'New town': What's up with the $2.5B waterfront development off the Garden State Parkway?

SAYREVILLE – Construction of the long-awaited Bass Pro Shops is expected to begin before year's end at Riverton, the proposed $2.5 billion mixed-use development at the former National Lead site.

"Bass Pro Shops has told us it will be the largest, single-level Bass Pro Shop in the country," said Kevin Polston, project executive with North American Properties, the developer of the property.

"There will be a restaurant and they typically have a large aquarium, but we don't have the plans yet," said Mark Fetah, North American Properties' senior vice president of development. "They are still working internally with their design team to enrich the customer experience of the store to an even higher degree."

North American Properties expects to fast-track construction of the approximately 198,500-square-foot store by designing and building the footings and foundations, while Bass Pro designs the rest of the store, said Fetah, who has worked on Epcot Center, Euro Disneyland, 7 World Trade Center and Princeton Forrestal Village.

Construction is expected to take 20 to 22 months, Fetah said, adding that supply chain issues are adding six months to the time it would ordinarily take.

In addition, there is still some infrastructure work that needs to be done to provide utilities and on-site roadways to service the store, he said.

"Bass Pro is a very complicated, large building," Polston said. "They do a lot of specialty installations on the inside of the buildings. They study the geography of each area. They will find points of interest in Central New Jersey and the Raritan estuary to reference in their aquarium and wildlife diorama programs."

What is Riverton?

Located at the Chevalier Avenue exit off the Garden State Parkway just south of the Driscoll Bridge, the planned 6.5 million-square-foot mixed-use Riverton development, which stretches along two miles of the Raritan River, is proposed to include about 1.3 million square feet of retail and entertainment space, 2 million square feet of office and other commercial space and 2,000 residential units, which includes 300 affordable housing units.

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Polston explained that the project is a lengthy process as North American Properties is building a "new town."

"First the property had to be cleaned up," he said. "Then we have to build everything you typically have in a town, including roads, domestic waters, sanitary and storm sewers, natural gas and electric."

"I definitely have an affinity for Sayreville," Fetah said. "We are transforming an industrial site that was the heart and soul of Sayreville for so many years.”

The current plan is to construct 1,500 apartment units and 500 townhomes, Polston said, adding that breakdown could change.

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The 400-plus acre site is broken into three parcels – A, B and C. Parcel C is the largest, about 312 acres with about 285 developable acres, where most of the building will take place.

In addition to Bass Pro Shops, the first phase of the project, approved by the Sayreville Planning Board in December 2019, includes the Gateway Retail District buildings and the first half of the village. That phase includes a hotel and conference center, amphitheater, movie theater, restaurants, shops and nearly 300 residential units.

“The village will be the heart of Riverton,” Fetah said.

The Gateway Retail District will have six buildings, some of which will have multiple tenants, along the southern part of the property, south of the intersection of Peter Fisher Boulevard and the Main Street Extension.

The tenants are expected to include a convenience store, quick-service restaurants and other commercial businesses, the developers said.

"We're in advanced lease negotiations for at least three or four of the retail establishments," Fetah said.

Because the buildings are smaller and much simpler to construct, it is likely they will be open before Bass Pro Shops, Polston said.

"We plan to start the first of the Gateway Retail District buildings early summer next year," Fetah said.

Last month, the Planning Board approved a subdivision of one section of Parcel C into four lots. One lot will house a municipal pump station and another a 30-megawatt JCP&L electrical substation, which will provide electric services to the development.

The board also approved changes to the footprint and exterior of the Bass Pro Shops building, he Fetah said.

A $1.3 million federal grant was awarded to study connectivity from Parcel C across Parcels B and A and ultimately to the train station and planned ferry in South Amboy, Polston said.

"The grant was awarded to SERA (Sayreville Economic and Redevelopment Agency), but we partnered with them in grant application and administration processes," Polston said. "We'll begin working on that this year."

The project also includes about 50 acres of open space, which is envisioned to have walking and biking paths, pocket parks and other public amenities along the waterfront. It will also include a heroes' walk, honoring local veterans.

Thirty-seven of the 55 acres in Parcel A were deeded to Middlesex County and the state Department of Environmental Protection for permanent open space, Polston said.

About four of the remaining acres are retained for a future jughandle connection to Route 35 and the balance is tidal lands retained by SERA as green space, he said.

North American Properties has secured a waterfront development permit from the DEP which facilitates the buildings on the western part of the village, Fetah said.

"This is the zone where we thought we would create the waterfront promenade, amphitheater and other amenities that would take advantage of that connection to the water," Polston said.

A visit to Riverton

During a recent visit to the site, workers were seen constructing a concrete wall to serve as a platform for the buildings that will overlook the promenade and waterfront.

"There's also the engineering and the architecture coordination and the process of gaining all the approvals," Fetah said. "After this year, we'll have destiny in our own hands. By the end of this year, we'll have all the complicated issues, such as easements, right of ways, offsite improvements and working with the existing utilities, under our belt. Then we'll work on the buildings. That's when the public will really see Riverton taking shape."

Environmental remediation has been completed on about two-thirds of Parcel C, clearing the site for development, Polston said.

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As part of the redevelopment agreement with Sayreville, North American Properties committed to on-site public amenities, facilities and payments, including an open-air amphitheater along the river and other public performing spaces, an onsite conference center and the waterfront walkway, Polston said.

North American Properties is also making contributions toward the new community center the borough is building as well as borough fire department facilities, Polston said.

Riverton is also conducting offsite improvement projects including roadway widening at Route 9 & 35 on Chevalier Avenue and extension of the existing municipal water main in Sayreville, Fetah said. The main roads on the site, stormwater management and sanitary sewer systems and domestic water distribution system will be dedicated to the borough.

Both Polston and Fetah agree that the project is unique.

"The idea of making a difference by taking this damaged property and creating something vibrant, new and part of the fabric of the community is a fulfilling exercise for me," Polston said. "I'm also working with a great team. Thousands of people will be involved in this project over time. It's a very unique opportunity and a very big challenge, but it is fun."

"Everything we are building here is for the long term," Fetah said. "On the architecture side, this is a wide-open palette. There will be an organic collection of buildings. We are also trying to use as many local service providers as we can. We enjoy a tremendous relationship with the union building trades on this project. The subcontractors and trades people working here are self-motivated and are inherently committed to delivering a quality product which will be a lasting hallmark of the Riverton development."

National Lead, which maintained a paint manufacturing operation at the site until 1982, owned the property from 1935 until 2005.

In 1996, the property was declared an area in need of redevelopment. Three years later, the Waterfront Redevelopment Plan was adopted by the borough.

In 2005, SERA acquired the property for redevelopment. O'Neill Properties was brought in by the redeveloper, Sayreville Seaport Associates, to develop the property, but they parted ways and in 2017 North American Properties took over as the developer.

Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com

Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Riverton, NJ waterfront development project in Sayreville progressing