Not good news for those of you hoping to see a Trader Joe’s downtown anytime soon.
In this report last week, Redevelopment Director and City Administrator Peter Pelissier said, regarding the Town Center project: “[We] want to focus on building residential property. That component may entice retailers [to the area] at a later date — five to eight years down the road.”
When the Town Center originally was proposed in February 2007 (and won a Sm
art Growth Award this year from NJ Future), among the potential anchors mentioned were the likes of Trader Joe’s and Barnes & Noble. The real estate market has since collapsed.
Five to eight years = 2013? 2016? I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid I thought for sure most of us would be driving around in Jetsons cars by then.
Why, in a town where housing- “living”- is such a high priority, do we not feel a need to have a place to shop for food and basic necessities within our community like our neighboring towns? Jobs for our citizens who could walk to work? Everytime I hop in a car to go to Clark or Woodbridge I think, here’s another opportunity for Rahway down the drain.This is a disappointing stance.
does that mean that we now have to give back the award?
Cicada I completely agree with you. Especially since you have to drive either to Woodbridge, Clark or Westfield to get quality food. It seems like the city is trying to capitalize on revenue from residential projects first before even considering the needs of the Rahway residents. I wonder if the tax revenue from a Trader Joe’s were more profitable than that of a 116 unit rental project, if the city would shift it’s focus to retail instead of residence. But then again I’m no economic expert so I could be completely wrong. Do we even know how the city is investing/utilizing gains from any of these projects?
The Rahway Center partnership has commissioned a marketing report on improving downtown retail. They are organizing a meeting on Nov 7to discuss the report. I don’t know any more details yet.
I don’t understand at all either. Rahway residents have been pouring there money into the businesses in other towns. Residents are begging for companies to come. Incredible.
The reson they are dumping there plan is because pilssner is not getting a kick back house in south dakota. the kick backs for the politicians are less if they put in a frachics. house gives better ones from the contractors that are found around the state or that are in the politiceans pockets.
Ditto to everyone’s response. I have to drive to Westfield, Woodbridge and Clark for quality stores. Wegman’s is one of my all time favorites…I would love to have stores of this type in our neighborhood. I mean really we don’t have a decent supermarket downtown. It’s very weird.
dood…we don’t even have a decent downtown.
Anyone know the deal on that small ground floor office space that just sprouted up over the past week just below the Lofts at the corner of Cherry & Irving?Unless there's signage to come, it doesn't appear to be a place that's looking for walk-in business.
And back to the topic at hand…http://tinyurl.com/3p6szpAs nice as this would be to have downtown, I would think from a business standpoint, a Trader Joe's in Rahway today would be a bust until that 2013 target date. I just can't imagine the neighborhood of today rallying around this like they do in Brooklyn, or even the one that recently opened up in Forest Hills, Queens.I too would say show me a lively downtown with some foot traffic (or even short-hop drives) before building anything, nevermind the economic mess that's currently in progress.Till then, nice people that run the East Cherry St. Farmers Market grocery, I shall continue to patronize you to get my impulse and milk purchases to hold me over until I head to Wegman's or A&P in Clark.
Good discussion everybody. Maybe we could at least use codenames or something just to differentiate.I’m with Larry, I don’t think a grocery store is coming until there’s more foot traffic (I believe this is a key point of the city’s master plan), and the economy is not helping. Park Square is still not completed, SkyView is just starting to get occupied, so that leaves River Place and a few other sporadic apartments around downtown that have come online the last few years.Anon, 1:26, Come again? Start making sense, and define “kickbacks” because I doubt highly that you have any evidence for your claims. And try spell check, please.
Rahway reminds me of Culver City where I used to work in the early 00’s. The downtown had great potential and today is a thriving area.http://tinyurl.com/3mtcdqWhen I first moved to LA, it was just on the verge of the turnaround, new restaurants opening up here and there, “art” galleries displaying interesting work (and not all of the same genre like we have here in Rahway.)One thing they never allowed for was boarded up buildings like we have right on Cherry St. With all the money we have to keep the streets clean around here, you would think they would spend a little cash to at least create some decent facades of storefronts on Cherry St. while we wait for other players like “A Little Bit Healthier” to open up shop.
