FROM THE STAR-LEDGER
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
BY KASI ADDISON
Star-Ledger Staff
To jump-start its long-delayed $160 million downtown redevelopment, the Bloomfield Township Council agreed last night to hold off on plans to build a 197-unit condominium complex behind the train station.
The condos were supposed to be constructed on a Washington Street property that is at the center of an eminent-domain legal battle between the township and the owners that has brought the redevelopment project to a standstill.
Last night, the council gave developer Forest City Bloomfield the green light to build low- and high- rise apartment buildings, stores, and a Stop & Shop supermarket elsewhere in the 13.5-acre redevelopment zone, but removed the contested property along with a strip of stores and eateries on the eastern side of Bloomfield Ave nue.
"We were stalled at this point and it is in our best interest to move forward. It breaks the log jam," said Councilman Ray Tam borini.
Under the terms of the agreement, the town will purchase properties bounded by Washington Street, Lackawanna Plaza and Glenwood and Bloomfield avenues and hand them over to Forest City, which will raze the buildings and start construction. The parking deck included in the plan will be built by the township Parking Authority.
"Buy and raze. We want to buy, close on it and knock it down the next day," said Mayor Raymond McCarthy.
A parking deck, stores, restau rants, the grocery store, and condos were among the changes residents were told to expect when the initial redevelopment agreement was signed in December 2003.
Just as the project seemed to gather steam, a group of business and land owners challenged the town's right to take their property though eminent domain, a practice that allows government to take private land for public use.
Though the town successfully fought two earlier lawsuits by members of the group, Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello later decided that the redevelopment process was flawed and the town hadn't proven the 110 Washington St. property was blighted and therefore couldn't condemn it. While the town waited to appeal the decision, Toll Brothers Inc., the company that partnered with Forest City to build the condo complex, backed out.
Two weeks ago, Bloomfield asked an appellate court to overturn the ruling. A decision may take months.
Costello's decision is one reason Alessandro Lardieri isn't wor ried about the town's latest at tempt to redevelop his property on Farrand Street and Bloomfield Avenue. He was among a group of business owners who filed lawsuits to stop the redevelopment plan.
"Costello said the redevelopment plan was flawed," he said. "(Bloomfield) will have the same issues and problems when they come after me."
The judge's ruling pertains only to 110 Washington St., said Catherine Tamasik, Bloomfield's redevelopment attorney. If the town attempts to condemn another parcel and the owner fights it, that case will be debated independently in court, she said.
As for the condo complex, the owners of the Washington Street property hope to develop it themselves, said James Turteltaub, a lawyer for the company 110 Washington Associates.
The project isn't dead, but it's no longer a priority and another developer eventually will be appointed, McCarthy said.