Category Archives: City Council

Arts District, City Council, Downtown

Council approves Hamilton Street arts projects

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With at least one proponent invoking the mythical tale of Prometheus, more than a dozen speakers, including labor union representatives, artists and school officials, last night spoke in favor of borrowing $8.5 million for construction of the Hamilton Street arts projects. Two residents questioned the cost and benefit to city taxpayers.

The City Council last night unanimously approved an $8.5-million bond ordinance to build a 1,100-seat amphitheater (above) at the former Hamilton Laundry site and to renovate the Bell Building (below) to house a black box theater. One speaker after the next noted that the amphitheater project is part of the city’s continuing investment in the Arts District and the overall vision for the arts to drive redevelopment, remaking the city as a destination. (Here’s The Star-Ledger‘s take on last night’s meeting.)

The council last night also unanimously approved ordinances to shift management of the Special Improvement District funds to the Rahway Arts District and to negotiate the purchase of 52 E. Cherry St. from the Rahway Center Partnership.

Construction of the amphitheater is still on schedule to begin this fall, City Engineer James Housten told the Redevelopment Agency last week. Remediation of the soil can begin now that a case manager has been assigned by the state for the city’s Brownfields sites. Most all of the soil has been contaminated with fluids used in dry cleaning, he said, adding that it can either be trucked away or mixed with chemicals on site to remediate.

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City Council

Final approval for amphitheater funding Monday

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The City Council is scheduled to vote next Monday night to borrow $8.5 million for three projects planned within the city’s Arts District. A public hearing is scheduled during the council’s regular meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. (Click on the image above to enlarge to full screen.)

The ordinance would cover the cost of construction of the 1,000-seat amphitheater; renovation of the Bell Building for a 200-seat black box theater; acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building, and acquisition of related arts equipment. The city already has bonded about $3 million for earlier site work and acquisitions, including $2 million to purchase the former Hamilton Laundry building for the amphitheater. The gas building is eyed for a co-operative gallery space, and an adjacent property for artist housing. “It will add a true presence of artists living and working in town,” said Mayor James Kennedy.

The Hamilton Street arts projects aim to become self-sustaining, between naming rights and fee- and non-fee based programming, to pay off the debt, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. They will feature a different type and level of programming than the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), the mayor said.

One of the four 2-1/2 story homes between the Bell Building and former Hamilton Laundry site is scheduled to be demolished this spring. Ultimately, the four remaining homes will be acquired and razed to provide more parking for the area, according to Kennedy, ideally within two years.

The site is ideally tailored by the river for an amphitheater, according to Michael Farewell of Princeton-based Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects. “It’s hard to find a better site for an amphitheater,” he said during a presentation to the Redevelopment Agency last month. The project will include stabilizing the bank in the natural curve of the river. The structure, he said, must be designed to withstand floods as well as being exposed to the elements while the lower area of the amphitheater will have removable seating. The only part of the site not within the flood plain is the Bell Building itself, according to City Engineer James Housten

Housten said remediation should take place over the next four to six months. The city, he added, already has a $500,000 state grant for investigation and remediation will be done through the state Brownfield Development Area funding.

If the UCPAC is ever going to be successful, the city must be able to accommodate 800 to 1,000 people with a 400- to 500-space parking deck closer to the arts center, the mayor said. The city is looking at two potential sites for a parking structure: the corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Main Street and the Cambridge Court Apartments on Main Street.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the council is scheduled to give final approval on an ordinance that would shift management of the Special Improvement District from the Rahway Center Partnership to the Arts District board.

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Arts District, City Council, Downtown

Arts District board to take over SID management

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The City Council will vote next month to shift management of the downtown Special Improvement District (SID) to the Rahway Arts District, a precursor to a revamped Rahway Center Partnership. The ordinance, introduced at the council’s Feb. 8 regular meeting, also would expand the SID to include the Arts District, namely the Hamilton Street arts projects.

