchi Wrecking of East Hanover had been awarded a $281,000 bid by the governing body in May.

City Attorney Louis Rainone said the lowest bidder had a conforming bid but subsequent information from the second bidder revealed a “failure to disclose some ownership issues.”

State regulations require companies to disclose all who own at least 10 percent of a firm, he said, and the original low bidder had indicated it was 100 percent owned by one corporation, but that company was owned 100 percent another firm, which was owned by another corporation, and “on down the line.”

It’s unclear when the Hamilton Street structure eventually will come down to make way for a 1,000-seat ampitheater and park, but if you figure it was expected in June after the original contract was awarded in May, perhaps work might begin by September. At that time, it was expected that construction would begin in the spring and be completed by the summer.

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Two-way traffic begets parking issues

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More than a half-dozen residents came before City Council last night to express their dismay or preach patience when it comes to the new parking configuration that came with two-way traffic.

Harry Patel, owner of Beverly Sweet Shop, estimates business is half what is was before now that on-street parking isn’t allowed in front of his Main Street shop, a few doors from East Milton Avenue. Others said the businesses along East Milton Avenue before Fulton Street also have been affected by on-street spaces no longer in front of their stores. James Pekarofski, whose family ran a shoe store on Irving Street for many years, said there was always parking on Irving and Main streets, even when downtown had two-way traffic. He suggested the new parking configuration “may be a subtle way of relocating stores.”

Council President Samson Steinman assured residents that the parking plan is not complete and more may be done, whether adding traffic lights or reducing Stop signs. He stressed that the changes were made for safety reasons, as the average speed on Irving and Main streets was 40 miles per hour. A portion of the approximately 40 parking spaces were actually illegal spots that people came to rely on, he added.

Bob Markey of West Main Street said time will prove the decision to create two-way traffic the smart thing to do, but changing a 75-year-old traffic pattern will not be easy, and could create an economic hardship for some. He suggested eliminated or modifying the turning lanes, which took away almost a dozen spaces near Elizabeth Avenue and West Main, in the same way as on West Grand where they’re active only during peak hours.

There have been some growing pains, said Josh Donovan, a member of the Rahway Center Partnership and Zoning Board of Adjustment, and hopes to bring stakeholders together in the near future to fix problems or suggestion modifications. “Those parking issues will remain if they’re not fixed today, no matter what business comes to town in the future.”

For some past posts on two-way traffic and parking, see:
Change of direction
More traffic changes afoot
Three side streets to change direction

Check out the new poll, above right, to let us know what you think so far of the new traffic patterns and parking.

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Traffic changes: So far so good?

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In the nearly two weeks since two-way traffic was instituted downtown, Police Chief John Rodger said there’s been “occasional confused motorists” but no accidents or incidents to report.

Like many motorists, I was a little surprised to see the consecutive blocks of Stop signs along Irving Street: Elizabeth Avenue, Elm Avenue (photo left), and Poplar Street.

Rodger said the city is evaluating potentially removing Stop signs at either Elm or Poplar, “but it’s too soon to tell.” He first would like to see what additional parking would be eliminated with the removal of the Poplar or Elm Stop signs. “Once that’s done we will see what the best course of action is,” he said, declining to put a timeline on the evaluation.

The Stop signs at Elizabeth and Elm actually save some parking spaces. Rodger said there can’t be parking without the Stop signs because of “line of sight issues with vehicles traveling both ways on Irving.”

About 40 parking spaces in all were eliminated downtown since Stop signs actually minimized the reduction of parking spots, he said. Originally, it was expected that more like 60 spaces would be eliminated. There are more intersection modifications planned in the future.

What do you think? Check out our new poll question and chime in on the comments section.

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Arts District, Downtown, Rahway

Hamilton Laundry: Still standing

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Like the old Elton John song, the old Hamilton Laundry is “still standing.”

The City Council on Monday night will rescind a bid for demolition of the building on Hamilton Street that some day will make way for a 1,000-seat amphitheater.

With demolition permits approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year, a $281,000 bid had been awarded by the council in May. The governing body was legally required to reject the bid from LVI/Mazzocchi Wrecking after it was challenged by another bidder, City Attorney Louis Rainone explained at last night’s council pre-conference meeting.

Long story short: LVI didn’t file the appropriate paperwork. The next lowest bidder was $90,000 higher, which would have impacted the budget, said Rainone. Councilman Jerry Scaturo questioned how a second round of bids would be affected after rejecting the first round, but Rainone was hopeful the bids would come back lower when re-bid next week and not “delay the project substantially.”

City Chief Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero expects the council will award a new demolition bid by next month’s meeting (Aug. 11), and work could conceivably begin within a month or so after that.

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Carriage City Plaza, Downtown

Half of Sky View units under contract

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More than half of the 209 condominium units at Sky View at Carriage City Plaza are under contract with the first 30 expected to close this month and the rest by the end of August, according to representatives of Silcon Group.

Continue reading Half of Sky View units under contract →

Downtown, Parking, Rahway

Traffic changes this week

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Two-way traffic is scheduled to begin downtown, on Main and Irving streets, this week. In addition to those one-way streets becoming two-way, several one-way side streets (East Cherry and Coach) will reverse direction while another that’s currently two-way (Poplar) will become one-way toward Irving; so all three will flow toward Irving.

Striping is scheduled to be done Monday evening and signs will be uncovered for Tuesday morning when the change is officially expected to occur. If there’s an issue, it could be pushed back a day, said Police Chief John Rodger, but the goal is to have it completed before the holiday weekend.

Cones will run the length of Irving and Main so motorists will have to stay in one lane, reinforcing the pattern change, according to Rodger, and Traffic will have a heavy presence downtown during the transition. The cones will be removed in phases, he added, to continually reinforce the patterns for a period of time.

When merchants were surveyed last year about changing traffic patterns downtown, most were in favor.

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Downtown, Rahway

East Milton musings

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East Milton Avenue looks like it’s been paved and ready for striping. Has anyone else noticed what appear to be video cameras atop the new traffic signals (left) at Main and Fulton streets, along East Milton?

6/27 UPDATE: Nope, they’re not video cameras but sensors to detect traffic patterns and adjust the timing of lights accordingly. Thanks to all who emailed/commented to clarify.

Seems like that’s business as usual these days, according to this recent MSNBC report:

“Even after a damning report by the head of London’s extensive surveillance network and with little evidence that the systems work — police in many cities are trying to add thousands more cameras to their networks.

“Officials in many cities are eager to take advantage of money from state and federal security agencies to install the cameras on street corners and intersections.”

Speaking of East Milton Avenue, is it just me or has it become a virtual wind tunnel on that side of the hotel? I noticed it back in May during Hot Rods & Harleys, and I can’t recall it ever being that windy before the 16-story Carriage City Plaza was erected. Imagine if the “second tower” envisioned across the street ever materializes…

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The coffee shop formerly known as Moca Motion Cafe looks like it’s open for business, although the Moca Motion Cafe signs are still there, in addition to a new Express Cafe sign in the window. Either way, the interior looks awfully similar to what I remember when the previous tenant was there.

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The next reader to subscribe by email to Rahway Rising will be No. 100. That might sound like I’m about to give something away at least something of monetary value — what, my gratitude isn’t enough for you anymore?!? — but I’m not. It’s just a nice round number. It’s been an exciting week, as we hit a new high for daily visits on Tuesday (186) and then again on Wednesday (201).

Thanks to everyone for reading, subscribing, supplying tips of all kinds, and commenting, etc. Keep it all coming, especially suggestions for a new poll question (though it sounds like I’m the only one clamoring for that to return…).

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A blog about all things redevelopment