Flemington’s Borough Council has adopted an ordinance establishing the “Liberty Village Redevelopment Plan” that will transform the borough’s notable outlet mall into mixed-income housing units.
The plan, approved Monday night, consists of redeveloping the Liberty Village Redevelopment Area — which is comprised of 10 lots and about 23 acres — into multi-family residential and/or townhouse units that will accommodate a mix of incomes and household sizes, according to the redevelopment plan.
“While this (plan) is, I think, housing focused, it allows for things like a performing arts center, offices, museums, rentals, retail, sales and services, restaurants... recreation and distilleries,” Council President Caitlin Giles-McCormick said.
“We want those active uses and those things to be done in that area,” Giles-McCormick said, referring to Route 12 and Stangl Road.
During a council meeting Monday night via Zoom, Flemington Mayor Betsy Driver said the redevelopment plan was created by the members of borough’s redevelopment committee and the borough planner.
The area consists of the Liberty Village retail shopping center’s retail stores, a caretaker/property manager office, associated parking and supporting lots as well as vacant undeveloped land, located at the intersection of Route 12, Stangl Road and Church Street, bisected by the Black River and Western railroad, according to the redevelopment plan.
The area’s gross leasable commercial space is 161,694 square feet, according to the plan.
The Liberty Village retail shopping center opened in 1981 as the nation’s first outlet shopping center. The center enjoyed enormous success and expanded in the late 1990s; however, in the years since, the shopping center has struggled to maintain tenants and vibrancy, according to the plan.
These changes can be attributed toward significant new construction of retail space in nearby Raritan Township in particular, but also the larger region, changing national retail, and current retail trends best supporting online shopping, the plan notes.
The westernmost parking area is used as a commuter parking lot for Trans-Bridge Lines, which provides bus service to/from New York City, as well as overflow parking for the Liberty Village retail use, according to the plan.
Before, the borough council adopted the plan, resident Colleen Rossetti said she is concerned about the impact this plan will have on the bus stop located in the area’s western parking lot.
“It is our one and only public transportation site here in Flemington,” Rossetti said. “You can’t get many places from it, but at least there is some public transportation to get to New York City or to the airport. I’m going to ask that you pay attention to that.”
Driver said a privately-owned bus rental company is currently running only two routes and stops at the area’s westernmost parking lot. It’s not a bus station and the parking lot is not well-maintained.
When asked what will happen to the bus stop, Driver said, “That is a private business agreement between two private entities. It’s not public. If it was New Jersey Transit, we’d be having a very different conversation about it, but it’s not New Jersey Transit.”
Resident Joanne Braun said she is concerned that the redevelopment plan will increase the borough schools’ enrollment.
“I definitely know that with this plan is going to impact the schools because there’s a lot more residents, there’s a lot of residential in it. Just want you to keep that in mind,” Braun said.
Giles-McCormick said she thinks the area has a lot of challenges because of environmental issues and the changes in retail. However, she believes the plan moves the borough in the right direction.
Although the plan has now been approved, Driver said the borough doesn’t yet have a designated redeveloper. So, until it has one, everything’s kind of up in the air.
“In the middle of the designation process and plan development, a developer, George Vallone of Hoboken Brownstone, put the property under contract,” Driver said. “While it’s not known if he will be the ultimately designated developer, he will be invited to submit a redevelopment plan. If he’s not interested, it would go out to a Request For Proposal.”
Driver said there will be a lot more opportunities to discuss this plan, because none of this will happen quickly.
For more information about the plan, visit www.historicflemington.com/boards/liberty-village.
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Vashti Harris may be reached at vharris@njadvancemedia.com.