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Swath Of Rt. 70 Peppered With Commercial Building Projects
By Catherine Snipe
On a short stretch of highway in Brick, several hundred thousand square feet of new businesses and expansions are approved on Route 70. And each is part of a new construction project on the highway.
The stretch begins in Lakewood on the Brick border, and ends near the intersection of Route 70 and Cedarbridge Ave. in Brick. Along that span of roadway, three construction projects have begun, and while one is stalled, another is nearly finishing.
The newest is on the Brick/Lakewood border, across from the Home Depot on Route 70. The project, now behind chain-link fence, is now seeking building permits for a Hilton Gardens Inn, Longhorn Steak House and Ruby Tuesdays restaurant.
So far, Longhorn Steak House has a building permit, according to Lakewood building officials.
Longhorn, a chain with locations in 21 states, has two restaurants within 30 miles: Howell and Hamilton.
Hilton Gardens Inn, according to Hilton Worldwide, is a mid-priced focused service hotel.
There are 260 locations open across North America, with more scheduled to open throughout 2006 and beyond, according to Hilton Worldwide. The hotels serve a mix of accommodations for the business and leisure traveler.
A Ruby Tuesday's is also scheduled for the site. This restaurant has franchises being built on Route 37 in Manchester and has a location at the Freehold Raceway Mall.
The site plans for this project are several years old, according to Lakewood officials, already approved by the Lakewood planning board. What's left is the building permits for the other establishments.
A second project is on the Brick side of the Brick/Lakewood border, in what Mayor Joseph Scarpelli has called the last piece of the Route 70 puzzle, completing the densely-packed retail corridor.
That piece of the puzzle is an Edgewood Properties project across from the Lowe's home improvement center. The project has all but ground to a halt, a victim of contaminated soil, stop-work orders from two state agencies, and community response. The idea is to put a Costco store and several smaller buildings on the Jack Morris-owned Edgewood Properties.
The project is stalled while developers wait for a report on the site's contaminated soil. Concrete from the Ford Motor Co. brought there was found to be tainted. It was later removed from the site.
The planning process on the project began in 2004.
In addition, the Target site this fall received approval for an expansion that will give it a more welcoming entrance, allowing easier access to the building's back parking lot. The addition would also increase the store by 11,500 square feet.
In addition, the plans call for a shortened concrete median to again allow drivers from Route 70 to make a left turn toward Circuit City.
Next door, a new plaza replaced offices demolished this year. That plaza is now a shopping plaza. Its tenants will include Vitamin World. The plaza sits between the Target and a gas station on the corner of Cedar Bridge.
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