The arts district would receive and oversee the funds collected through the SID’s special assessment. The SID, created by the city in 1993, generates about $140,000 annually from 165 commercial properties in the downtown area. Commercial property owners today pay roughly an additional 7 percent to the SID, beyond regular property taxes, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. For example, a commercial property owner paying about $10,000 annually in property taxes would pay another $700 to the SID.

SIDs were created in New Jersey in the mid-1980s as financing tools by local businesses to provide services as part of a revitalization downtown plan. Commercial property owners “organize and assess themselves in order to pay for the services that are needed.” Cities have used it for things like security, sanitation, graffiti removal, facade/streetscape improvements, marketing and special events.

The future of the Partnership itself is up in the air, with an almost certain transformation in the coming months. Among the options that will be examined, according to Pelissier, is consolidating the Partnership with the Parking Authority. The city will compare the operational costs of both entities and see what’s necessary. The Partnership, he added, could still host its major fundraisers and special events, such as Hot Rods and Harleys, The Taste and a wine tasting event.

SID money would provide funding for programming at the proposed Hamilton Street amphitheater and black box theater, and in general, could be used to “develop activities and programs to encourage the long-term success of the arts community in the Rahway Arts District,” according to the ordinance. The arts district board is made up of downtown stakeholders, including city officials, artists, restaurant owners and a developer, Pelissier said.

The ordinance will come up for a public hearing and final adoption at the March 8 City Council meeting.

*** FULL DISCLOSURE *** I was appointed last month to a three-year term as an “honorary member” of the Rahway Arts District Board of Trustees. Honorary members do not vote and do not have the same obligations as other board members; all are unpaid. I expect to attend meetings whenever possible as a means to inform the community, as my blog has always aimed to do.

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City Council

City moves to buy Beverage Shop building

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The City Council last week introduced an ordinance to purchase the vacant Beverage Shop building from the Rahway Center Partnership (RCP) after Dornoch defaulted on its agreement to acquire it. A public hearing and final approval is scheduled at the council’s regular meeting on March 8.

The Partnership bought the one-story structure at 52 E. Cherry St., (Block 318, Lot 18) in April 2001 for $130,000, and had an agreement in July 2006 to sell it to Dornoch. The property was to be part of the developer’s downtown plans and RCP, as I understand it, acquired it at the time as a way to control problem properties/tenants, with the intention of it becoming part of the larger plan. In late 2007, Dornoch presented plans to the Planning Board to knock down several East Cherry Street properties — including The Beverage Shop — and build a new four-story structure as part of what’s sometimes referred to as Dornoch II 1/2.

Dornoch, which also planned two other projects that have since stalled — The Savoy and The Westbury — has defaulted on its agreement and payments of almost $8,000 to RCP. Annual property taxes on the building are more than $6,700, according to property records, which haven’t been paid for the last two quarters, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

The City Council also approved a contract with Prime Appraisal to appraise the property and the ordinance opens the door for negotiations. The building has been vacant for a few years and its condition is unclear, Pelissier said. The city plans to assume the agreement with Dornoch, put a lien on the property and likely list it for sale.

In addition to Dornoch defaulting on its agreement, the Partnership lost funding from Merck and NJ Transit and faces some major structural changes in its future which will be detailed in the next post.

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City Council

City purchases $90k piano for conservatory

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The City Council on Monday night approved $90,000 for the purchase of a handmade Italian piano as part of the plan to establish the Klavierhause Piano Conservatory. The council entered into a contract with Piano Culture Institutional Consultants at Klavierhaus “for the purchase of a Fazioli Pianoforti F-228 (photo below) to enhance the Arts District Expansion Project.”

The piano retails for $140,000, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier, but the city will pay $90,000, with “another source outside of the municipal tax base” that will contribute $5,000. The piano will be on loan to the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) and can be moved for performances at the planned amphitheater as well as the arts center.

The bank building adjacent to UCPAC (on the corner of Coach Street) will be retrofitted to house the Klavierhaus Piano Conservatory, which will offer a variety of recitals, lessons, performances and more “with special emphasis given to young people.” The Edge art gallery nearby is being eyed for a satellite sales office for Klavier, where it could feature console pianos, according to Mayor James Kennedy.