As disappointing as it is, I can understand why the plans for major retail development have been put on hold for the moment (although, 8 years is a long moment). The economy is on the brink of a recession (and maybe worse) and it’s no doubt tough to convince developers to spend money (and for those developers to get loans to do so).I’d rather see things done slowly and done right than have the town rush to just put anything there.That said, before embarking on any new housing development, how about Rahway concentrate on (1) making sure the recently completed housing units get filled (2) making sure the halfway built developments get finished and (3) making sure there are residents to fill those halfway built housing units once they come online.Downtown is a combination between a ghost town and a construction site, and will be until we actually get people living in downtown Rahway. “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t seem to be working (although, I suppose “build it” assumes that at some point the developers actually FINISH the buildings … Park Square has been dragging its feet for months), so let’s focus on coming up with ways to attract positive attention to Rahway and getting more people to move downtown. And that doesn’t have to be announcing plans for yet more rental units.
It’s kind of sad now that they even started putting up steel at the Savoy. At the rate they’re going, I wonder if it’s going down the path of this failure.Probably won’t need as much TNT though… I think I still have some firecrackers left over from the 4th. That should be enough to take down what’s been put up so far. Or maybe we can get the guy that likes to drive his little radio controlled car at 10pm down Lewis street to crash into it.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, a few residents were pressing for the property behind City Hall to be developed as a big supermarket. Just take a look at Pathmark on St. Georges Ave. to see what it may have become. I don't think anyone wants to plunk down a huge asphalt parking lot for shoppers and their cars one block from a train station. St. Georges Ave. or Rt. 1 are far superior for an auto-dependent business like a supermarket.I heard that Clark Twp. was in talks with having TJ's occupy the old A&P site on Westfield Ave., just a few hundred feet from the Rahway border, but with the commercial real estate market in a nationwide tailspin, I doubt that anything is going to move there soon.
"Just take a look at Pathmark on St. Georges Ave. to see what it may have become."Nah – take a look at the awesome Trader Joe's in downtown Westfield, a thriving downtown that serves its residents AND brings in people from out of town to shop.Definitely don't need a Pathmark or an A&P, but TJ's is totally different.If Clark gets one and Rahway doesn't, it will be a total failure of the "Transit Village" hooplah. Villages need to eat too, ya know …
I didn’t want to say I told you so, but I never saw how a Trader Joe’s or Barnes and Noble could be profitable in Rahway anytime soon. The real estate party is over, NYC finance will be a bloodbath in the coming months and years, and unemployed bond traders don’t buy luxury apartments next to train stations in New Jersey. Retailers have sophisticated demographic and economic models which apparently do not portend well for Rahway until the end of Obama’s second term (here’s hoping!).I agree with Matthew, things need to move slowly and get done right. This could be a chance for the city to make a course correction for the people who will actually live in the city, not the never-ending streams of I-Bankers envisioned populating Park Place and Skyview. We’ll see how things go from here.
Frankly, who wants to buy in Rahway? We moved here a few years ago from NYC and although the school system here is a step from NYC public schools, it STINKS. Plain & simple. Had I known just how bad, I would have never moved here. Stores and housing mean nothing if you can’t get families to move here. If you correct the fundamental problem, all the others fall in line. I think the other problem in Rahway is much harder to solve — a lot of small-minded, petty and racist people. It’s a shame, because this could be a great town, but it is a looooonnnnng way from being that.
“I didn’t want to say I told you so, but I never saw how a Trader Joe’s or Barnes and Noble could be profitable in Rahway anytime soon.”Barnes and Noble, and most other stores, I agree with you. But I think that a Trader Joe’s would be profitable in Rahway, because it’s not the normal type of grocery store that relies only on local residents. It’s a mix between a local supermarket that has all the basics you needs, but also has many unique products that people will actually come in from out of town to buy.I don’t see the real estate market in Rahway as putting a damper on TJ’s chance for success, more like just the overall financial crisis would probably keep TJ’s from opening a new store in the area right now. But if TJ’s are serious thinking about opening next door in Clark, Rahway should be doing everything it can to bring them to downtown Rahway instead.
"We moved here a few years ago from NYC and although the school system here is a step from NYC public schools, it STINKS. Plain & simple. Had I known just how bad, I would have never moved here."This is Rahway's biggest problem. You're not the first person who has said this.I don't know exactly what the problems are, but whatever it is, Rahway's schools need to be turned around. Nobody expects Rahway's public school system to rival Millburn's, but there's no excuse for it to be a mini-Trenton either, which its performance and rankings put it much closer to in the stats I've seen.That said, I highly doubt that the problems of Rahway's failing schools can be blamed on "racism". Far from it.
Trader Joe’s in Westfield opened in an already vibrant downtown with foot traffic galore.
“Trader Joe’s in Westfield opened in an already vibrant downtown with foot traffic galore.”Yup. And how many customer’s at TJ’s Westfield walk in from that foot traffic, versus drive in from out of town?The parking lot is always jammed, and I doubt it’s full of people from Westfield all the time. It brings people downtown, they don’t just drop by TJ’s because they already happen to be downtown.That’s what a good anchor store is all about.
