Developer and borough lay out Track A vision to stitch Raritan Avenue frontage in Highland Park

Elsie Foster opened the public meeting and invited residents to offer feedback on comment cards as the borough and its development partners unveiled a conceptual design for Tract A along Raritan Avenue.

Council member Matt Hail, chair of the borough’s Economic Development Committee, said the evening was intended to share a vision and gather input rather than present a finished plan: “It’s not a finished product. … we’re hoping we’re going to get your feedback,” he said.

Borough staff member Terry summarized two decades of planning that led to the current proposal, citing the 2003 master plan, a 2005 area-in-need and redevelopment designation, later boroughwide redevelopment tools and the 2021 downtown redevelopment plan (amended in 2024). Terry said the borough has been buying parcels since 2019 and using acquisition funds and grant-supported environmental studies to assemble the nine lots that comprise Tract A.

Terry warned that environmental conditions remain an active part of the project. He said the former dry-cleaner parcel at 125 Raritan has begun a remedial investigation to establish the extent and likely cost of contamination, and that the borough will continue negotiations with the property owner and retain condemnation as an option if negotiations do not succeed.

Developer Deb (introduced at the meeting) framed the proposal as the product of a long partnership with the borough. She described the project goals as product diversity — a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, duplex townhouses, market-rate and restricted-affordability units — combined with ground-floor retail and “a human scale” along the long 400-plus-foot frontage. “Product diversity leads to more housing affordability,” she said.

Nancy Dy, principal at Studio 1200, presented the design concept: the building is broadly five stories along Raritan Avenue but is modulated into multiple elements to break massing for pedestrians. The western end would include two-story duplex townhouses, mid-block sections would feature storefronts with residential units above, a central three-story arrival with a distinctive canopy would mark the main residential access, and the eastern corner would step down toward nearby single-family homes. Dy described terraces, material variation (brick and panel elements) and planned street trees to create rhythm along the corridor.

Operational details included two levels of structured parking tucked behind the street façade and accessed from the lower-grade side of the site (Denison/Dennis). The team said the garage would provide about 191 spaces, with resident parking concentrated on lower levels and a mix of resident and retail parking nearer the ground-floor retail.

Terry and the design team said next steps include continued remedial work at the former dry-cleaner site, negotiations on a redevelopment agreement and likely amendments to the borough’s 2021 redevelopment plan (bulk and design standards) so the proposal conforms with zoning and is referable to the planning board and public hearings before any council vote.

What was not decided tonight: no ordinance, no formal approvals and no vote. Officials repeatedly asked for public input and emphasized the standard regulatory path ahead: environmental investigation, redevelopment agreement negotiations, planning-board review and public hearings before the council would consider zoning or redevelopment-plan amendments.

The borough said meeting materials will be posted online for review and comment and encouraged residents to use the comment cards and follow-up station discussions with the design team.