As efforts continue to secure financing for The Savoy, Dornoch is interested in liquidating some of its properties on Main and East Cherry streets.
Continue reading Dornoch interested in selling some properties
Tag Archives: East Cherry Street
Filling space
As loyal reader Larry first pointed out in his comments to last week’s post, it appears a shoe repair shop will be coming to fill the vacant space at the corner of East Cherry and Main streets.
The Savoy seeking financing
Developers of The Savoy are trying to renegotiate a loan with Wachovia bank, City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier reported at last week’s Redevelopment Agency meeting. Pelissier said he’s received messages from Glen Fishman, managing director of Hillside-based Dornoch Management, indicating the firm is still committed to completing the 36-unit condo project. Pelissier estimated Dornoch already has invested $3.5 million in the project.
Dornoch’s investors, a hedge fund based in Holland, apparently are looking for a lender before they make another capital call, Pelissier said, adding that a loan had been in place until it was called in to renegotiate by Wachovia. Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo last October after overtures from Citigroup. If Dornoch can’t get a loan, Pelissier said, The Savoy may become rentals but the firm is aiming to complete the project as the originally proposed condos.
Pelissier said Fishman wants to complete The Savoy as for-sale condos, before moving onto the firm’s other projects along East Cherry Street (the storefronts that include The Beverage Shop). Fishman has told city officials that he’s interested in selling the burned out East Cherry Street property which Dornoch purchased from the Parking Authority and as recently as November 2007 had plans to renovate it.
The Savoy’s retail space has been marketed by The Schultz Organization, a Woodbridge-based commercial real estate firm, as recently as December with a projected occupancy of “fourth quarter 2009.”
Still quiet at The Savoy
With no work going on at The Savoy, now there’s not even any word from its developers.
Redevelopment Director and City Administrators Peter Pelissier reported at last month’s Redevelopment Agency meeting that the agency’s attorney has been unsuccessful in reaching attorneys representing Dornoch Holdings.
Pelissier said Dornoch is represented by Al Faiella, who for what it’s worth had some interesting dealings in Newark redevelopment.
Given the market, the guess here — and that’s all it is — is that The Savoy will go the way of other projects and shift to rentals. That would require an amendment to its redevelopment agreement, which would need approval from the Redevelopment Agency. The credit crunch has done the same thing to other projects in Rahway. Another Dornoch project, The Lofts, shifted to lease-to-buy options with three of the four units signed up at Irving and East Cherry streets. (Here’s an AM New York report about condo inventory rising amidst slumping sales in New York.)
Pelissier reported at the last Redevelopment Agency meeting (Nov. 12) that the mayor, in speaking with Dornoch principal Glen Fishman about the burned out East Cherry Street property, indicated he’s interested in selling and there may be a buyer.
Dornoch received approval last year for a plan to renovate that site, where a fire occurred some five years ago. Dornoch also acquired a strip of East Cherry on the other side of the street, along with multiple properties along Main Street in anticipation of The Westbury. That project is essentially on hold as the city and Parking Authority move forward on their own with the parking component.
Dornoch had been considered for the Hamilton Street project that would rehabilitate the Shami Apartments for senior and/or artist housing and turn the Bell Building into an arts space but you can expect that redeveloper’s designation will expire and another developer sought.
Permanent pedestrian-only possibilities?
Something for y’all to chew on while I work on a few posts I’ve been meeting to get to. I was in Denver last week for the first time and it reminded me of one of my favorite urban planning concepts: the pedestrian-only street (something about the feeling of sticking it to the man by legally jay-walking? The marriage of sidewalk and street sans curb?)
The 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver is chockful of restaurants, shopping,
movies, etc. The only vehicles are buses that can take you from one end to the other. It’s not quite as offbeat as Burlington, Vt.’s Church Street Marketplace but it is a flurry of activity day and night. There also was the Summer Streets experiment in Manhattan this past August as well as a recent push in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to make the main drag there (Bedford Avenue) pedestrian-only.
By no means am I comparing Rahway to any of those cities. For one, Denver’s mall is 16 blocks long — though it is only 1.25 miles, not much longer than the stretch of Irving Street. But these are major metropolises that also draw on a big tourist population. The closest thing I can think of in New Jersey is Cape May’s Washington Street Mall, which is credited with “rescuing” that downtown in the early ’70s.
On with my point for discussion: How about making East Cherry Street pedestrian-only? It’s closed for some downtown events but would making it permanent be an improvement (I only say East Cherry because it seems like it’d make the most sense of any downtown street)?
I’m not sure that “pedestrianisation” is necessary for East Cherry Street as it’s not exactly dominated by vehicles and you’d lose parking spaces at a time when they seem to be at a premium. There would be an issue of adequate access to Lot B behind The Waiting Room, where a parking deck is planned, and hopefully future residential development. But ped-only areas also generate foot traffic, a primary goal of Rahway’s redevelopment. What do you think, would it help or hurt local merchants?
Regardless, it’s just food for thought. In the meantime, here’s another interesting New York Times story about various concepts to draw people out into the streets.
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5/8/12 UPDATE: I came across this recent piece from Atlantic Cities, “The Uncertain Legacy of America’s Pedestrian Malls,” which is a good read — and check out all the comments!
From West Scott to East Cherry
East Cherry Street will be getting “Just A Little Healthier” when the eatery moves in to replace a former soul food establishment by late August or early September.
Whether it becomes a second location or relocates from its current West Scott Avenue digs is “still up in the air,” owner/founder Ron Livingston said in a telephone interview last week.
Just A Little Healthier opened at 228 W. Scott Ave. about a year-and-a-half ago, focusing on low-fat, low-carb offerings and even got a write-up in The New York Times last October. Livingston said the location at 95 E. Cherry St. opened up some time after he started looking into a downtown space, and signed a five-year lease.
Traffic changes this week
Two-way traffic is scheduled to begin downtown, on Main and Irving streets, this week. In addition to those one-way streets becoming two-way, several one-way side streets (East Cherry and Coach) will reverse direction while another that’s currently two-way (Poplar) will become one-way toward Irving; so all three will flow toward Irving.
Striping is scheduled to be done Monday evening and signs will be uncovered for Tuesday morning when the change is officially expected to occur. If there’s an issue, it could be pushed back a day, said Police Chief John Rodger, but the goal is to have it completed before the holiday weekend.
Cones will run the length of Irving and Main so motorists will have to stay in one lane, reinforcing the pattern change, according to Rodger, and Traffic will have a heavy presence downtown during the transition. The cones will be removed in phases, he added, to continually reinforce the patterns for a period of time.
When merchants were surveyed last year about changing traffic patterns downtown, most were in favor.
Two-way traffic: July 1
The two-way traffic patterns slated for Irving and Main streets that been talked about for months finally are set to take place July 1 — if the electronic signs on Irving Street are to be believed. In addition to bringing two-way traffic to Irving and Main, three streets will become one-way toward Irving Street: East Cherry, Coach and Poplar.
The Fulton-Irving Street realignment originally had been ahead of schedule for April, according to city officials earlier this year, and two-way traffic had been planned by May 15. The traffic light was one of the conditions for the new hotel at Irving Street and East Milton Avenue.
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Another center for performing arts, the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, is looking for a government bailout. Millburn is considering a $9.1-million purchase/lease-back of the playhouse and its four-acre property. Last year, as part of the $6.2-million renovation and expansion of the Union County Arts Center, Union County purchased the 80-year-old Irving Street facility for $1.3 million.
According to that report, subscriptions for the Paper Mill last year were 18,000, almost twice as many as the 9,700 at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Center, and more than McCarter, George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison combined.