Visions for Vacancies: What Should Take the Place of This Vacant Property?

Route 10 in Livingston has been the focus of the majority of our weekly Vision for Vacancies stories we’ve run. 

We started on Route 10 in the Village at Livingston with the vacant Pathmark supermarket and have included former Linens N Things, the former Office Depot, and last week, the vacant car dealership. 

We continue our trek down Route 10 this week with the building just east of the vacant car dealership pictured above. 

The building has been vacant for some time and, once again, this is where Patch readers come in. 

We’ve heard requests via email and in our comment stream for many businesses to take the place of these vacant properties.

The overwhelming choice has been some type of food store — a Whole Foods, an Aldi’s, a Fairway, a Trader Joe’s and a Wegman’s. 

We’ve heard your requests. We’ve also tried to find smaller locations around town and heard you want a Christmas Tree Shoppe, an indoor sports facility and restaurants — LOTS of restaurants.

Here’s how it works…We pick a vacant property, you tell us what should go there.

Here’s the rules…Forget what zone the building is in. Ignore setback regulations, as well as dump lot coverage rules and all the other zoning jargon that puts most people to sleep.

Our bottom line: If you had your way, what would you like to see there? What would be the best use of the space for the community?

For this to continue to work, this can’t be a one-sided conversation. We want to hear from you in our comments section. And, please, let us know if there’s a vacant space or building you know of as well we can feature in a future column.

Send emails about vacant buildings or stores we may not know about to Essex County Associate Regional Editor Jack Durschlag at jack.durschlag@patch.com.