A world-class piano brings an interesting component of a respectable art form, Kennedy said, and it shows that city is serious about the arts, especially to funders like the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

The piano will attract internationally renowned pianists that have chosen Fazioli pianos in concert halls, conservatories, theaters and recording studios to perform and record their performances for the public to attend, according to Pelissier. “This is one component that will be a tremendous asset for the UCPAC to provide for and make Rahway a distinct destination of the arts,” he said.

A ceremony to celebrate the piano’s arrival will be Sunday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m. at the UPCAC Studio Theatre, featuring Russian-born pianist Vassily Primakov.

Asked how a $90,000 purchase for a piano could be justified as property taxes rise, Pelissier described it as an investment in the arts district and the city’s overall redevelopment plans, not unlike the county’s $6-million purchase and renovation of UCPAC, construction of the library and recreation center, and renovation of Train Station Plaza.

“Municipalities that have concert halls have testified that the monies that come in to their respective towns and cities are in the millions resulting from parking fees, spending in restaurants, etc.,” Pelissier said. “In as much, as redevelopment has slowed down with the exception of a few projects, the arts initiatives set forth by the mayor will not only attract people to Rahway, it will continue to attract redevelopers to our city when the economic market returns. Our city will be ready.”

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City Council

Plans for Hamilton Street arts projects to be presented to City Council Monday night

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The City Council will get a presentation Monday night on the plans for the Hamilton Street arts projects. A similar presentation was made to the Redevelopment Agency at its meeting tonight.

The governing body is scheduled to introduce an $8.5-million bond ordinance Monday for construction of an amphitheater at the former Hamilton Laundry site (photo, right), and renovation of the former Bell Telephone Building into a dance studio and black box theater. The ordinance also would cover funding for the future acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building at the corner of Hamilton Street and Central Avenue, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

The bond ordinance will supplement $3 million already borrowed for work related to the Hamilton Street projects. A follow-up presentation will take place during the public hearing and final adoption of the bond ordinance, scheduled for the City Council’s March 8 regular meeting. Pelissier said the design option that was selected was the most expensive, but meetings with the Rahway Arts District board will continue and alternatives can be considered. “We need to take a look and see that we need what was requested,” he said.

The amphitheater will seat between 1,000 and 1,300, and the black box theater about 22o. The plan is to go out to bid this summer and award contracts by September. Construction would begin in October and last about nine months, allowing for operation by sometime in summer 2011.

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City Council

New commissioner for Redevelopment Agency

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The City Council approved the mayor’s appointment of a new commissioner to the Redevelopment Agency during its meeting earlier this month.

Matt Dobrowloski will fill the seat vacated by Carlos Garay, who announced at the December Redevelopment Agency meeting that he’d be concluding his term as commissioner, citing personal reasons. A local Realtor, Dobrowloski is chairman of The Taste of Spring and resigned his seat from the Parking Authority, where he was replaced by Armondo Sanchez. City Council approved both mayoral appointments at its regular meeting on Jan. 11.

Redevelopment commissioners are unpaid and serve five-year terms, appointed by the mayor with approval by City Council. Other commissioners currently on the board include William Rack, chairman; Courtney Clarke, vice chairman; Councilwoman Nancy Saliga; James Farrell; Timothy Nash, and Anthony Diege.

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City Council

Contract awarded for razing Hamilton St. home

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The City Council awarded a demolition contract for the Hamilton Street house that will be razed as part of the amphitheater project.

The contract, awarded at the Jan. 11 meeting, went to the lowest responsible bidder, Frank Lurch Demolition Co. of Avon By the Sea, for $34,999. The two-story, multi-family home was acquired by the Redevelopment Agency for $340,000, closing in March.

Architects are scheduled to present the final draft of plans this week to the Rahway Arts District advisory board. Discussion will include costs associated with amphitheater construction and design of the black box theater, slated for the former Bell Building, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Mayor James Kennedy appointed me to a three-year term as an honorary member of the Rahway Arts District Board of Trustees. Honorary members do not vote and do not have the same obligations as other board members, and all are unpaid. I expect to attend meetings whenever possible as a means to keep the community informed.

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