Starbucks Coming To Newman Springs Road In Middletown, Near Parkway Entrance

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A Starbucks is coming to the River Centre office complex in Middletown, on Newman Springs Road at Schulz Drive, just off the entrance/exit to the Parkway.

This will be a drive-through Starbucks, but you can also sit inside. Construction started in March and it is expected to open in fall 2026.

River Centre is a five-building, 668,107-square-foot office park. The even bigger news, which Patch already reported in 2024, is that developer AvalonBay plans to build 340 apartments there. The apartments will be built in the back, on what are currently unused parking lots in the back of the office park.

The units will back up to the Parkway North. They will be seen from the Parkway.

AvalonBay asked Middletown's permission to build the apartments there a few years ago, and Middletown Township approved it in this redevelopment plan in 2023.

Previously, multi-family housing was not allowed there. It was only zoned for office space. But Middletown business administrator Tony Mercantante said a few years ago the office park was having difficulty finding tenants.

However, as of March 27, four new companies signed leases to rent space at River Centre. They are:

• Zipp & Tannenbaum law firm will rent 10,000 square feet on the third floor of Building 3.
• InflexionPoint, which specializes in automation and manufacturing intelligence, is leasing an 8,863-square-foot office on the second floor of Building 2.
• Relational Group Partners, which provides business insurance to small-business owners, will rent an 8,914-square-foot space on the first floor of Building 2.
• Paramount Realty, which owns River Centre, will lease a 20,000-square-foot office.

These new leases bring River Centre to more than 90 percent occupancy, Paramount announced in this press release they published last Friday.

(The mailing address for River Centre is technically Red Bank, but it's located in the heart of Middletown Township.)

One small, 10,000-square-foot building — currently used as River Centre's cafeteria — will be torn down to make way for the apartments. Paramount will relocate its new cafeteria, plus a tenant lounge, collaboration space and a fitness center, to Building 3. It's unclear who can use the fitness center.

340 Apartments Proposed For Middletown's River Centre Office Park (2024)