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| (Photo By Derron Palmer) |
Demolition is under way on the A&M Supply building on Campbell Street. The industrial building along with a neighboring residential property at the corner of Elm Avenue will come down to eventually make way for Metro Rahway, a five-story, 116-unit rental project.
Continue reading Demolition under way on A&M Supply building
Demolition of the A&M Industrial building on Campbell Street is expected to begin within the next month.
Continue reading Campbell Street demolition to begin next month
The industrial supply company that eventually will make way for a 116-unit rental complex could be out of its Campell Street facility within the next few weeks.
Clay Bonny of Heartstone Development expects A&M Industrial to move out of the Campbell Street building by the middle of next month, anticipating another six to eight weeks to after that for demolition to begin. That would put a timeline for demolition sometime in June. Some activity is noticeable around the neighboring home at 1442 Campbell St. (corner of Elm) that also will be razed to make way for the five-story project, which changed its name from Station Place to Metro Rahway.
A call to A&M Industrial yielded a recorded greeting indicating that they have moved around the corner to 37 W. Cherry St. for the time being, with a distribution facility on Hopkinson Street.
Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier told Redevelopment Agency commissioners earlier this month that Heartstone has filed an application with the city for a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) but he will ask that it not be acted upon until other issues are resolved with the project. A&M Industrial is apparently seeking some relocation assistance via litigation.
The A&M property was acquired by Metro Rahway Urban Renewal, LLC in East Hanover for $2.87 million on Nov. 20, according to property records.
Demolition of the main property for Station Place, a 116-unit rental project, likely will begin later this year after it was acquired by the redevelopment in November for almost $3 million.
Use and occupancy of the 1.3-acre property by A&M Industrial Supply runs through next month and if the Campbell Street facility is vacant by the end of March, the redeveloper expects to start demolition by mid-April, according to Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier, who briefed the Redevelopment Agency in his report last month.
Completion of the five-story development could be approximately 18 months from the start of demolition. Building permits are expected to be obtained by February 2014. No word on where A&M Industrial Supply would be relocated, which is the responsibility of the redeveloper, Heartstone Development.
The property at 1414 Campbell St. was acquired by Metro Rahway Urban Renewal, LLC in East Hanover for $2.87 million on Nov. 20, according to property records. The 1.3-acre site currently is assessed at $974,800, for an annual property tax bill of about $57,000. The developer also acquired neighboring 1442 Campbell St. for $425,000 in 2007. The project will include 85 parking spaces on the ground level, along with another 17 on-site spaces and 18 on-street spaces.
After several changes and a few years of trying to relocate the current tenant of the property, Station Place appears to be moving forward, with construction slated for later next year.
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| Corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Main Street |
The second building of Park Square, one of the first cornerstone projects of downtown redevelopment efforts, should be ready for occupation starting in June.
Joel Schwartz, principal with Keasbey-based developer Landmark Companies, appeared before the Redevelopment Agency at its meeting last week to provide an update on the 159-unit complex. He last appeared before the agency in late 2009 for an update.
Schwartz expects the second building to obtain certificates of occupancy one floor at a time — which also was done with the first building — so it should be fully occupied by about September. He said the second building boasts larger windows and more space. One-bedroom units list for starting rents of $1,600, two-bedrooms at about $2,000.
The project first broke ground nearly five years ago (October 2006) and the first building on the Irving Street side, which houses 63 of the units, was completed just about two years ago, beginning leasing in summer 2009. The Irving Street side also has 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space which is fully occupied, with five tenants, and Schwartz said the rental units are 100 percent occupied, with some turnover. The Main Street building, without any retail space, houses the remaining 96 units.
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| Corner of Elm Avenue and Main Street |
Schwartz presented renderings that were part of Planning Board hearings in 2004 and 2005, and compared them to present-day photos of the project, as well as what the 2.4-acre site looked like before construction. He said they took a two-pronged approach: first, to redevelop in the spirit of what had been downtown, and second, to incorporate the best of redevelopment efforts from around the state and country. Some of the areas that inspired Park Square include Princeton’s Palmer Square, Forest Hills in Queens and Lake Forest, Ill. As time goes by, Schwartz hopes the complex has more of a connection with Merck as well as be more actively involved in the day-to-day activity of downtown.
The entire complex has 159 units and 205 parking spaces, including ground level parking on the Irving Street side, and two levels of parking on the Main Street side. [Note: The photos above are from last fall]
Rahway is apparently drawing interest from a developer that has the funding to back a project Redevelopment Director and City Administrator Peter Pelissier told the Redevelopment Agency at its March 2 meeting that he and Mayor Rick Proctor met with a developer within the last couple of weeks who’s “very, very interested,” and has financing available, for development in Rahway. Later in the meeting, the Redevelopment Agency went into closed session for about 40 minutes to discuss the matter.
Government bodies are allowed to close portions of their meetings when discussing matters of personnel or potential litigation.
David Ginfrida, owner of David Ginfrida Home Improvements on Elm Avenue, passed away March 10. His obituary appeared in The Star-Ledger and his funeral will be tomorrow morning.
Kennedy Jewelers will fill the final retail space at Park Square, moving four blocks from its current location.
Mayor James Kennedy said a 10-year lease is up on his East Milton Avenue and Fulton Street location and the new space, at the corner of Elm Avenue and Irving Street, is smaller, thus more affordable. “I like the street parking and cozier feeling,” he said in an email, describing it as “more ’boutique-ish.'”
The other two retail tenants at Park Square are expected to be Davis Financial, a Linden-based CPA firm, and Deisel Training Center, a strength training and tae kwon do facility. The target for occupancy is December while Kennedy Jewelers could be January of February, according to Matt Dobrowlowski of Iozzi-Williams Village Green ERA, the exclusive listing agent. All three of the tenants have signed either four- or five-year leases in the range of $22 to $23 per square feet annually.
Here’s a cool photo gallery in Crain’s New York, “Musty streets now hot strips,” featuring half a dozen “formerly forgotten streets becoming urban destinations, boasting a growing crop of trendy eateries and boutiques.” How’d they do it? “It requires daring entrepreneurs seizing the opportunities of cheap rents and an underserved market, as well as landlords hungry enough to take chances on unproven operators.”