METUCHEN — Borough officials hope that tweaks to the preliminary redevelopment plan for the Pearl Street parking lot will spark economic and aesthetic growth in the area.
The shift of the proposed borough plaza would further benefit businesses along Main Street and across Route 27 while offering residents a larger public space than initially expected, Borough Planner Jim Constantine said during the May 20 meeting of the Metuchen Borough Council.
“Hopefully that will help induce enhancements and improvements on some of the surrounding properties — not just across the street, but a block or two away,” Constantine said.
By moving the plaza from a site near Center Street to the corner of Pearl and New streets, the size of the retail center and open space haven would visibly increase by about 25 percent, he said.
The establishment of an anchor business on Main Street near the proposed plaza would further draw commuters from the train station, Constantine said.
Once lured to the space, residents would find about 15,000 square feet of retail space, in addition to shops situated west of the area, he said.
Constantine said officials plan to reduce the height of the five-story parking garage to 65 feet. In turn, other buildings on the site will receive a boost in elevation, he said.
“Some of the mass has been moved around in the site,” Constantine said, adding that the buildings will remain the tallest in the downtown area.
Metuchen recently received a $1.1 million open space grant for the initiative from Middlesex County, according to Mayor Thomas Vahalla. He said the cash will act as another engine to further push the project forward.
Unlike many open space grants that are used to preserve farms and other less-traveled lands, this money will aid an untold number of people, Vahalla said.
“The amount of people who are going to be walking on some of those farms, I think, is a lot less than the amount of people who will be using this town center plaza,” Vahalla said. “It will be put to real good use.”
Borough officials have their eyes set on a greater influx of money from state and federal entities in the future, Constantine said.
“One of the underlying foundations for success for redevelopment is when you start to have multiple levels of government helping to partner with the project versus trying to do everything locally or everything via a developer contribution,” he said.
Such partnerships, Constantine said, would help borough leaders meet one of the premier goals of the project — helping municipal taxpayers.
Metuchen’s parking authority has teamed up with developer Woodmont Properties to tackle the Pearl Street project, which is slated to include 16,000 square feet of retail space and 249 residential rental units.