Tag Archives: Monroe Street

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Planning Board gives OK for 88 rentals

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The Planning Board last Tuesday gave major preliminary site plan approval and a bulk c variance for 88 rental units for the proposed Renaissance at Rahway. It’s the third time the Planning Board approved some form of the plan for the site on East Grand Avenue from Montgomery Street to Monroe.

There will be 88 parking spaces on the ground floor, one for each of the 44 one-bedroom and 44 two-bedroom units, with apartments above the parking on floors two through five.

An engineer for Renaissance said it would be impractical and economically infeasible for the site to comply with state Residential Site Improvement Standards (RSIS) for parking but alternate, local parking standards are allowed under the redevelopment agreement. Planning Board members were confident the commuting nature of the area would not require more parking spaces for the development.

Another aspect that will have to be addressed, but wasn’t required for site plan approval, is a new service access point for neighboring Riverton (the former Rahway Geriatrics Center) since the existing service access is from Montgomery Street which will be eliminated between East Grand and Monroe Street.

There also were some concerns from Planning Board members about the type of material to be used for the building’s facade, but Renaissance representatives assured the board they would use whatever material the city preferred. “We don’t want that type of issue to slow us down,” said Joseph Ranieri, an attorney with Weiner Lesniak representing Renaissance.

Developers presented modified plans to the Redevelopment Agency in August, which was the first time 88 units were suggested for the site. Originally, the idea was to build 72 for-sale condos but since the project shifted to rentals Renaissance had floated the idea of 64 rentals in a first phase, and possibly a second phase if one property eventually was acquired.

Developers will move forward on Block 379, Lots 2-8 and Block 378, Lot 1.01, leaving out Block 379, Lot 1, which could not be acquired from one property owner.

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Renaissance bumped up to 88 units

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With two more properties acquired since May, developers of Renaissance at Rahway have boosted the number of units from about 64 to 88. Representatives came before the Redevelopment Agency Wednesday night for approval.

In May, Rahway Rising reported that Renaissance had acquired five of the eight properties necessary and would move ahead with 64 rental units and possibly include a second phase once other properties were secured. Developers have since acquired Lots 5 and 8 of Block 379, leaving only Lot 1 (the corner of Monroe Street and East Grand Avenue). The revised project entails Lots 2 to 8.

Originally, the project was to be 72 condos, an even split of one- and two-bedroom units. Now the project will be 88 rental units (80 two-bedroom, 8 one-bedroom) in the five-story structure, with 88 parking spaces on the ground level.

Redevelopment Agency commissioners had some concerns about having enough parking (only one per unit, regardless of bedrooms) and whether parking would be covered (the property creates a triangle in the center of the building where spaces in the middle might be uncovered), but ultimately gave their consent. Commissioners preferred the parking be covered but developers are considering both schemes.

Entrance to the residences will be at the corner of Montgomery Street and East Grand Avenue, though it will no longer be a corner since the development includes building over Montgomery Street from East Grand to Monroe. Parking will be accessed from Monroe, near the present corner of Montgomery, essentially where the former Triangle Inn currently stands.

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Apartments, Downtown

Condo projects into rentals

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If it can happen in everyone’s redevelopment mentor city of Hoboken, it can happen in Rahway. It looks like two projects originally planned as for-sale condos will become rentals.
The developer of Station Place has started to look at a plan for 116 rental units instead of 80 condos for the five-story project on a 1.6-acre site on Campbell Street. “Because of what happened in the economy in general, and the financial sector specifically, condos are very difficult to finance,” Clay Bonny of Heartstone Development said at last week’s Redevelopment Agency meeting. “Apartments are very easy to finance.” No major lenders are getting into condo construction, he said, so to keep the project moving, they decided to examine rentals instead.
A recent Wall Street Journal story pretty much confirmed the lending situation, for both consumer and businesses: “Banks continue to get more restrictive in their real-estate lending as the housing bust adds to their losses.”
Heartstone received Planning Board approval in March 2007 (.pdf) for 80 units, so it would have to get approval again for the increased density. Zoning currently allows for 60 units per acre.
The current occupant, A&M Industrial Supply, is under contract to be relocated to Edison, said Bonny. Some minor environmental issues on the property have to be cleared up, he added, so an extension on the closing has been requested through September.
Heartstone’s other project in Rahway, the 135 rentals at River Place, is 100 percent fully occupied for the first time since it opened in 2004, Bonny said.
Renaissance at Rahway was to be a 72-unit condo project on property encompassing the former Triangle Inn. Renaissance has five of the eight necessary parcels under contract so rather than go through what could be a two-year condemnation battle, developers will move forward with 64 rental units as part of a first phase. The second phase could include the remaining units if the properties are eventually acquired, said Joseph Ranieri, an attorney with Weiner Lesniak representing Renaissance. “This project works better under these economic conditions,” he said, adding that it’s not certain they can get financing for the whole thing.
The five-story project, which would include parking on the ground floor, would eliminate and be built on top of a short stretch of Montgomery Street between East Grand Avenue and Monroe Street.
Renaissance has been unable to acquire Block 379, Lots 1, 5 and 8. City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the owners of Lots 1 and 8 are not interested in selling at all. An unacceptable counteroffer was received from the owner of Lot 5, he said, which bifurcates the whole project, so if it sells in the future, it could be added. It’s unclear how many more units could be built with Lot 5 part of the project, Pelissier said. “That’s the economic dilemma,” he said, the land costs versus the number of units that could be built; do you overpay for those or go through a costly, unfriendly sale?

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Downtown, Redevelopment Agency

More redevelopment areas under consideration

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The Rahway Redevelopment Agency might consider more areas of the city for possible redevelopment. City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier asked commissioners at their meeting last month to think about other areas for redevelopment to discuss at their next meeting. The agency next meets Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall.

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Apartments, Downtown, restaurants

Luciano’s set to open

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Luciano’s, which from the outside has looked like it was ready for business quite some time ago, is expected to officially open in January.
The 250-seat Italian restaurant at the corner of Main and Monroe streets will host some parties during the remainder of this year.

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