The Gateway project is now anticipated to be complete by 2012, and demolition and construction is on schedule, said New Brunswick Development Corporation Communications Director Jean Holtz.
Groundbreaking on the $160 million project is set to begin by the end of the year, as long as plans to move New Jersey Books to its new Easton Avenue location reach completion, said Devco president Christopher Paladino. The move is anticipated for the spring semester.
“We’re on target and right on schedule,” Paladino said.
Although the Devco Web site anticipates project completion by 2011, the facilities will not be open for public use until 2012, and some will not be available until 2013, Paladino said.
“We’re hoping to open the [Rutgers University Bookstore] by September 2012, the parking garage by January 2012 and the residential unit by January 2013,” he said.
The project features a 14-story, 265-foot-high building with a brand new Barnes & Noble bookstore, a multi-level parking deck for 657 spaces, 192 residential units and a 50,000 square foot space for retail.
Internal demolition of Neubies Restaurant, formerly located between Somerset Street and Easton Avenue, is underway, he said.
Other buildings on Somerset Street scheduled to be demolished include former First Class Notes and NJ Books buildings, Paladino said. Little Teddy’s, which went out of business and decided not to move to a new location, will also be demolished.
Paladino said plans for the new Rutgers University Bookstore includes a Starbucks and a large lecture room.
The building will also feature a walking promenade to connect College Avenue to the train station — linking the University community with the New Brunswick community, Paladino said.
“It will give [University students and the New Brunswick community] the real atmosphere to get to know each other,” he said. “It connects, physically, the Rutgers campus with the [city]. It’s going to be something quite special.”
University spokesman E.J. Miranda said the University would like to see the Gateway project completed, but it will not happen until further documents are signed and the last agreements between Devco and the University are complete.
“Rutgers wants the Gateway construction to begin as soon as possible,” Miranda said. “The sooner it is completed, the sooner the Rutgers Barnes & Noble Bookstore can move out of the Ferren Mall and to the Gateway location, where it will have the space to provide a wider range of services to the University and the New Brunswick communities. But Rutgers will not sign incomplete agreements.”
There was no connection between the delay of the College Avenue Greening Project and the Gateway project, Miranda said. The two projects are completely separate.
Paladino said although the circumstances are as tough as they should be — since the project is a huge one — he feels that everything is on point and going as smoothly as it can.
“Given the circumstances, we’re [still] having tremendous success,” he said.
Paladino said the project will be one the best in New Brunswick and will unite not only the community, but welcome in visitors and workers throughout the city and University.
“It’s going to be a great new town square, for not only the Rutgers students and the city, but [for] people who commute [to work in New Brunswick and at the University],” he said.
Devco, the University and the New Brunswick Parking Authority are all affiliated with the Gateway project.
The NBPA could not be reached for comment at press time.
Gateway project on schedule, completion set for 2012
Published: Thursday, September 10, 2009
Updated: Thursday, September 10, 2009
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