The city is moving ahead with developers on a couple of major projects which will affect Broadway in both the uptown and midtown areas.
The newer of the two initiatives involves the Resnick Hardware property at 46th Street and Broadway, including the current retail facility as well as adjacent properties owned by the business and others.
City planner Sue Mack said she is writing a non-condemnation blight plan for a large development slated for the corner and adjoining lots.
“On April 14 I’ll present the blight plan on Resnick’s to the Planning Board,” Mack said. “It’ll
go to the Planning Board and City Council this month.”
Resnick’s is on bard with the plan and is relocating.
Plans call for 8,800 square feet of retail space, two restaurants, and 88 apartments on top of them, according to Lance Luccarelli, spokesman for The L Group, developing the project.
The restaurants will be set back 17 feet from the street for convenience and attractiveness.
“There will be an arcade in front of the building, with outside dining and then retail, and then inside retail,” Luccarelli said. “We’re going to create a street experience that no one has seen to this day.”
“We’re going to create a street experience that no one has seen to this day.” – Lance Luccarelli
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There’s also progress further south on Broadway.
A planned medical facility that city officials believe will revitalize the heart of the avenue is moving forward, continuing to seek approvals this month and next, a city director said.
The three-story medical facility project to be developed by Rendina Healthcare Real Estate of Jupiter, Fla., is still a go and its proposal is still wending its way through city boards, according to Municipal Services Director Robert Wondolowski.
The proposal will go before the City Council on April 22, he said.
The plan for Broadway between 23rd and 24tth streets, and west to Del Monte Drive and farther includes the building of a three-story medical arts building and three-deck parking garage for the St. Barnabas Health Care System.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be somewhere in the $30 million area.
The plan had to be recreated after Mel Stock, the owner of Barney Stock women’s hosiery store on 23rd Street and Broadway sued the city last year; Stock did not want to relocate after several decades at his current site. In addition to his retail outlet, Stock has several second-floor tenants, who he also did not want to disrupt with a move.
The project had to be redesigned to accommodate Stock’s refusal to move. Originally intended to extend the entire city block on Broadway from 23rd to 24th, development will now start beyond the Stock property.
“We’re finalizing the sale of the parking lot to Rendina,” Wondolowski said. “They’re going to have 71 parking spots for Bayonne residents and the rest of the people that work there and visit.”
The lot which the garage will build out from currently houses the Bayonne Farmers Market from May through October. The land currently housing the municipal mini-golf park will also be part of the project.
Plans include a pedestrian bridge to be constructed across Del Monte Drive from the proposed garage to the medical arts building.
Plans are for Rendina to start construction this summer with a goal of a late spring completion next year, Wondolowski said.
When operating, the facility is expected to add 120 jobs of various types.
The facility would consist of several types of treatment rooms and physical therapy rooms. It would also include areas for nurses and doctors, and several meeting rooms.
“It’s all just one large facility,” Wondolowski said.
In addition to physical therapy, other types of specialized care at the center would be oncology care, and various types of hip/joint replacement services, according to Wondolowski.
“There would be different consultation practices,” Wondolowski said. “It’s a very specialized thing, something you wouldn’t generally go to the hospital for.”
Leo J. Hurley Jr. of Connell Foley Attorneys at Law continues to shepherd the process for Rendina.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.