In the spirit of tonight’s 80th annual Oscars, as well as Rahway’s own Hollywood presence last week, we present our new poll question, below right. Be sure to cast your vote, and add your two cents in the comments section.
Tag Archives: downtown
Irving-Fulton traffic light on line by April
Between jetting off to Puerto Rico for a few days and preparing for fantasy baseball season, I haven’t been able to get to much posting this past week. I’ll try to make up for it in the coming week.
In the meantime, here’s a tidbit.
Continue reading Irving-Fulton traffic light on line by April
New Moca Motion tenant under review
The vacant Moca Motion Cafe in the train station won’t be filled until sometime this spring. A new five-year lease is signed and being reviewed by the state Department of Community Affairs, according to a spokesman for NJ Transit. The review isn’t expected to be completed for another two to three months, which would mean April or May.
The 1,950-square-foot property is one of the larger retail spaces at NJ Transit stations. The lease starts at $2,450 per month. The previous tenant, which vacated the property after the five-year le
ase expired last year, paid $2,205 a month.
The spokesman described the incoming tenant as a similar service, a convenience store/coffee shop-type place, and was the only proposal received after NJ Transit put out a Request for Proposals (RFP).
There are an average of more than 3,000 weekday boardings at the Rahway Train Station, according to NJ Transit.
Developer seeks to bury utilities
Developers of Park Square are hoping to bury utilities instead of stringing wires across Elizabeth Avenue the old-fashioned way.
City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier told the Redevelopment Agency last week that he met with representatives of the Park Square project who asked that the agency intercede and meet with PSE&G.
“We are redeveloping downtown,” said Pelissier, who seemed to prefer underground utilities versus “unsightly wires, poles that are in the way, or could come down in ice storms.” He suggested PSE&G doesn’t want to bury utilities because it’s cheaper to put up poles. “We want to meet with them.”
Redevelopment Agency Commissioner Timothy Nash questioned whether developers have expressed a willingness to pay for the work, which Pelissier said they had not yet.
During the course of $4-million downtown renovations in 2000, the City of Summit opted to keep utilities buried (which it initially did in 1925!), with some of the cost picked up by various state and county grants and no-interest loans. There were some issues with underground fires one summer — as was the case in Morristown as well — which eventually was remediated by the power company serving Summit.
As brickwork continues on the first structure (photo above), Pelissier reported that Park Square has submitted plans for the second building in the development, which is waiting for approval on permits.
Parking, parking, parking
Expect some parking spaces to be lost downtown when two-way traffic returns to Main and Irving streets. The city will determine how the spaces will be reconfigured. Some will be eliminated because they are too close to intersections or just are not safe for traffic reasons. “It will create some concern,” City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said of the forthcoming reconfiguration. The city also is examining the best locations for loading/unloading areas, bus stops and 15-minute parking.
Pelissier also said there’s resistance to using the three-year-old parking deck, as it seems some people would rather drive around the block several times to find street parking. The Rahway Parking Authority is considering designating the first level of the parking garage for retail spaces so shoppers don’t have to go to the upper levels, he added. The Rahway Center Partnership also is working with merchants to devise an incentive in parking fees, such as a restaurant giving $1 off a customer’s bill so they only end up paying 25 cents for parking.
“I find it’s pretty full during the day,” Redevelopment Agency Commissioner Carlos Garay said during Wednesday night’s meeting, adding that he uses it “pretty often.” After 6:30 or 7 p.m, the deck is “quite empty from a restaurant standpoint,” Pelissier said.
There are about 150 spots currently used by construction workers and there will be 209 spaces set aside for the new condos at the adjacent hotel once it opens in the spring. The $11-million, 524-space parking deck opened in December 2004.
“There will be some problems when Lot B (behind The Waiting Room) is developed,” Pelissier said. “Those cars have to go somewhere.” Plans for The Westbury include a 324-space parking deck at the current site of Lot B, as well as 200-plus condos along Main Street.
Pelissier said parking rates also will have to examined in an effort to keep the Rahway Parking Authority solvent. Currently, 12-hour parking permits cost $65 per month. “We’ll see if we have to increase parking rates.”
Luciano’s open for business
Luciano’s Italian Ristorante & Lounge opened for business Thursday after an invitation-only grand opening the previous night. It’s the second restaurant to open downtown in the last month or so, joining Cubanu.
