A proposed affordable housing development geared toward artists could return to the Planning Board in the coming weeks.
Continue reading Artist housing could return to Planning Board
Tag Archives: Rahway
5 things to know about 38-52 E. Cherry St. plan
The Planning Board is scheduled to hear an application Tuesday night for a new rental apartment development along East Cherry Street. Here are 5 things to know about the proposal:
Continue reading 5 things to know about 38-52 E. Cherry St. plan
Hurricane Sandy
Taking inspiration from this map created by folks in Hoboken after Hurricane Sandy, I’ve come up with this version for Rahway to show what’s open and where power has been restored – or not. It appears that a few buildings downtown still are without power, as well as several neighborhoods around the city. The map was created through various reports from residents via Facebook, Twitter or direct emails.
If you have an update on your neighborhood, contact us by:
– email at RahwayRising@gmail.com
– Tweet at us Twitter @RahwayRising
– Post on our Facebook page
The latest post on the city’s Facebook page on Sunday indicated a message from PSE&G that “it looks like the majority of Rahway customers will be restored by Tuesday.’ In the meantime, warming stations have been set up at Rahway High School on Madison Avenue, Grover Cleveland Elementary School on East Milton Avenue and St. Thomas Church on St. Georges Avenue — and as of Sunday, they would be operating 24 hours a day until further notice.
Stay warm!
Irene leaves her mark
Few places in Rahway were spared from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene this past week. The heaving banks of the Rahway River and Milton Lake spilled out onto streets, leaving the Veterans Field underwater, felling trees along St. Georges Avenue and elsewhere.
Former Mayor James Kennedy, now executive director of the Arts District, thought the Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts, now under construction, “fared well” (photo above). The 4 inches of water on the platform “more than likely would not have had the opportunity to enter the building if it were all closed in,” he said via email. “I’m not concerned about the water here. The houses to the left, facing the building, really need to be removed; but the building will be fine,” Kennedy said.
The plan is to eventually acquire the remaining homes and create parking for Hamilton Stage and the adjacent amphitheater (photo left). Due to the rising costs of the arts projects, however, interim parking will take the space of the amphitheater for the time being.
Having grown up on the corner of River Road and Church Street, Kennedy said he’d never seen a storm this bad but is confident that more mitigation will occur upstream in the future.
For more images of flooding throughout Rahway, see our Facebook page, where we’ve shared quite a few compilations from readers. Thanks to everyone who shared their great photos!
Black box theater first, then amphitheater – maybe
Following the recommendation of the administration, the Redevelopment Agency is moving forward on a black box theater while prioritizing parking over an amphitheater in the short term.
The Redevelopment Agency on Wednesday awarded a $5.825-million construction bid to Gingerelli Bros, Inc. The Toms River-based firm was the lowest among 16 bidders to renovate the former Bell Building on Hamilton Street into a 220-seat black box theater. The award includes a base bid of $5.757 million and alternate bid of $27,112 for a folding partition and $41,200 for a metal roof instead of asphalt shingles.
City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the city has approved $12 million for both a black box theater and amphitheater and even with the elimination of one project, more money would have to be raised for a parking facility. The 1,300-seat amphitheater planned at the former Hamilton Laundry site cost more than the original estimate and he recommended to commissioners first building the black box theater and creating parking at the amphitheater site for the time being given the economy and city’s looming debt, such as the school system’s $34-million renovation projects. Officials estimated some $2.73 million already has been spent on architect and engineering fees and other site preparation.
There were six bidders for the amphitheater, the lowest from Berto Construction at $4.734 million ($4.2 million base bid plus $487,000 in alternate bids). Other bidders included W.D. Snyder Co., $6.15 million, and CGT Construction, $6.21 million. The amphitheater project had to be re-bid after an issue arose with the original bids, challenged by one of the bidding companies, last fall.
Former Mayor James Kennedy, now executive director of the Rahway Arts District, said the merits of building the black box theater first are basic. A black box theater would have a year-round revenue stream while removing a building that’s been blighted for over a decade. If the amphitheater was pursued first but the project ran out of money, the blighted Bell Building would remain. In addition, the amphitheater site could provide needed parking for the black box theater.
Pelissier said parking is very stressed from Grand Avenue to the arts center so for the moment, parking is more important than an amphitheater. He said it will cost $300,000 to cap the amphitheater site anyway and another $150,000 would bring a parking lot that the Parking Authority could use as a temporary revenue stream.
As currently designed, the Hamilton Street arts projects would have 48 parking spaces but creating parking at the amphitheater site would add 86. The agency was presented with an option to add two 
lots, the first of which would gain 16 spaces behind four homes currently stand on Hamilton Street for a total of 134 spaces (design at right). The second lot would add 138 spaces, losing 16 to reconfiguring spaces behind the homes but adding about 36 in the area of the homes, for a total 170 spaces (design above). The first lot included parking behind the homes. (Click the images to enlarge).
The bid that was awarded only includes parking behind the black box theater but not the additional parking at the amphitheater site, Pelissier said. That would have to be designed and bid, which the administration recommended pursuing separate bids for as early as next month.
Mayor Rick Proctor called it the “most common sense” solution at the moment because of the year-round revenue available from a blackbox theater as opposed to the seven to eight months from an amphitheater. “It’s the best to prioritize use of the money we have available,” he said.
Improvements spotted at Kings Inn
It looks like some long-awaited improvements got under way this month at the Kings Inn Motel that ultimately will turn it into a Super 8.
It’s been almost a year since the Redevelopment Agency reassigned the redevelopment agreement on the site along Route 1&9. The plan at that time was to turn the building into a Motel 6 but is now back to a Super 8.
Director of Community Development Cynthia Solomon confirmed that the permits have all been approved but no word on a timeline for completion.
A Howard Johnson had been planned to replace the Kings Inn two years ago before that plan fell through and at one point there was a proposal for an addition as a Super 8. (Thanks to all the eagle-eyed readers who tipped me off to the activity at the Kings Inn site.)
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A story in NJ Biz last month detailed how a Newark nonprofit uses GPS-based bar code system to allow staff, and the public, to send alerts on damaged downtown improvements. It also can “help users locate parking garages, stores, restaurants and parks in the area.”
Poll results: Favorite breakfast place
You wake up late on a Saturday morning and you don’t feel like making breakfast. Where do you go?
Council approves Hamilton Street arts projects
With at least one proponent invoking the mythical tale of Prometheus, more than a dozen speakers, including labor union representatives, artists and school officials, last night spoke in favor of borrowing $8.5 million for construction of the Hamilton Street arts projects. Two residents questioned the cost and benefit to city taxpayers.
The City Council last night unanimously approved an $8.5-million bond ordinance to build a 1,100-seat amphitheater (above) at the former Hamilton Laundry site and to renovate the Bell Building (below) to house a black box theater. One speaker after the next noted that the amphitheater project is part of the city’s continuing investment in the Arts District and the overall vision for the arts to drive redevelopment, remaking the city as a destination. (Here’s The Star-Ledger‘s take on last night’s meeting.)
The council last night also unanimously approved ordinances to shift management of the Special Improvement District funds to the Rahway Arts District and to negotiate the purchase of 52 E. Cher
ry St. from the Rahway Center Partnership.
Construction of the amphitheater is still on schedule to begin this fall, City Engineer James Housten told the Redevelopment Agency last week. Remediation of the soil can begin now that a case manager has been assigned by the state for the city’s Brownfields sites. Most all of the soil has been contaminated with fluids used in dry cleaning, he said, adding that it can either be trucked away or mixed with chemicals on site to remediate.