METUCHEN — The vacancy rate in the downtown Metuchen business district has dipped below 10 percent for the first time in decades.
“We are at eight percent presently,” Margaret Inglese, a property owner on Main Street, announced during the Main Street Minute she presented, updating the Borough Council on the Metuchen Downtown Alliance at the council meeting on Feb. 5.
The downtown district area, which consists of only commercial businesses and/or commercial businesses with residential units, includes the Metuchen SportsPlex on Durham Avenue down Middlesex Avenue with the new development to Main Street and Amboy Avenue.
According to the MDA’s 2017 annual report, there was only 79,203 square feet of available space downtown at the end of 2017.
The square footage of available space has since reduced, Inglese said, with the recent lease at 406 Main St. by The Scottish Dog, a pet food and accessory store expected to open March 1.
In 2017, the downtown district area saw 33 business openings and seven business expansions.
The MDA’s business mix management team partnered with the innovation and family-friendly team to diversify the business district. The teams completed an analysis working with a leading national expert to identify business clusters and what is best to introduce in the downtown area that the market and consumers will support.
Also in the Main Street Minute report, Inglese mentioned the partnership with Metuchen High School through an entrepreneurship educator, Score Learning on Main Street and other partners to provide additional technical assistance to businesses.
“It’s just great to get the high school students involved and community efforts [involved],” she said.
The Metuchen Downtown Alliance is a non-profit public-private partnership, led by Executive Director Isaac Kremer, that manages and markets the downtown for the borough, working with a volunteer board and businesses to develop a strategic plan identifying new retail and other businesses to recruit for Metuchen and connect businesses with landlords that have vacancies.