There's a new owner of Somerville's Baker & Taylor site. Here's what's coming
SOMERVILLE - Fifteen years after Baker & Taylor closed its book warehouse on Kirby Avenue, there is progress on redeveloping the site for 174 townhomes.
Stephen Kessler, general consul for Fernmoor Homes of Jackson Township, told the borough council earlier this month that the residential developer has a contract to purchase the vacant property from 50 Kirby Renewal.
Fernmoor will develop the property bordering NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line under the same terms of the redevelopment agreement between the borough and 50 Kirby Renewal, which calls for the construction of 174 townhomes in 15 two-story buildings with eight to 14 units per building.
All the townhomes will be rentals, Kessler said.
The redevelopment plan also calls for a pool and a recreational building.
Kessler said Fernmoor could close on the property shortly and construction on the townhomes, a mix of two and three-bedroom units, could begin sometime next year.
Contaminated soil has to be removed from the western side of the building under the direction of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Kessler said.
"We're very excited about the project," Kessler said, adding that the company develops housing mostly in New Jersey, but also has projects in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Mayor Dennis Sullivan, who lives in the neighborhood just north of the property, asked Fernmoor to hold a neighborhood meeting to update residents about the project and the environmental cleanup.
Development: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerville approved for expansion
"It's been a long twisted journey," Sullivan said, saying the borough as "not been getting anything" out of the property.
The mayor said the townhomes will be "a tremendous addition to the housing options in the borough."
K. Hovananian had originally proposed more than 400 residential units on the property, but that plan was met with a groundswell of opposition from the residents in the southeastern corner of the borough.
Sullivan also suggested that Fernmoor talk to the other residential developers in the neighborhood off Fairview Avenue next to the railroad tracks about the possibility of starting a shuttle service for residents to downtown, the borough train station or the Bridgewater Promenade and Commerce Bank Ballpark in Finderne.
The mayor also said traffic may become an issue because since Baker & Taylor closed, "we've had 15 years of nothing."
50 Kirby Ave. bought the property for $4 million in October 2016 from Crusader Servicing Corporation which had acquired it in foreclosure proceedings.
Email: [email protected]
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Here's what's coming to Somerville's Baker & Taylor site