Tag Archives: NJ Transit

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Senior housing at St. Mary’s moves forward

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City Council introduced an ordinance last month to create a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), the first step for a four-story, 50-unit affordable senior housing facility adjacent to St. Mary’s along Esterbrook Avenue, just in from Central Avenue. A public hearing and final adoption of the PILOT is scheduled at the council’s regular meeting on May 12.

Representatives from Domus Corporation, affiliated with Catholic Charities of the Newark Archdiocese, came before the governing body in December with their plan. The existing structure, (photo left), the former convent building, would be demolished and the new facilty would extend slightly into the existing parking lot.

Once City Council approves the PILOT, Catholic Charities will need approval from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which would finance the project, before even going to the Planning Board. There was some concern among council members after the December presentation about parking and the size of the new structure which is expected to be addressed when the project ultimately comes before the Planning Board.

The 40-year PILOT, which must coincide with the duration of financing, would pay the city 15 percent of net proceeds. The 15-percent figure is fixed but the total sum would increase as rents for individual units increase, said Phil Frese, president and CEO of Domus. Since the property is owned by the Newark Archdiocese it is tax-exempt.

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NJ Transit, which is reporting increased ridership this year, will enact schedule changes May 11 (next Sunday). The new schedule includes adding several weekend trains to the Northeast Corridor line service.

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It better do my laundry and wash my car too

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I’m no coffee dork — can I be if I only drink it black? — I just want a decent coffeehouse downtown. An $11,000 coffee machine might be a bit much though, don’t you think? Come to think of it, that’s more than I paid for my sweet ride.

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Did you know Rahway ranks 16th among the stations in the NJ Transit system with 3,014 average weekday boardings (not including transfers)? Just a bit of trivia I was interested in the last time I spoke with NJ Transit. A spokesman also mentioned that the Department of Community Affairs approved the lease for a new tenant at the Moca Motion space; now the DCA must OK building permits before the tenant can hire contractors, etc.

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We’re in our fifth month of existence but it’s only been about two months since we started tracking readership with Google Analytics, among others. Last week we surpassed 4,000 visits to the blog (we get almost 100 each weekday) and now have more than 50 readers who subscribe by email. It’s all through word of mouth and mostly stumbling upon us through Internet searches (trust me, I don’t have that many friends and family). Thanks to everyone who’s been interested in this little hobby of mine and to everyone who’s offered their input, suggestions or questions over the last few months.

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New Moca Motion tenant under review

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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 lease 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.

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Housing market, bad; rail towns, good

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The Transit-Friendly Development newsletter is one of those wonk-ish things that probably doesn’t get much pub outside of public policy and bureaucratic circles. So, of course, I subscribe.

A joint effort between NJ Transit and the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, the newsletter publishes three times a year. In the previous edition, it reported on the Town Center plans and has featured Rahway in the past. The January edition reported on a presentation at the League of Municipalities Conference last fall by a real estate appraisal and research group. Basically they said the housing market is a nightmare — with one exception:

“Affected by the strength of the Manhattan housing market, as well as a national trend showing distinct preferences among 20-somethings and baby boomers for live-work-play locations such as New Jersey, one bright spot in this slumping sector is housing in transit-rich locations. While expensive suburban homes languish on the market, with 48 weeks of inventory, housing near locations with excellent rail connections to Manhattan is flourishing with less than a six-month supply of unsold homes.”

The piece fails to mention either the North Jersey Coast Line or Northeast Corridor, instead pointing to Glen Ridge and Montclair on the Montclair-Boonton Line; South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn, Summit and New Providence on the Morris & Essex Gladstone Branch; and Roselle Park, Cranford, Westfield and Fanwood on the Raritan Valley Line.

Granted, most of the towns cited are more affluent than Rahway to begin with. However, say what you will about NJ Transit or its service, the city probably has better rail connections than any of them. It’s one of the few places Rahway can be mentioned in the same breath as those (and one thing it has in common with Summit, which like Rahway is where its two train lines split). While the Morris & Essex line also has a train to Hoboken, the Raritan Valley only goes as far as Newark Penn Station and weekend service doesn’t exist on the Montclair-Boonton.

P.S. The newsletter also has an update on downtown redevelopment efforts further down the Northeast Corridor line in nearby Metuchen.

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