New Jersey Redeveloping Older Communities

Mayor Dan Reiman has an aggressive $1-billion waterfront plan to revitalize Arthur Kill, and more are afoot in New Jersey. A highly successful project in Perth Amboy to build 300 townhouses and multi-family units couldn?EUR??,,????'???t have happened without the support of mayor Joe Vas. $50-million is being invested in Carteret replacing cracked pavement and overgrown parking lots with beautiful new streetscapes featuring antique lighting, benches and pavers. The reason for all this activity is that New Jersey has a great number of transit friendly towns just begging for redevelopment. Situated on commuter lines into New York City, these older neighborhoods have a real advantage, and a great untapped potential for development. Towns such as Bayonne, Ridgefield Park and Perth Amboy may have fallen on hard times, however state lawmakers are hammering out more smart growth initiatives that support such plans for other blue collar neighborhoods. For more information contact Jason Kaplan at jasonk@thinkkaplan.com