FROM THE REPORTER, SOMERSET (NJN Publishing)
Thursday, March 30, 2006
By AMY S. BOBROWSKI
Staff Writer
SOMERVILLE -- The Borough Council last week approved a resolution to hire a parking consultant to manage the parking components of the Somerville Towne Center redevelopment project.
The project, which will transform the near-vacant Downtown Somerville Shopping Center into a mixed-use complex, is slated to break ground in May.
Plans for the project include two parking decks as well as surface level parking areas which will serve residents of the complex and shoppers.
"We're going to have a lot of parking," Councilman Sean Decker said. "We're going to need someone to manage that."
During last week's meeting, the council hired Gerard Giosa, principal of Level G Associates, LLc to provide the consulting services. The contract shall not exceed $15,000 and Giosa's fees will be paid from an escrow account put up by JSM at Somerville, the project's developer.
"We have such a critical need for parking in the downtown," Mayor Brian Gallagher said. "He (the consultant) will put together a parking plan. We need to have a plan in place prior to construction."
The $66 million redevelopment project calls for 136,000 square feet of retail space, 73,000 square feet of office space, about 265 luxury residential units and two parking garages.
Last year, Pathmark, the center's largest and oldest tenant filed lawsuits against the borough and the developer, claiming the redevelopment project violates its lease agreement. Pathmark claimed that the development would also take a tremendous amount of parking space away from the supermarket.
As part of a settlement agreement reached in November, the borough agreed to complete a parking plan before construction started on building six -- a retail space to be located on the corner of Davenport Street and Veterans Memorial Drive.
"After the other buildings are built and occupied, we'll study the parking needs and to see if there's ample space to service building six," Decker said in a previous interview. "If there is, we'll build it. If there's not, we won't."