It’s been quite some time since our last blog poll, so here’s one that everyone should enjoy. Next time you’re looking for places to eat in Rahway, just check back here, and feel free to use the comments section below after visits to any of these places.
Tag Archives: Main Street
Art Hive opens new space
The Rahway Art Hive will host a gala opening Thursday from 6 to 11 p.m. to open its new space on Main Street, coinciding with the Arts District‘s monthly First Thursdays event.
The art studio and co-op gallery will be three times as big as its former home on East Cherry Street and expand to eight artists. The former camera shop sign has been replaced with a colorful mural above the Main Street storefronts.
A few years ago, there was some talk about possibly bringing an upscale, sit-down Chinese restaurant into the space, when Main Street Barber Shop moved next door after Sound-A-Rama was subdivided.
Chess Mates opens on Irving Street
Excuse the recent hiatus, we’ll catch up on a few things this week.
Several new stores opened downtown within the last few months, among the more prominent ones is Chess Mates, the second retail tenant in the Park Square development on Irving Street.
The grand opening originally was scheduled in March but was postponed and finally opened in mid-June. Chess Mates occupies the second retail space in Park Square, next to Eyes On You, and has a three-year lease for about 1,000 square feet.
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Something else to catch up on: The Star-Ledger’s Munchmobile is on a pizza run again this summer and it stopped by Rahway a while ago, offering its impressions of Brooklyn Pizza. The Race Street pizzeria got a C+ with comments ranging from “perfect amount of garlic and cheese” to “average” and “soggy.” The sauce, crust and sausage “still need work” but they endorsed the white pizza.
Effort to revive chamber of commerce
Nearly a decade after it dissolved, the Rahway Chamber of Commerce is making a comeback. The Chamber will host its first meeting, open to the public and non-members, Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Masonic Temple on Irving Street.
Shore-based developer interested in The Savoy
A Jersey Shore-based developer is apparently interested in acquiring the stalled Savoy project on Main Street.
Continue reading Shore-based developer interested in The Savoy
Obvious who developers support in Dem primary
A quick look around town will show you who developers are supporting in next week’s Democratic primary. Campaign signs appear in the windows and on the buildings of several properties owned by developers: the sales office of SkyView at Carriage C
ity Plaza (above) and the former Dornoch offices (still owned by Dornoch) at 1513 Main St. (right).
and the building on the corner of East Milton Avenue and Main Street (below), purchased in 2008 by Landmark Companies, which is building Park Square, the 159-unit rental project at Elizabeth Avenue and Irving Street. CORRECTION: I’ve been told the space the corner of East Milton and Main was rented by the Proctor campaign and is not an endorsement by Landmark.
The June 8 primary will be the city’s first contested primary in about 20 years. City Health Officer Rick Proctor, also a county freeholder and the municipal Democratic chairman, got the backing of the local party, while former Housing Authority chairwoman Renee Thrash is running off the line. Three at-large council seats are up, with incumbents James Baker, Sal Mio
ne and Nancy Saliga challenged by Yvonne Wesley, Lynn Parker and Grace Jacquet. The Republican primary is uncontested, with local GOP chairman Patrick Cassio running for mayor with council at-large candidates James Grady, Kevin Retcho and Jeff Spatola.
Mayor James Kennedy, a Democrat, decided not to seek re-election this year after five, four-year terms. He plans to remain as unpaid executive director of the nonprofit Rahway Arts District, which now receives funding generated by the Special Improvement District (SID).
Art sneaking into downtown
The first of several planned public art pieces recently went up in the alley between Main Street and the River Place parking lot.
A few more murals are expected to go up in the alley over the next few months and others are tentatively planned, according to Jim McKeon of the Art Hive.
The Art Hive also will take over space in the former Main Street Barber Shop storefront on Main Street. McKeon expects the first official opening at the site this summer.
The space is three times the size of the East Cherry Street storefront and will allow up to eight artists. The Main Street building will be the first of a pilot program to transform empty store windows into art exhibitions, McKeon said, along with new awnings.
Dirt makes way for more parking near Lot B
Temporary sidewalks have been constructed along The Savoy site in recent weeks. The site has stockpiled some of the dirt from across the street adjacent to Lot B where additional surface parking is planned this summer.