Open house to be held for first residences at MainStreetNB

By Jennifer Amato
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK – The transit-oriented mixed use development on Route 1 is on the right track.

The Heights at Main Street will be the first section of residences available at the MainStreetNB transit village,  which is located on the former Johnson & Johnson property at 2300 Route 1 north.

Offered by Pulte Homes, the 2,198-2,609-square-foot townhomes will feature two to three  bedrooms, two to four full bathrooms and one to three half baths. The enclave of 158 four-story townhouses will start from the $500,000s.

Each townhome will have a 6-foot deep and 16-foot wide deck off the second floor, which will allow for a connection for a natural gas grill.

“It’s specifically designed in a contemporary, urban-like design to complement the idea of a train station for people commuting into work in Newark or New York,” said Michael Hritz, director of Community Development for North Brunswick.

As part of the North Brunswick Planning Board’s condition of approval, three separate model units will be built: an interior unit with no elevator, an interior unit including an elevator, and an end unit, according to township Planner Tom Vigna.

A VIP information session is scheduled for 11 a.m.-4 p.m. April 9 at the Hyatt Regency, 2 Albany St., New Brunswick. Call 1-866-211-8070 to RSVP, as space is limited. For more information, visit www.pulte.com/mainstreet.

In addition, during the North Brunswick Planning Board meeting on March 8, a Marriott hotel and the Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille were approved for the site.

The Courtyard Marriott will be a six-story hotel with 124 rooms. It will include a bar and bistro in the lobby for the public, as well as an indoor pool and large fitness room for hotel guests, according to Hritz. There will also be a 1,600-square-foot meeting room and a small concessions area.

“We expect this to be the tallest building in North Brunswick,” Hritz said.

The Greene Turtle is popular in Maryland and Virginia, and will be located next to the Marriott on the south side of Grand Avenue near the roundabout.

Besides the indoor seating area with 50 TVs and dozens of craft beers, an outside area with two big screen TVs is also proposed.

“We’re very pleased North Brunswick will be the Greene Turtle’s very first New Jersey location,” Hritz said.

The township also anticipates an application for a freestanding Panera Bread with a drive-thru in the near future, Hritz said.

“We’re happy with the progression of the project. We’re moving on the right course,” said Mayor Francis “Mac” Womack. “It’s going exactly to plan so far.”

“We’re very enthusiastic about all these projects which will be breaking ground in the next several weeks,” Hritz said, noting that the hotel and restaurant could be operational by the fall.

The mixed-use project on the former 212-acre Johnson & Johnson property is being built over two decades, and will ultimately include 450,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, 50,000 square feet of freestanding commercial space, 195,000 square feet of office space and 1,875 residential units.

N.J. Transit plans to build a train station as part of the project at a cost of $30 million. N.J. Transit’s 10-year, $1 billion Northeast Corridor investment program initially included funding for the new North Brunswick station and the mid-line loop — a new flyover track to improve corridor operations and increase operational efficiencies.

The plans also call for a parking lot for a bus station to be used by commuters. The developer is in discussions with Coach USA-Suburban Transit to create a 500- space park-and-ride facility along Commerce Boulevard, with bus service to and from New York City.

“The train station is a high priority of N.J. Transit but there is no funding in place at this time,” said township Planner Tom Vigna, who said the train station is still a component of the project as part of N.J. Transit’s N.J. State Rail Plan.

“Funding is a critical source and necessary component of moving forward,” Hritz added, noting that N.J. Transit has committed or already spent tens of millions of dollars for the design and engineering work, environmental study, preliminary design work and cultural/historical impact studies.

Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].