Tag Archives: Carriage City Plaza

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Someone’s interested in The Chowder Pot

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Someone must be interested in buying The Chowder Pot, the long-closed bar in Lincoln Plaza near the Colonia border.

There were several keyword searches the week before last that led to Rahway Rising, namely, “how can I purchase the retail property of the chowder pot in rahway,” and “chowder pot rahway nj out of business.” Another one of interest was “are there any available liquor license in rahway nj.” Is there nothing Google Analytics can’t do?

I’m told that The Chowder Pot’s liquor license was sold at auction following bankruptcy proceedings but has yet to be transferred.

There also were 14 keyword searches the same week for “Wolff & Samson Carriage City” that eventually found the blog, though not all were new visitors. The trend continued last week with 8 searches, though none were considered “new visitors.” The West Orange-based law firm represents Carriage City Plaza and it’s the third week in a row that a number of keyword searches made it to the blog. One visitor’s keyword search was “problems at Carriage City Plaza.” [Dec. 5 update: I’m told Wolff & Samson no longer represents Carriage City, “after both parties were not pleased with each other’s work.”]

There’s also the keyword searches you wouldn’t expect would find their way to the blog, like “How to wash laundry in the river.” Sorry, can’t help ya there.

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I’m blogging early this week from the West Coast so the posts might arrive at odd times and I’m also catching up on local items. A regular reader already commented on this nj.com story about downtowns in this downturn, but I thought it’d be worth linking to; though it doesn’t mention Rahway, it’s relevant.

Then there’s this report about the St. Georges Apartments selling for $3 million, in which Rahway is mentioned as “very attractive to investors because there is no rent control and it has an impressive downtown redevelopment area taking form as we speak.”

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Carriage City Plaza, Condos

Two dozen units close at SkyView

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The Redevelopment Agency is expecting a payment of $202,000 in fees for the sale of units at Sky View at Carriage City Plaza, Redevelopment Director/City Administrator Peter Pelissier said at last night’s agency meeting. Based on the redevelopment agreement and a new deferred payment schedule, that would mean about 40 units have closed so far.

I’ve heard that as many as 60 units have closed but only about two dozen have appeared in property transactions so far. The average for the 23 units closed so far is about $288,272, with a low of $233,050 and a high of $444,000. There were three purchasers with the same last name who bought two units in the building, according to real estate transactions.

The redevelopment agreement with Elizabeth-based Silcon Inc. calls for the agency to receive $10,000 per unit upon closing of each unit. This past summer the agency agreed to defer half the payment until it reached the level of water connection fees paid in June ($331,194). At $5,000 per unit, that would mean about 40 units have closed, given the $202,000 payment.

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Carriage City Plaza, City Council, Condos, Downtown

Units begin to close at Sky View

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There have been 34 temporary certificates of occupancy (TCO) issued for units at Sky View at Carriage City Plaza, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. Elizabeth-based Silcon Construction, which built the hotel, has paid $649,000 in water connection and permit fees, Pelissier reported at last week’s City Council pre-conference meeting.

Continue reading Units begin to close at Sky View →

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 →

Carriage City Plaza, Downtown, Parking, Rahway

Parking deck permits going up 30 percent

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A 30-percent increase in the monthly cost of parking permits for the Lewis Street garage has sparked a petition drive.

Tina Morgan and others who use the deck are collecting signatures for a petition they plan to present to the Parking Authority. She will be collecting signatures outside the deck on Thursday from 6 to 7:15 p.m., Friday morning, and again from 3 to 5 p.m. that day.

Raising rates had been mentioned as a possibility earlier in the year, but the Parking Authority Board of Commissioners at its June meeting approved increasing the monthly rate for the new parking deck by $20 — from $65 to $85.

Permits for surface lots are going up by $10, roughly 20 percent, from $50 to $60 or $55 to $60. The only fees that won’t see increases are a lot leased from St. Mary’s Church and permits in Lot B (behind The Waiting Room), which are downtown residents and merchants, said Parking Authority Executive Director Don Andersen.

