City Council introduced an ordinance last month to create a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), the first step for a four-story, 50-unit affordable senior housing facility adjacent to St. Mary’s along Esterbrook Avenue, just in from Central Avenue. A public hearing and final adoption of the PILOT is scheduled at the council’s regular meeting on May 12.
Representatives from Domus Corporation, affiliated with Catholic Charities of the Newark Archdiocese, came before the governing body in December with their plan. The existing structure, (photo left), the former convent building, would be demolished and the new facilty would extend slightly into the existing parking lot.
Once City Council approves the PILOT, Catholic Charities will need approval from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which would finance the project, before even going to the Planning Board. There was some concern among council members after the December presentation about parking and the size of the new structure which is expected to be addressed when the project ultimately comes before the Planning Board.
The 40-year PILOT, which must coincide with the duration of financing, would pay the city 15 percent of net proceeds. The 15-percent figure is fixed but the total sum would increase as rents for individual units increase, said Phil Frese, president and CEO of Domus. Since the property is owned by the Newark Archdiocese it is tax-exempt.
NJ Transit, which is reporting increased ridership this year, will enact schedule changes May 11 (next Sunday). The new schedule includes adding several weekend trains to the Northeast Corridor line service.
St. Mary’s owes the Archdiocese over $600,000, so this project will hopefully keep St. Mary’s open for a while longer. And the property now is tax-exepmt, so a PILOT will at least bring some money into the city coffers.Now, as for NJ Transit, it’s great to see some additional weekend trains. Service outside of rush hour has never been anything to write home about, so for those of us who don’t work in NYC but who visit the place outside of work should be pleased.
And the increased NJ Transit service to Rahway is good news for those of us who work long hours outside of rush hour too.So what’s the deal with St. Mary’s? Is it likely to close in the near future? I thought I heard the same rumor about St. Mark’s a few months ago, but that seems to have died down.I know that historically Catholic churches have had some separate ethnic groups (anyone know the history of that in terms of St. Mary’s and St. Mark’s?), but these days maybe it doesn’t make sense to have two churches so close to one another.
NJ transit screw’s us again-another train leaves later from ny to get me home even later! but the added trains on the weekend are a much needed thing…..
“Where is that fire alarm coming from every night in the dowtown area”? I saw someone ask this question in a previous post but it went unanswered. Just curious as to what the noise is for and why it is going off. I can hear it pretty distinctly if my windows are open. It seems to go off at least once a night at diff. times. Sorry b/c this isn’t related to the post but keep up the good work Mark!
Living in River Place I know we’ve had a few fire alarms in the past few months. Nothing consistent as described above. Other than that I haven’t heard any other fire alarms go off.