A longstanding vision for an arts corridor from Woodbridge to Rahway is becoming a bit clearer.
The plan is to tie together the arts village planned for the former General Dynamics site in Avenel, downtown Woodbridge and the existing arts-oriented district in downtown Rahway — all of which are located along an NJ Transit rail line.
To bring that vision to life, Woodbridge officials are using recommendations from a recently commissioned study.
“We want to have more of a regional approach to the arts,” Mayor John McCormac said.
A grant from the state’s Together North Jersey Foundation allowed the township to hire EE&K, a Perkins Eastman company, to conduct a study into the feasibility of the undertaking and provide recommendations.
Completed a couple months ago, the study made a number of suggestions, one of which is to make sure that new arts-related developments in town are unique to the area, according to McCormac.
“The theory is — if Rahway has something, why should we duplicate it?” he said.
For example, the planned Station Village at Avenel is slated to include a 10,000-square-foot arts center. Instead of providing the same offerings that one could find at the Theatre at Woodbridge Middle School, the Woodbridge Artisan Guild or theaters in Rahway, officials will seek to fill an unmet need.
“We want to be different,” McCormac said.
John Hagerty, spokesman for the township, said the performance and artists’ spaces at the Station Village at Avenel have yet to be defined in terms of what will take place there, but some loose plans are in place.
“It’s going to more small performances, working artists,” he said. “That space is not going to be available for well over a year.”
Both Hagerty and McCormac touted the recent kickoff of painting classes for children and adults at the Woodbridge Artisan Guild on Main Street. Hagerty said 22 people showed up for the first class, which had not been publicized.
In addition, pottery classes have drawn crowds after the guild followed EE&K’s recommendation to get a kiln, McCormac said.
“It’s been packed,” he said.
While the new arts programs gain traction, officials are looking at the Station Village at Avenel as a springboard toward the larger vision for the arts corridor.
Located near the Avenel train station, the development on the site of the former General Dynamics plant is also slated to include 500 residential units, 25,000 square feet of retail space, a 30,000-square-foot village green and 20,000-square-foot pocket park.
According to Hagerty, the development should attract tenants and visitors who gravitate to an arts-oriented environment.
“The Avenel arts village is going to be … a gathering point for different types of artists,” he said.
Hagerty said the recent study provides strategies for linking the arts village with downtown Woodbridge and Rahway — “not just from a physical standpoint but from a marketing standpoint, an advertising standpoint and an artisan standpoint.”
“The idea is to brand them together,” McCormac said of the three locations.
While that goal is clear, concrete steps for going forward remain to be sculpted. As with most things, money is a major consideration.
“The next step is to talk to the county,” McCormac said, adding that he met with the county administrator recently to find out what types of grants will be available in the upcoming cycle. “Until we find out what’s available, we can’t decide what our approach will be.”
The mayor said the county will announce its grant criteria within the next week or two, and the township’s plans will depend on what funding can be secured.