Gov. Murphy Unveils Big Plans For MetroPark Apartments, Offices

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled a dramatic plan Wednesday to build high-rise apartment and office buildings next to the MetroPark train station in Woodbridge.

This will be built where the MetroPark outdoor parking lot currently exists, plus where two very large covered parking garages have stood for years right next to the train tracks.

It is unknown at this time if the parking garages will be torn down, or if they will be converted into the high-rise buildings seen in the renderings above.

NJ Transit has selected DOR Woodbridge, LLC, a joint venture firm of Russo Development, Onyx Equities and Dinallo Development LLC/Terminal Construction — all big names in the world of New Jersey real estate — to build a "transit-oriented development (TOD) project."

Terminal Construction builds train stations, and built those two MetroPark parking garages. The fact that they are part of the project indicates the parking garages will not be torn down, and will instead be converted.

A parking garage converted into apartments has never been done before in New Jersey.

As Patch previously reported, in October of 2020 NJ Transit first announced it wanted to develop 12 acres of land it owns at the MetroPark train station. NJ Transit said it was looking for developers to submit proposals.

At the time, NJ Transit specifically said it wanted to convert the 12-acre plot into residential apartments with ground-floor retail.

Developers were asked to submit proposals here: https://www.njtransitdevelopme...

Now this week, two years later, NJ Transit announced in a splashy press conference held with Gov. Murphy, that DOR Woodbridge, LLC has been chosen as the developer.

What DOR Woodbridge, LLC specifically proposes to build at MetroPark is:

• Class-A offices
• Ground-floor retail space such as bakeries, cafes, shops, etc.
• Housing (20 percent of which will be designated as affordable housing). An exact number of apartments has not been released, but NJ.com reports it will be "several hundred apartments."
• Community amenities (not specified what exactly these will be)
• Improvements to the MetroPark train station area itself, including adding bicycle, pedestrian and infrastructure upgrades

Not all financing has been secured for this project. This will be a public-private partnership, so public financing (taxpayer money) will be made available from the Murphy administration, said the governor.

Murphy said he strongly backs the development.

New Jersey government has been keen to develop the area around the MetroPark train station for decades now, ever since the station first opened in 1971. The station was built so both Amtrak and NJ Transit trains could stop there. However, it is mostly used by NJ Transit riders.

Murphy said it is essential to develop at key station stops along the state's NJ Transit rail lines. He called what is coming to MetroPark not just a "transit-oriented community," but a "future-oriented community."

Murphy has been working on these plans to turn the area around the New Brunswick station into The Hub, with Princeton, Rutgers and Tel Aviv universities operating shared research labs there. And just last week, Murphy unveiled these plans to build new offices, retail and apartments at the Hoboken train station. That development will be called Hoboken Connect.

“Station by station, line by line, we continue our determined overhaul of one of the world’s most critical transportation networks,” said Murphy Wednesday. “This comprehensive transformation requires infrastructure investments complemented by the promotion of walkable neighborhoods, the construction of affordable housing and the cultivation of economic opportunity."

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), who represents Woodbridge in Washington, D.C., praised the investment in mass transit.

“Today marks an important first step in Metropark station’s transformation into a walkable community with direct access to the transit station,” said Pallone.

Wednesday's news is in addition to two new six- and seven-story high-rise buildings proposed for the area near the MetroPark train station, as we previously reported last Friday:

• Woodmont Properties, a well-known New Jersey real estate developer, has this proposal currently before the Woodbridge Planning Board to build a six-story apartment building with 200 apartment units at 186 Wood Avenue south, across the street from the existing APA Hotel. The apartment building would come with an attached parking garage with 511 parking spaces, plus a 505-space surface parking lot, for a total of 1,000+ new parking spaces.
• Secondly, Woodmont Senior Living LLC, seeks to build a seven-story senior living building and a two-story parking garage also in that area, reports MyCentralJersey.

Original Patch report: NJ Transit Wants To Build At Metropark Station; Developer Sought (Oct. 2020)