If you’re having trouble finding anything about it on the Web, you’re not alone. A fruitless Google search led me to make a phone call for the Web site, which has a menu (senza prices) and hours, but not much more . A woman answering the phone suggested dinner for two with a bottle of wine might run about $100. Strangely, the Web site displays their location about five blocks too far up Main Street, at Elizabeth Avenue.
The three-story building at Main and Monroe streets also houses 14 rental apartments and had been open for private parties late last year.
Keep an eye out for a review in the coming weeks. Ciao.
More traffic changes afoot
While the Irving-Fulton realignment continues, plans also are in the works for assorted traffic changes around downtown, including:
* Signalization of the five corners intersection near the Union County Arts Center;
* Two-way traffic on Main and Irving streets; and,
* Reversing some one-way streets in the other direction, including West Cherry and Coach streets.
The Fulton-Irving realignment project is expected to last through April, completed around the same time the hotel is planned to be ready.
The City Council earlier this month approved a $114,000 contract for city engineers to develop modifications and signalization for the intersection where Irving, Main and Hamilton streets meet Central Avenue. The project will commence once traffic is converted to two-way on Main and Irving streets, and includes widening Irving Street opposite the arts center, modifying the Civil War monument island at West Main and Central, and constructing a triangular island at Hamilton and Central. City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the projects should be completed by July.
Cubanu: A review
I’ve been meaning to check out the latest addition to the downtown, Cubanu, a new restaurant/lounge at the corner of Main and Lewis streets. Some might remember the previous tenants of the corner bar: Eighty Eights and Fat Tuesday’s.
I’m not all that picky when it comes to food (I’m one of those people who was raised to clean this plate), so it would take a real effort to serve up something I didn’t like. Given that my girlfriend Kathleen and I were excited to finally try Cubanu since it opened late last year, I expected that we wouldn’t be disappointed when we paid a visit Friday night. We were far from disappointed.
Two things jumped out at me when we got there. Though the physical layout isn’t much different from the previous bars, the decor was nice; it just fit really well. Loved the entrance way between the dining room and the bar, and later we both admired the colorful wall tile behind the bar. Maybe it was just the tableclothes and silverware, but as soon as I sat down I already had the impression that this was going to be one my best dining experiences in Rahway. Spanish versions of “I Will Survive” and “Hotel California” also just cracked me up; they embodied the whole evening, something different in Rahway.
To start, we went with the Cha-Cha Sampler so we could select three of the tapas chioces. We chose the Maria Rosa, Empanadas and Cubanitos. Kathleen’s favorite was the Maria Rosa, basically two balls of mashed potatos stuffed with meat and deep fried. I loved the Empanadas, perhaps the best I’ve ever had, though admitedly, I haven’t had all that many in my time. All in all, the apps were terrific.
For her entree, Kathleen selected the Paella el Malecon and I had the Pollo Tropicano. When I first viewed Cubanu’s menu on the Web, it was little pricier than I expected. But the portions are pretty healthy and you also get to choose two of about six sides. Though my chicken at first was a touch dry it got better and we both ended up with plenty of leftovers to enjoy for lunch the next day. I thought a very unique touch was being presented with the check in a cigar box. It’s definitely different from cookie-cutter casual dining places.
If there was anything I didn’t like about our visit, it was extremely minor, like keeping water glasses full, but the number of staff and their friendliness more than made up for that very minor critique. There weren’t many selections of wine by glass, and we probably would’ve been better off getting a bottle.
The very next night, I happened to meet friends (from Rahway and out of town) for impromptu drinks in Cubanu’s lounge. Our party of about six all had good things to say and were pretty excited about a new choice in downtown nightlife. The lounge was a bit warm and it was actually easier to have a conversation while the live Latin jazz trio played than when they were on break and the music was blaring. All in all, we had very good things to say about our experience in the lounge.
If people want to talk about Rahway being “the next Hoboken” or “the next (fill in the blank),” it needs more destinations, places that give people a reason to come. No one’s coming from out of town to go to The Waiting Room, Flynn’s or The Back Porch; all great neighborhood joints where everybody knows your name, but Cubanu seems like the first place in awhile that could be a destination. At the very least, it’s something different, and that’s what any downtown needs: diverse options.
Have you been to Cubanu? What’d you think? Good, bad, indifferent? If you plan to go, feel free to send comments this way. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a new poll question this week and maybe an update on the traffic projects downtown.