Commissioners, who meet the first Wednesday of the month, discussed fee increases at their May meeting, according to minutes. At least one commissioner suggested Rahway’s rates are “very low” compared to other towns while another said the increases “would not be as bad as originally proposed.” The garage began 24-hour operations June 3 in anticipation of the opening of Carriage City Plaza. Condo residents were expected to begin moving in this month.

Morgan, who uses the deck daily before taking a train to her job in Newark, said the only other neighboring parking deck with comparable rates to Rahway’s $85 is in Elizabeth at $90. She suggested the fee hike be staggered — increasing by $10 this August, and another $10 next August — to make it “more digestible.”

Morgan offered an excerpt of the letter she plans to present to Parking Authority commissioners at their next meeting, Wednesday, July 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the parking deck, 67 Lewis St.:

“We are at the mercy of the Parking Authority since the more reasonably priced surrounding lots have all been removed and no longer available to us. We hope that because the deck is now, for the most part, the ‘only game in town,’ that you would not treat your loyal patrons so cavalierly. We understand $3 million were contributed to the City of Rahway by NJ Transit to allow for the deck to be built. It would seem that NJ Transit’s interest in providing such a grant would be to encourage the public to take mass transit as opposed to overburdening our already heavily congested thoroughfares. We don’t think that the grant was given to eventually price-out the average person who takes the train from Rahway and raise the parking fee to become almost as high as the train fare. This does not seem fair, good business or in the spirit of community, which the Parking Authority heralds on the Web site.”

The $11-million Lewis Street deck opened in December 2004. Of the 524 spaces, 209 are set aside for condo owners at SkyView. Through Tuesday night, Morgan reported 127 signatures on the petition.

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Carriage City Plaza, Commercial, Retail

Cuppy’s is coming, Cuppy’s is coming

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It’s not a Starbucks. Forget Panera. And never mind about Atlanta Bread Co. Cuppy’s Coffee, Smoothies & More has signed a lease to become the first retail tenant at Carriage City Plaza. The Fort Walton Beach, Fla.-based national chain doesn’t have much of a presence in New Jersey (or the Northeast), but has locations “coming soon” to East Brunswick, Phillipsburg and Whippany.

In fact, none of the aforementioned coffee franchises were even in the running at Carriage City since the retail space for a coffee shop does not allow for a kitchen. Also, Intercontinental Hotels Group, which operates Hotel Indigo, has an exclusive license agreement with Starbucks, which will be served in the Golden Bean and Phi Lounger, located in the hotel lobby.

Other retail tenants for Carriage City Plaza are expected to be a dry cleaner, salon and day spa, fitness center and a “well-known New Jersey-based restaurant brand.”

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You say tomato, I say Thai

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After jumping out to an early 9-1 lead in the early days of the latest poll, Thai held off Japanese to be the choice of Rahway Rising readers:

“What type of restaurant would you like to see downtown?”
Thai 38 percent (17/44)
Japanese 27 percent (12/44)
Indian 15 percent (7/44)
American 9 percent (4/44)
Chinese 4 percent (2/44)
None; plenty as it is, 2 percent (1/44)
Other 2 percent (1/44)
French 0 percent (0/44)

The poll results were record setting, smashing RR’s previous high of 30 votes — a 46-percent increase! (Of course, there’s no way to know if someone just ran around voting from different computers, but we’re on the honors system here!)

The choices in the poll leaned Asian as I tried to avoid offering choices that are already in the area (Portuguese, Mexican, Irish, etc.). Not sure if there’s a Thai, Japanese or Indian place on the way, but the four readers who favored American might be in luck. And to those two who favored Chinese, there’s still hope.