Despite the downturn in the economy and the real estate market, I still have confidence in Rahway. Any decent town on the train line to NYC is gonna hold its value. Having an accessible link to one of the best cities in the world in under 35/40mins is an incredible feature. Now Rahway is not a Westfield, but its not an Elizabeth either. It is a safe neighborhood with a growing affulent population. River Place has a waiting list, Skyview is closing 25 units a month (even during these times), and Park Place will be a very popular when completed also. Everything else will fall into place with time. When you look at towns in terms of the best value for your dollar, Rahway is at the top of the list. Whereelse could $350k get you a luxury 2bdrm doorman 1250sqft condo in a safe downtown area with instant access to a 35/40min ride into the city? There’s a condo that fits that description in Westfield selling for $600k!!(and it doesn’t even have a doorman and the train stops at Newark!)As for the schools, I agree, they suck, and its sad. I’m sure its more the fault of the parents and the values they teach their kids than the actual school system but its still sad. I don’t have kids so its not an issue for me now but if one day I do have kids while I’m in Rahway I would probably have to consider a private school or move out. I think the school system will change as the demographics of the town changes and more affulent, educated people move in though. That’s why I think the downtown is so key to the development of the entire town so people are attracted to here. I have no doubt Rahway is a great investment though even in these uneasy times.
Re: Rahway schoolsFrom what I’ve heard, most of the elementary schools are OK (probably because the kids are all fairly well-behaved at that age). But real problems are at the middle school / high school level. So if you live in Rahway and have kids, at least you probably have a few years before you have to make the decision about whether to move or send your kids to private school.Parents are ultimately to blame, but still, there must be some fundamental/systemic problems for the Rahway middle/high school to be as bad as I have heard. No matter how many knucklehead kids you have in your school, if you keep things under control you can maintain a decent school. So perhaps some changes can be made that will improve things before long.
"So if you live in Rahway and have kids, at least you probably have a few years before you have to make the decision about whether to move or send your kids to private school."This is my dilemma. My son is in 2nd grade at Roosevelt and is doing well enough. I recently enrolled him at CCD at St. John's in Linden (my old grade school) and I have to say, they have it beat ALL over Roosevelt for community oriented, tight-knit, personal learning environments and that trickles down so that the behavioral lessons learned don't only come from the parents, but the learning environment as well. This is important. A parent can teach their children on the home level, but if the social level counteracts all of that, it will certainly have an impact, no matter how hard the parents try.As far as grocery stores in our hometown- why should we have to wait for foot traffic DOWNTOWN when there is a full city of citizens from every corner who would rather spend their energy and money in their own town. Hey, why can't we be playaz in the grocery selection of the area? I believe this is a perfect example of "build it and they will come". But for goodness sake, build something nice and unique, or you'll never give our neighboring towns a desire to spend their money here as we've had to do all along. People LOVE new, quality food stores. Why in the world do I drive to Wegman's in Woodbridge or Trader Joe's in Westfield, or the A&P in Clark- spending my scarce time and cash on gas- when I could easily pop over to the (dreaded) Pathmark? Because they are great. And I'm willing to bet it would be a selling perk for all these yet-to-be-completed residences: "Gee, a food store I can walk to? Excellent!"
Scott,If you are a member of the Silcon team, shame on you for not even trying to make your marketing sound less like, well, marketing.If you are just Joe Sixpack and this is what you truly believe, you really need to stop drinking the Kool Aid.WAMU failed! It filed Chapter 11. Is your understanding of economics so bad that you don’t understand the implications? We are in the 1st inning of this mess.At best you sound like a Silcon Sales Rep (“Any decent town on the train line to NYC is gonna hold its value.”…. “Having an accessible link to one of the best cities in the world in under 35/40mins is an incredible feature.”…….”Skyview is closing 25 units a month”)At worst you sound naive (…growing affulent population, Everything else will fall into place with time….I have no doubt Rahway is a great investment though even in these uneasy times.”)I am not trying to pick on you Scotty but you have to be smoking a very big pipe filled with crack if you honestly believe what you are saying.Show me the condos in Westfield that are closing, CLOSING at the prices you quote. Not from 6 months ago. NOW! There are none.There are no great investments right now. Not one. Not even a T-Bill.Go to this site http://www.propertymaps.com/and type in 07065 and look at the foreclosure map. Banks are auctioning off properties in downtown Rahway. No one is thinking “wow, I can live in Rahway for just $350k, sweet.” Well, no one except you.I live here, I don’t want to see any more steel structures standing around growing weeds (Savoy), I want more restaurants, new condos, Trader Joes/Whole Foods, better schools, and I would like one million swiss francs while I am at it. I think the most we can hope for is they figure out a way to finish that Savoy project, rent out the Skyview units that are not going to sell anytime soon, add a few more restaurants to our downtown mix and pray we make it through the next year without incident.
