Plans Move Full Steam Ahead On 340 Apartments Coming To Exit 109 In Middletown

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The five-story, 340-unit apartment building coming to Parkway Exit 109 in Middletown is moving full steam ahead.

The developer is AvalonBay. At their June 30 meeting, the Middletown Planning Board unanimously approved AvalonBay's application for final site plan approval.

The five-story apartment building will be built behind the existing three office buildings that are currently at the River Centre office park at 331 Newman Springs Road (Rt. 520), very close to Exit 109 off the Garden State Parkway south and the entrance to the Parkway north.

(This is across Newman Springs from where the Middletown LifeTime fitness and the very large new Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, plus the Marriott Courtyard hotel are all located.)

It will be one building comprised of 340 apartments, a mix of studios, 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units, 19 of which will be affordable housing. It will also have a covered parking garage. The apartment building will have a pool, a gym and landscaped terraces and outdoor spaces. As part of the development, AvalonBay will also build a standalone Starbucks with a drive thru. The Starbucks will be directly off Newman Springs, while the apartment building will be tucked behind the existing office buildings.

The apartment building will be built on what is currently parking lots.

Middletown Mayor Tony Perry said Wednesday he has no idea when AvalonBay will begin construction on the apartment building.

Perry was on the Middletown Township Committee that voted in 2023 for this area to become a redevelopment zone. AvalonBay asked Middletown's permission to build multi-family development there, and Middletown Township approved it in this redevelopment plan, called the River Centre South Redevelopment Plan. Previously, multifamily housing was not allowed there. In 2023, the Township Committee designated several lots of land in that site as "areas in need of redevelopment."

Those three office buildings will remain; they will not be knocked down. That office park is currently 85 percent occupied, according to the Two River Times. One small, 10,000-square-foot office building — currently used as the River Centre cafeteria — will be torn down.

You can read all the site plans AvalonBay submitted to the Middletown Planning Board here: https://www.middletownnj.org/A...

At the June 30 Planning Board meeting, there were many Middletown, Lincroft and Tinton Falls residents who spoke in opposition to the development. Lincroft residents have long said they are particularly concerned about a massive increase in traffic, and more people speeding.

“This development is pretending to be something it is not. It’s pretending to be good for people that need affordable housing,” said Melanie Elmiger of the Lincroft Village Green Association, according to the Two River Times. Instead, “it sticks out like a sore thumb and it invades what is right now a very bucolic protected area with the Swimming River. This application screams of greed.”

Prior: 340 Apartments Proposed For Middletown's River Centre Office Park (Feb. 2024)