$100M Lawsuit Filed Over Rejection Of Redevelopment Of Raritan Mall

RARITAN, NJ — A $100 million lawsuit has been filed against Raritan Borough and one Councilman following the rejecting of a redevelopment plan for the property off Route 206 and Orlando Drive.

Raritan Mall, LLC(RMLLC) filed the lawsuit in Somerset County Superior Court at the end of August over the 12.2-acre property which has fallen into disarray since Stop & Shop closed in 2017.

"The recommendation of our attorneys is to not make statements about the lawsuit itself. I will say that we received the complaint, our insurance company has been notified and they just assigned a law firm to defend the Borough," said Raritan Mayor Nicolas Carra to Patch.

A redevelopment plan for the property which included a five-story apartment building with 275-units was proposed earlier this year, according to Tapinto. This plan would change the zoning on to allow both residential and commercial.

The lawsuit alleges that in May the Borough Council told Raritan Mall representatives they would not be voting on the redevelopment plan. However, the vote went forward with the Council rejecting the plan without Raritan Mall present.

Raritan Mall submitted a letter requesting a new vote on the plan.

In June, the lawsuit alleges Councilman Michael Patente admitted to a conflict of interest with the plan stating his sister and he both lived near the project.

The lawsuit states Patente recused himself from the introduction of the vote on the redevelopment plan. However, in July Patente did not recuse himself and ultimately the plan was unanimously rejected by the Council.

"The Borough and Councilman Patente’s concerted effort to hinder the adoption of the Redevelopment Plan; prevent RMLLC to appear and/or testify in favor of the Redevelopment Plan; ignore longstanding ethical requirements related to municipal conflicts of interest; and otherwise falsely entice RMLLC to discontinue efforts to market the property to potential buyers and expend substantial sums of money related to the Project, including escrow payments for the Borough’s professionals and fees for RMLLC’s own professionals and experts, was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable," stated the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also stated that "Councilman Patente's crusade to both kill the redevelopment of the Property and cause RMLLC to suffer significant legal and economic damages through his exertion of extreme and unlawful influence over elected officials and public processes is the epitome of bad faith and warrants the imposition of fees, costs, and sanctions."

The lawsuit is seeking for the July vote to be null and void, Patente to be prohibited from voting, the redevelopment plan vote to be once again brought up at the next Council meeting, and award attorney's fees and costs to RMLLC.

The Borough or Patente did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

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