2008 could be the year of the restaurant in Rahway. On top of Cubanu and Luciano’s, another new addition could join the scene. Developers of Carriage City Plaza are in “serious talks with a steakhouse operater that is a New Jersey institution,” according to a representative of Elizabeth-based Silcon Group. “New Jersey institution” — any guesses? My first thought was Tiffany’s, but that’s more known for ribs, no? Another reader suggested Arthur’s, which has three New Jersey locations, none very close to Rahway.

UPDATE: You’ll have to come up with some new guesses. According to a representative of Silcon, they were approached by Tiffany’s and “rejected the concept as not being upscale enough.” Same goes for Arthur’s, though “we never talked to them.”

A 6,000-square-foot steakhouse (more along the lines of a Lone Star) also is planned to accompany a new 72-unit Sleep Inn to be built near the Best Western at East Milton Avenue and Routes 1&9. That project was re-approved by the Planning Board last month after several years of being tied up at the state for waterfront development permits, among other things.

Speaking of the hotel, Silcon is in the final stages of negotiations with a fitness center/spa that will open along with the Hotel Indigo in June. Other potential retail tenants might include a bank, dry cleaner and “several coffee house concepts,” among others. Homeowners are expected to be moving in some time in May. More than 100 of the 209 condos at Sky View have been sold, the representative said, and expect “to be sold out very soon.”

P.S. In case you’re interested, here are Rahway’s presidential primary results from Tuesday night.

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Apartments, Arts District, Downtown, Rahway, Wheatena

On tap for 2008: Park Square, Sky View

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Nothing Earth-shattering in the mayor’s State of the City address last night. The new year should bring with it the completion of Park Square and Sky View at Carriage City Plaza, which includes a Hotel Indigo. Mayor James Kennedy pledged that downtown redevelopment efforts would continue to see progress this year, despite a downturn in the national economy as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.
The largest portion of the mayor’s nine-minute remarks focused on a new billing method for sewage. He expects the city’s assessment from the Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority (RVSA) to increase from $3.6 million in Fiscal Year 2007 to $6.1 million in FY 2010, or almost 70 percent in the next three years.
Speaking of the subprime mortgage mess, what effect has it had on Rahway’s plans? I happened to pose that question to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier just last month, after reading about Asbury Park’s problems, and one Hoboken developer switching condo projects to rentals because of the housing market.
Pelissier said the city hasn’t been adversely affected by the real estate market — in terms of redevelopment — and rattled off an update on a number of projects:
* Park Square (rentals) has made plans to take out permits for the second building, which will face Main Street.
* Dornoch I (Main and Monroe streets) has taken out permits for The Savoy (36 units for purchase with 7,000 square feet of retail).
* Station Place (Five stories, with 80 units and 132 parking spaces, on Campbell Street between Elm and Cherry, for purchase) is still in the process of acquiring properties and relocating the main tenant, A&M Tool Co.
* Wheatena (Elizabeth and West Grand avenues) has requested assistance on the acquisition of properties for its 200-unit project (for purchase).
* Renaissance at Rahway, 72 units with underground parking, also requested assistance of the Redevelopment Agency to acquire the remaining three properties necessary to control the site (Triangle Inn area on Monroe Street). Five of the eight properties necessary are under contract.
* The Town Center project in the City Hall area is still being discussed, and the potential developer is negotiating with retailers as well as the property owners on the site. “As you can imagine this project is complex and will take some time to coordinate all the components of a project this size,” Pelissier said.
If a developer wanted to convert a condo project to rentals, as in some towns, the developer would have to come before the Redevelopment Agency again for approval, he said.
“Each week developers contact the mayor or myself inquiring as to the possibilities of developing in Rahway,” Pelissier said. “Also take a look around the downtown area, properties are being improved in the Arts District as well as throughout the downtown. This points out the small investor continues to believe in the future of Rahway as well as the larger developers.”
The mayor also mentioned that City Council has authorized demolition of the Hamilton Laundry site. I’ll have an update and potential timeline on that later this week.

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