RARITAN BOROUGH – The Borough Council has introduced a redevelopment plan for the Raritan Mall that may continue the apartment construction boom in the heart of Somerset County.The conditional redeveloper of the 12.2-acre property, Raritan Mall LLC, of Bayonne, wants to build 276 residential apartments, 42 of which will be affordable, and 31,000 square feet of retail space on the 12.2-acre property at the corner of Orlando Drive and Route 206. The property once housed a supermarket, a pharmacy, a bank, a video store and other small stores and restaurants, including Subway.
The proposal, as posted on a real estate site, envisions the apartments in a L-shape building where the shopping center was located with the proposed retail space by the highway where the vacant bank and battery store are.
Raritan Mall LLC has agreed to pay $350,000 for improvements to Orlando Drive. The developer has also agreed to work with the borough and Somerset County to facilitate the transfer of Orlando Drive to Somerset County.
Raritan Mall LLC has also agreed to remediate and perform the environmental cleanup of the property that was once a landfill.
The redevelopmert plan, prepared by Joseph A. Brosnan of Van Cleef Engineering Associates, specifies that at least 30% of the residences be one-bedroom apartments and no more than 70% of the residences be two-bedroom apartments. The minimum sizes of the residences should be 625 square feet feet for a studio, 720 square feet for a one-bedroom unit and 1,075 square feet for a two-bedroom unit.
Introduction of the redevelopment plan, which sets out the zoning standards for the property, and the designation of a conditional redeveloper are some of the initial steps in the long-awaited revitalization of the property.
A 2022 study concluded that the property met five of the criteria under state law to be eligible for redevelopment.
The shopping center lost its primary tenant in 2016 when the Stop & Shop supermarket chose not to renew its lease. The study says that no new tenant has been found for the space “despite efforts from the municipality to attract a suitable replacement.”
Since that time, most of the 15 units in the main L-shaped building and three units in a smaller building on the highway are vacant or “have fallen into a state of disrepair,” the report states.
The facade on the bigger building, according to the report, has “become exceptionally decrepit with vandalism, graffiti, bird excrement, broken glass, exposed nails and mold prevalent almost everywhere.”
“The excess bird excrement is unsanitary and unpleasant and certainly needs to be remedied,” the report states.
Sidewalks in the shopping center have not been maintained and the foundations around the building are “compromised.”
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The report also found that the parking lot has sections that have caved in, possibly as a result of the landfill that the shopping center was built upon.
Before any new construction or redevelopment, the report recommends that the subterranean conditions of the landfill “should be assessed in great detail.”
The property is entirely within a flood hazard area.
Raritan Mall LLC purchased the property in October 2020 for $5.6 million from Raritan Center SPE Owner, part of the Fortress Investment Group in Manhattan.
Fortress acquired the property when a previous owner, RAIT Financial Trust, of Philadelphia, went bankrupt and sold its assets to Fortress.
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The borough’s Planning Board is also considering final site plan approval for another redevelopment project next to the northeast corner of the Raritan Mall that proposes 75 apartments in a four-story building.
Raritan Crossing LLC, part of Larken Associates of Branchburg, wants to demolish the former Granetz building that now houses Retro Fitness, Dollar Tree and Hunterdon Health Urgent Care and construct the new building for the apartments and underground parking.
The proposal has received preliminary site plan approval, but board members had expressed concerns about parking, prompting Raritan Crossing LLC to work with Raritan Mall LLC to use 26 sparking paces in its lot for overflow and employee parking. An easement agreement has been reached between the two property owners.
The Raritan Mall also backs on the The Lena, a 224-unit apartment building.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
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