Plans changed after market for commercial rentals dried up
LINWOOD — A 23-unit age-targeted townhouse complex is being planned for the Bloom property in Linwood.
Like a missing tooth, the vacant site is between two medical office buildings on the northwest side of Route 9, across from the end of Seaview Avenue, and lacks curbs and sidewalks.
Councilman Eric Ford, who oversees planning, engineering and development, called it “truly one of the only underutilized properties in the city.”
City Council introduced an ordinance Feb. 9 amending an existing redevelopment agreement for the site that included the Cornerstone Commerce Center property.
The amendment would allow Charter Tech Annex LLC to “provide additional commercial and residential ratables to the city and further the completion of certain public improvements.”
Ford said while the commercial development previously planned for the site would have been ideal, this project would be strictly residential but geared toward older adults.
“As a town, we are looking for ways to generate revenue to keep our tax rate low. One way to do that is through new development. From our standpoint, we’re looking at smart-growth opportunities, commercial and residential. If it can’t be commercial, we aim for residential that has little to no impact on the school system,” Ford said.
Scarborough Properties, which owns the site and the redevelopment agency, had approvals for two office buildings and was prepared to move forward in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ford said.
“The pandemic has decimated the office market. Young accountants working for the largest firms in the country are 100 percent virtual,” Ford said, noting the Cornerstone Commerce Center just down the street is one of the largest commercial assets in the city and is only about 45 percent full.
He said Scarborough Properties went as far as acquiring building permits and connecting water and sewer to the site before realizing the office market was “absolutely gone.”
Ford said after the former project became untenable, Sean Scarborough approached the city through the Development Review Committee created last year.
The group of planning and engineering professional meets at a designated time so potential developers, or private homeowners, can arrange to informally discuss their ideas before moving forward with their plans.
“Typically, folks would come in front of the Planning Board not having the experience and it would bog down our planning professionals through the process,” Ford said.
The review committee also could save applicants time and money by instructing them on the planning and zoning restrictions and what the city is generally comfortable with approving.
Ford said it has been extremely successful.
“It provides people the opportunity to come in a very relaxed setting to get guidance on specific projects,” he said.
Ford said creating a redevelopment plan gives the city “a lot of opportunity to direct the redeveloper to design the project in a manner that Linwood would like to see.”
The proposal calls for a gated community of nearly two dozen townhomes with first-floor master suites and other amenities geared toward an older demographic.
Ford said the age-targeted buyer is a consumer group that is very underserved.
“That buyer who has sold their home in Linwood, has family in Linwood and would like to stay in this ZIP code to see their grandchildren grow,” he offered as an example.
Development of the property would also have public safety benefits.
“The nice thing that they’re proposing is a sidewalk the length of the property,” Ford said. “We are constantly improving our trail system through town, connecting neighborhoods to the bike path. With the extension to the Exchange, a lighted crosswalk at West Avenue, this will finish off Route 9.”
It would effectively fill in the gap like a dental bridge.
The property is highly visible on the main north-south corridor and in the same area as some of the city’s most problematic sites. Not far to the north is a defunct gas station. The tanks were removed years ago and no business is done on the site but it appears as if someone lives upstairs.
“We are hoping whoever owns the gas station has future thoughts of redevelopment,” Ford said.
There’s also the former 7-Eleven at Patcong Avenue, which has sat vacant for a lengthy period. Ford said he believes the property has been sold and is “anxious to see who has purchased that.”
He said he hopes to see them at the Redevelopment Review Committee.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff