Plan for the Lenox parking lot on Central Avenue in Union City, N.J. allows a 20-story, 450-unit tower and a 750-space garage

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The city’s planner told the Planning Board the garage goes up first, so the condo building keeps its parking, and that the deck will also serve the neighborhood. The commissioners had the plan up for final adoption Oct. 20.

UNION CITY, N.J. — The redevelopment plan for the parking lot next to the Lenox condominiums at 500 Central Ave. would allow an apartment tower of up to 20 stories and 450 units, plus a parking deck of up to eight levels with about 750 spaces, according to the Planning Board’s Sept. 22 hearing transcript, which the city posted this week.

“The new apartment building will have a maximum of 450 dwelling units,” David Spatz, the city’s consulting planner, who prepared the plan, told the board. “The initial plans for that are somewhat less than that, but this gives a little flexibility, based on the mix of the apartment sizes.”

What the plan allows, per Spatz’s testimony

• Up to 450 apartments in a new building on what is now the surface parking lot (Block 22, Lot 1.01). No bedroom mix is set yet. That will come with a later site plan submitted to the board, Spatz said.
• Up to 20 stories for the apartment building.
• A parking deck of up to eight levels, “approximately 750 parking spaces in total,” at one space per apartment plus extra. The deck would serve the Lenox, the new building and provide “parking availability for the neighborhood.”
• The garage comes first “so that there is no loss of parking for the Lenox,” then the apartment building.
• No setbacks, and building coverage of 90% to 95%, with the rest landscaped at the base of the buildings and along the street.
• The Lenox itself “would remain as is.” The lot will have to be subdivided, and the new building’s address hasn’t been set, Spatz said.

Spatz called the plan “very similar to the 1300 Manhattan Avenue” plan the board handled recently. The developer will still need site plan approval from the Planning Board. The rendering in the redevelopment report shows massing only, he said: “They haven’t submitted it, it could look differently.”

The five members present voted 5-0 to recommend the plan to the Board of Commissioners: Chairperson Alejandro Velazquez, Ydalia Genao, Alicia Morejon, Jose Guareno and Hector Oseguera. No one from the public spoke. “I’m 100 percent for this, 100 percent,” Morejon said.

Where it stands

The ordinance adopting the plan was listed for introduction at the commissioners’ Oct. 5 meeting. The commissioners’ Oct. 20 agenda then listed “An Ordinance … Adopting the Redevelopment Plan for 500 Central Avenue, Block 22 Lot 1.01” for a public hearing and final vote. As of Thursday afternoon, the city had not posted minutes or the result of that vote.

On the same Oct. 20 agenda, the commissioners were also scheduled to vote on acquiring 1501 New York Ave. and to introduce an ordinance to acquire 901-903 23rd St. “for public purposes.”

The Planning Board found the property qualified as an area in need of redevelopment after a June 23 hearing, and the Board of Commissioners made the designation Aug. 11, board attorney Brian Chewcaskie said at the Sept. 22 meeting. The city’s June notice for that hearing described it as a non-condemnation redevelopment area, which excludes the power of eminent domain. Hudson TV reported the Planning Board’s recommendation in June.

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