South Orange’s main train station is already one of the busiest in North Jersey, but as more people employed in Manhattan continue to return to the office, two upcoming developments could cause additional commuters to be added to the mix.
When looking at Downtown South Orange from the station’s eastbound platform, it is nearly impossible to miss the construction that is underway on the project that South Orange’s municipal government has referred to as Vose & Taylor.
Over the last six months, significant work has been conducted on the five-story development, particularly on its South Orange Avenue side. The frame of the building now rises over surrounding structures on South Orange Avenue while construction on the Vose Avenue and Taylor Place sides of the project are in more preliminary phases.
The exact details of the complex have slightly fluctuated over the last couple of years, but it is expected that there will be at least 11,000 square feet of retail space, around 10,000 square feet of commercial space, and 110 or 111 residential units, 11 of which will be considered “inclusionary housing.”
“The developer will provide a minimum of 121 residential parking spaces and construct a garage that provides at least 70 public parking spaces,” the Township of South Orange Village previously announced, adding that a 25-year tax exemption with payments in lieu of taxes, a $700,000 “public improvement contribution,” and $825,000 for the municipal “affordable housing fund” are being provided.
A municipal parking lot and a number of buildings used to stand on the premises, the largest of which once contained a Blockbuster Video location. Village officials estimate that Vose & Taylor will be finished in the spring of 2023.
Similar progress has been made on another mixed-use project in the neighborhood. Village Commons, which is expected to include 106 apartments and retail space, is rising off the ground at 209 Valley Street and remains an active construction site.
Although it remains a small municipality that primarily consists of single-family homes, South Orange has seen a notable increase in multi-family development over the last two decades.
It has been nearly 20 years since the Gaslight Commons complex was constructed on West 3rd Street. In the time since, a number of other projects have come to the village, including The Avenue at South Orange on Vose Avenue, The Gateway on West South Orange Avenue, and Third & Valley at the eponymous intersection.
