Phase 2 of Dornoch II heads to Planning Board
Housing inventory remains low, in Rahway and beyond
Looking Ahead:
– City Council will next meet on Monday at 7 p.m.
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There’s nothing better than a warm, hearty soup in the winter. After a snowy winter, with spring only a few weeks away (really), soup season (at least the hot variety) is coming to an end. What better time for a new reader poll?
Developers have submitted plans to the Planning Board for the second phase of the Dornoch II development downtown.
The investment and management firm that two years ago acquired Park Square, a two-building mid-rise in the center of downtown, has secured a $34-million loan on the property.
A proposed 300-unit development across the river from downtown could be built in phases depending on property acquisition, which would ideally include relocating a PSE&G substation.
One of the most frequent conversations among readers is about bringing a supermarket to downtown Rahway. It’s been the subject of the occasional reader poll and there was even a campaign five years ago to lobby Trader Joe’s to open in town.
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That’s not to say there aren’t options in and around downtown Rahway. The Cherry Street Market has been around a long time. There’s also Universal Meat Supermarket on Elizabeth Avenue and Rahway Farm in the Deals Plaza on St. Georges Avenue, a half-mile from downtown.
Matt Casey of Rahway-based Matthew P. Casey and Associates has been analyzing supermarket retail for more than 30 years. He helps open new grocery stories, conducting feasibility studies on a geographic area, studies the best places to build a story and projects how much business a store might do.
I spoke with Casey for a blog post in 2017 and it was among the most popular posts that year. I thought it would make for a good podcast episode to revisit the supermarket conversation with him. We talked back in October as I was brainstorming ideas for podcast episodes and not much has changed. We discussed the local options in and around Rahway and why it’s so difficult to attract one to Rahway..
We also discussed the cult of Trader Joe’s, the rise of home delivery during COVID and its short- and long-term impact on the supermarket industry, and what a Rahway market would have to do to compete. “If I’m doing a supermarket study for an individual who wants to open a supermarket in downtown Rahway — or anywhere — my first question is going to be what are you going to do different, what are you going to offer the customer that’s unique or different that’s going to change a customer’s mind from ordering from Walmart” and having it delivered to your door within two hours.
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Another $250,000 in forgivable loans grants will be available to eligible businesses in a second round of Rahway CARES Act funding. Eligible businesses can receive up to $4,000.
The total taxable value of Rahway properties grew last year by $4.5 million, or 0.32 percent, with the industrial class inching up for the first time in years while residential assessments increased their share of assessments to a recent high of almost 68 percent of the city’s value.
