West Orange Prepares For Phase 2 Of Edison Redevelopment Project

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Echoes of Edison are mounting in West Orange again.

The West Orange Township Council will hold a hearing for Phase II of the long-awaited Main Street/Edison Redevelopment project on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

Phase II of the Edison Village project – an ambitious, $230 million effort to turn the historic Thomas Edison Invention Factory and Commerce Center into a neighborhood with shops, parking and housing - would begin in 2018 and is expected to be completed by 2025, according a West Orange municipal notice.

The current phase of the project is pegged around the construction of 296 single-family townhouses, 44 of which will be reserved for “low-moderate income” residents.

However, West Orange will have to relocate the Department of Public Works and the Animal Shelter under the current version of the development plan. Options are “currently being explored” for these facilities, town officials said.

Learn more about the project and the items up for consideration at the Aug. 15 public meeting here.

“This phase of the project will open up an additional road for travel in the downtown area,” the municipal notice stated. “This project will open up access from White Street through to Washington Street with an additional road parallel to Main Street. This will help to ease congestion on Main Street by providing a new road for local traffic.”

• See related article: West Orange Development Project Scaled Back

The project requires an approval of not to exceed $21 million Redevelopment Area Bonds (RAB) for financing the project. The RAB Bonds contemplated are not guaranteed by the West Orange taxpayer but funded with a portion of the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) funded by the project, officials stated.

Upon completion, the project is expected to produce over $2 million dollars in annual revenue after RAB bond payments, officials stated.

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Here’s how developer Prism Capital Partners of Bloomfield describes the project:

“Prism Capital Partners in 2016 launched construction for Edison Village, the industrial-to-residential redevelopment of the historic Thomas Edison Invention Factory and Commerce Center in West Orange. Representing the largest non-waterfront adaptive-reuse project in New Jersey, Edison Village encompasses 21 acres on Main Street, in the heart of West Orange Township's Downtown Redevelopment Area.

“The first phase of the project is highlighted by the adaptive reuse of the Historic Thomas Edison Battery Building and will contain approximately 334 residential units, 18,400 square feet of retail and a 630-space parking structure.

“Edison Village's retail component, including 34 residences above, slated for completion by year end 2017, occupies the corner of Charles Street and along Main Street. The Shoppes at Edison Village will provide current and future residents with a new in-town shopping experience featuring restaurants and café-style concepts. An interior plaza with a fountain will be open to the public during the day.”

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Image: West Orange Township