The Planning Board last week granted preliminary site plan approval for a 58-unit affordable housing complex geared toward artists. Final site plan approval would include a full landscaping and lighting plan.
Continue reading Preliminary site plan OK’d for artist housing
CORRECTION: The original post has been corrected, with changes noted in italics.
City Council approved changes to permit parking regulations along the north end of Campbell Street, ahead of the completion of a 116-unit rental complex in response to residents’ concerns when shows are held at the nearby Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC).
Continue reading Permit parking changes along Campbell Street
Metro Rahway will be the next development in Rahway to begin leasing. The 116-unit rental development on Campbell Street is shooting for an Oct. 1 opening — “at the latest” — but possibly by mid-September, according to Clay Bonny of East Hanover-based Heartstone Development.
Construction of Metro Rahway topped out this week with the addition of what looks to be the beginnings of the attic roof.
The five-story project along Campbell Street and West Cherry Street is expected to be completed later this year. Of the 116 units, 52 will be one-bedrooms and 62 will be two-bedrooms, situated above one level of parking. There will be 120 parking spaces, in addition to 18 on-street spaces.
With a completion timeline of later this summer, Metro Rahway continues to rise along Campbell Street with the work on the West Cherry Street side reaching the third story.
The 116-unit apartment complex being built at the former A&M Supply site will include 62 two-bedroom units and 52 one-bedroom units in four floors of living space above one level of parking, with 120 spaces and another 18 on-street spaces.
The A&M Supply building was demolished in June and Metro Rahway got under way later in the year. The project received a 15-year Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT), approved by the City Council last year, details of which can be found here.
The Redevelopment Agency will receive another $100,000 in redevelopment fees from Metro Rahway, currently under construction on Campbell Street.
Continue reading Agency to get additional $100k in fees for project
There are two things that people will remember about 2013 (at least according to traffic on this site): the hotel closing and the mayor resigning. If you look at the Google Analytics for 2013, the graph has a steady pace until September when it shoots up like a rocket and then comes back to Earth. Of course, there were other things that occurred in 2013, like construction under way on the 116-unit Metro Rahway and pending completion of another project, the 108-unit Meridia Water’s Edge.
The Redevelopment Agency approved a $215,000 settlement with A&M Industrial Supply last month, a year after the company filed suit in a dispute over relocation assistance.
A&M had been located on Campbell Street between Elm Avenue and West Cherry Street until last year when the property was acquired as part of the 116-unit Metro Rahway development that broke ground this summer. The Redevelopment Agency discussed the litigation in closed session during several of its meetings this year, including a 30-minute closed session at its Nov. 13 meeting.
A&M, which is still located in Rahway, filed suit in November 2012 seeking $300,000 and the settlement came about after court-ordered mediation in October. The agency will be required to make the $215,000 payment by the end of the year but admits no fault, Redevelopment Agency attorney Frank Regan said.
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| April 2013 |
A&M Industrial claimed that the agency, through Executive Director Peter Pelissier, agreed to provide relocation assistance in conjunction with selling their property to Heartstone Development. However, Regan said commissioners never formally approved and authorized payment nor was the agency ever obligated to provide assistance since it was not acquiring the property.
The only times the agency has provided relocation assistance in the past has been when it acquired properties itself, he said, such as the former Bell Drugs property on Irving Street for the YMCA’s expansion and as part of the Rosegate project on East Hazelwood Avenue. In the case of Metro Rahway, Heartstone Development acquired the parcels for the project, including the 1.56-acre A&M site on Campbell Street.
The dispute has its origins in 2005 when A&M Supply — after learning a few years earlier that its property was part of a redevelopment plan — sought relocation assistance from the Redevelopment Agency. The economic downturn delayed the project, including several changes to the plans, and A&M at times was not prepared to relocate, needing to find a suitable new location, according to the lawsuit. Heartstone acquired the A&M site in 2012 and got the project moving again.
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| November 2013 |
A&M was close to securing a new property that it had to close on by February 2013, according to the lawsuit, when in October 2012 it had been advised that the Redevelopment Agency would not be providing assistance, prompting the litigation.
A&M’s suit claimed that a Nov. 7, 2005 letter from Pelissier confirmed that the agency had adopted a resolution authorizing a redevelopment agreement with Heartstone that included $300,000 in relocation assistance. Minutes of the Redevelopment Agency’s Dec. 15, 2005 meeting indicate that commissioners were presented with the Nov. 7 letter from Pelissier to A&M, however, there’s no record of a resolution being approved.
Initially, A&M sought more funds, pointing to similar relocations in Carteret that received between $600,000 and $700,000 in assistance. The company claimed that Pelissier presented its request for additional funds to commissioners and a Dec. 22, 2005 letter to the firm indicated that its request was rejected, with the $300,000 offered previously being “all the funds that will be allocated.” The Redevelopment Agency, however, was unable to find records of executive session minutes going back to 2005.