First Steps Taken To Preserve, Restore Forum Theater In Metuchen

METUCHEN, NJ — The Metuchen Council took the first steps to preserve and restore the Forum Theater, by looking to create a Metuchen Arts District.

The new district would include the Forum Theater and the abandoned gas station at the corner of Main Street and Amboy Ave, Mayor Jonathan M. Busch said. He called it "step one" in the process.

A second resolution will allow the borough to determine if areas within the new district quality as an "area in need of redevelopment" under state law, and a third request will allow the borough to submit grant requests to the Middlesex County Freeholders for a County Arts Initiative Grant.

"The county has been incredibly generous with Metuchen over the years with request to projects like the Metuchen Greenway, they helped us gain funds for our plaza, but they have also showed themselves to be very generous with other communities, specifically with request to the arts," Busch said at Monday night's meeting. Woodbridge, Carteret, and New Brunswick have all benefitted from these types of grants, Busch said.

"The idea would be for the Forum to be run by a professional theatre management company to host live music, film, family programs, live comedy, dance, lectures and many other art forms. Whenever necessary, the Forum could also host large town hall-type public meetings and be available for private rentals and special events," Busch told a resident on Facebook.

The Forum Theater currently hosts plays and movies. It first opened in the 1920s, and was briefly closed in the early 2000s for a renovation project.

Image via Mayor Jonathan Busch