“A parent can teach their children on the home level, but if the social level counteracts all of that, it will certainly have an impact, no matter how hard the parents try.”Very true. I don’t have any school-age kids yet, but it’s something that I have to consider when it comes to Rahway. When I was a kid, I went to public schools, and I’m inclined to send my kids to public school as well. But especially in the middle/high school, when violence/intimidation become more of a factor, I’m not sure how I would deal with Rahway’s public schools at this point. I have no tolerance for the mollycoddling of knuckleheads that goes on in too many public schools because nobody knows what to do with them.I’d probably send my kids to elementary school in Rahway, and then if things haven’t improved by the time they reach middle school age, I’d consider private school (or moving). But if Rahway wants to keep rising, it needs to make improving its public school system a priority.”Why in the world do I drive to Wegman’s in Woodbridge or Trader Joe’s in Westfield … Because they are great.”Exactly! Give people a reason to come to Rahway. And good point – there are plenty of people in Rahway already, forget about the new downtown for a minute – and they would surely shop at a good grocery store in town.
“I think the most we can hope for is they figure out a way to finish that Savoy project, rent out the Skyview units that are not going to sell anytime soon, add a few more restaurants to our downtown mix and pray we make it through the next year without incident.”I think you’re right, and I’ll add finishing the Park Square rentals to that list.
Realist, I appreciate the debate but I can do without the insults. I do not represent Skyview in anyway. But it’s not just Skyview, I think Rahway is a great investment for all types of businesses. The world is not going to end. The economy will eventually recover and things will improve. But regardless, you must agree that Rahway is a great value compared to other commuter towns so close to NYC, which was the point I was making. Afterall, of all your cut and paste attacks on me, I didn’t see you respond to that claim. But the fact you live in Rahway probably already proves that you agree.
Realist – What does pointing to some website with foreclosures on it mean anyway? Is that a lot? Maybe there have always been a good amount of foreclosues in Rahway, after all the old population has been more poorer anyway. There’s numerous articles out there that state NJ commuter towns have held up in value compared to other towns. If you go to this website (http://www.city-data.com/city/Rahway-New-Jersey.html) you will see a chart detailing the history of real estate sales here. Although the number of sales has slowed down you’ll see the value of sales has held up.
Hooters man,thats what the downtown needs.
Who are the builders using as their “preferred title agent”. In their contracts, do they suggest where you might obtain a title search? I know there is language in the Carriage City contracts which states that Camelot Title has the back title. What other developer are using Camelot Title?
There are roughly 10,000 residential units in Rahway. If 68 in foreclosure, as the website you referenced suggests, that means that less then 1% of homes in Rahway are in foreclosure. That doesn’t sound too bad considering. And it’s probably around 30 in any given year anyway.
Scott and all the anonymous’s,You are all right. Rahway is awesome. I don’t think its the next Hoboken, I think its gonna be the next New York City! I am going to see if Skyview has any units left.
Foreclosure info is deliberately hard to obtain. I found other sites that listed as many as 150 Rahway properties under foreclosure. Who knows what the real number is. So, Anon 12:53, you think foreclosures aren’t a big deal? Let’s make it an even 100 foreclosure listings. 10,000 dwellings for 07065 sounds reasonable. Typically the MLS has 300 properties listed for 07065. In previous years 30 foreclosures for 300 listings isn’t too bad, 1 foreclosure for every 10 listings – I suppose that’s just life in a blue-collar town. Now we’re at 1 foreclosure for every 3 listings, and it’s going to get worse once the Alt-A loans reset. The foreclosure stats have no impact on people who are not trying to sell, so your measure of foreclosures as a percentage of dwelling is off the mark. The foreclosure stats will affect those who are trying to sell since large numbers of distressed sales exert downward pressure on asking prices – why pay full 2005 bubble price when I can get something for pennies on the dollar? Not that anyone can get a mortgage anyway with banks evaporating daily, but you get the idea.
Realist/NCR – No you are all correct. The world is coming to an end, start building your ark.
scott,…wait a minute. Are you trying to use reverse psychology on me? Man, that’s low.I don’t think I suggested the end of the world was near (though you would be well advised to start collecting food, guns and ammo and physical metals rather than building an ark… we are still a few decades away from a Global Warming crisis situation.)Scott, do you live in downtown Rahway or just Rahway in general?