Gotham City

The heavy construction equipment was at rest on a sunny February Saturday. Its recent handiwork was on display for passersby.

The transformation of Bound Brook continues. Opinions vary on whether it’s a success or an overblown re-do of a historic downtown. But on it goes.

A few hundred new apartments are under construction here, another few dozen units over there. Keep your redevelopment scorecard handy so you can try to track exactly how many are done, under construction, or still to come.

Bound Brook has moved from being a downtown dotted with unique historic structures to a landscape dominated by monolithic buildings. Maybe the next Dark Knight movie could be filmed here if someone can find a Bat-Signal.

Those of a certain age who grew up in the western end of Middlesex Borough might remember childhood trips to Bound Brook. The visits could yield a haircut at the Elks Barber Shop, comic books at Kurtz’s newsstand, or the nauseating view of deer carcasses hanging outside of Efinger’s sporting goods during hunting season.

Now, there’s a weird vibe to the downtown. Walk down the sidewalk. Look up at the buildings towering above you. Listen to the construction sounds. Wonder what the place will look like in another few years. Should the future be embraced or feared?

Incumbent Bound Brook politicians of both parties took a hit in last November’s general election. The sitting Republican Mayor David Morris lost, as did incumbent Democratic Borough Councilman Abel Gomez. Morris ended up back on the council, picked to fill a vacancy at the 2024 reorganization meeting.

Perhaps voters were not enamored of all the concrete and steel being thrust skyward on Main Street. Many of those voters are likely the owners of single-family homes outside the downtown area. As some are known to say in Middlesex, “Tenants don’t vote.”

Bound Brook’s political blood-letting continued about five weeks ago. Even though the council is split 3-3 between Democrats and Republicans, four votes were found to fire the borough administrator.

Former Republican Mayor Bob Fazen may have sensed the oncoming political reckoning a couple of years ago. Fazen and his wife retired to South Carolina in September 2022, with the mayor having a bit more than a year left on his term. Morris was appointed to fill the mayoral vacancy. 

Two forces have combined to fuel Bound Brook’s race to the sky – the Green Brook Flood Risk Management Project and possibility of continuous direct rail service to Manhattan.

The flood control project has become a pinata in Middlesex. But in Bound Brook, it’s viewed as having brought at least a degree of confidence that the downtown will not be under water after every major rain storm.

Direct rail service to Manhattan on the Raritan Valley Line, which runs through Bound Brook, is now available on a limited basis. Legislators are pushing to have it expanded.

Commenting while announcing his resignation, Fazen boasted about the coming benefits for Bound Brook’s downtown.

“It’s changed the face of Bound Brook,” Fazen said of the redevelopment effort. Fazen estimated that 2,000 new apartments would be built within the one-square-mile community.

Fazen noted the borough’s population was about 10,500 in the 2010 Census, adding that it could eclipse 14,000 by 2025-26. The former mayor might not be far off. The 2020 Census put Bound Brook’s populace at a shade under 12,000.

“It will be bigger than Somerville,” Fazen added, drawing a comparison to another Somerset County town undergoing a dramatic downtown overhaul.

Among the projects currently underway are The Rail at Bound Brook, up Hamilton Street from the Brook Arts Center, in what was once a parking lot and the adjacent Salvation Army location. The six-story building will house 143 units upon its completion, anticipated later thiis year. There are plans to turn Hamilton Street into a pedestrian plaza.

On Main Street, at the foot of the train station entrance, Meridia 300 is rising, comprising 60 units plus retail.

Further west down the road is the Hopkinson, which entails 64 apartments and first-floor retail space. That’s if the commercial spots can find tenants. The owners of the building might want to ask the redeveloper of The View in Middlesex about that.

Speaking of building owners – and sellers – some are making a lot of money off all this. Mosaic on Main, comprising 63 apartments and retail space, was sold in November 2022 for $22 million to Mosaic Associates Urban Renewal, of Ridgefield Park, part of K&A Associates.

It was reportedly the highest price recorded in 2022 for a multi-family property in Somerset County. The seller was West Main St. Urban Renewal, an affiliate of Reynolds Asset Management, which developed the building.

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