The big residential build taking shape off Continental Drive in Mount Olive just cleared another hurdle. The township planning board approved plans on Sept. 17 for phases 2 through 4 of the project, now set at 478 homes, 100 of them affordable, near the Netcong and Stanhope borders and the International Trade Center (via Jersey Digs).
The applicant is Mount Olive Venture SPE, LLC. The newest plans trim the count by 16 homes from the 494 shown earlier, with 378 market-rate homes alongside the affordable ones, or roughly one in five. Jersey Digs reported the approved plans cover roads, landscaping and stormwater management, and that the board talked through slope protection and wayfinding signs. The site has wetlands and seasonal pools to work around. No timeline has been announced for finishing the remaining sections.
This isn't a new idea for that land. Mount Olive's planning board granted a general development plan for the International Trade Center East property in late 2020, after hearings that summer and fall, according to the board's resolution posted on the township website. That plan, filed by New Jersey Foreign Trade Zone Venture, LLC, which was tied to the Rockefeller Group, covered nearly 124 acres in the FTZ-4 zone, where planned unit residential developments are allowed. It laid out three pieces: The Ridge, with 427 for-sale homes including 104 affordable units; The Canal, with 93 market-rate townhomes; and The Crossroads, with 166 rental apartments, 34 of them affordable. The 2020 approval also required affordable homes to be phased in alongside market-rate ones and called for homeowners associations to maintain roads, stormwater facilities and walking paths.
The project has since moved through the next steps. Mount Olive's Fourth Round housing element and fair share plan, adopted in June 2025 and filed with the courts, lists Continental Crossing on the same blocks and lots at 494 homes with 100 affordable for-sale units spread across three phases: 60 in phase 1, 16 in phase 2 and 24 in phase 3. The plan says the planning board gave preliminary approval for phases 1 through 3 and final approval for phase 1 in 2023, a phase 1 developer's agreement was signed, and phase 1 construction had started. The township counts those affordable units toward its state housing obligation.
Ryan Homes is currently selling new townhomes at a community called Mount Olive Grove Towns in Budd Lake, the same Mount Olive Grove name shown on the project's site plan, with prices listed from the high $500,000s and planned amenities including walking trails, tot lots, basketball courts and an amphitheater.
The fair share plan also points to more housing coming nearby. It lists a roughly 57-acre township-owned parcel at 3100 Continental Drive for a planned 109-unit, 100% affordable family rental project under an affordable housing overlay. That one hasn't been approved.
Why it matters for Contractors
With phase 1 already under construction, much of the framing, roofing and finish work on later phases will likely go to the builder's existing trade partners. If you're a sub in Morris County and you're not on that list yet, the approval of three more phases is a good reason to reach out.
The site work is where local excavation, utility and stormwater contractors may find openings. Wetlands, seasonal pools and slope protection all came up at the board level, and that usually means careful erosion control and drainage work over several phases.
Longer term, phases 2 through 4 plus a possible 109-unit affordable rental project on Continental Drive add up to steady residential work in one corner of Mount Olive. Watch the township planning board agendas for the 3100 Continental Drive application and any final approvals on the later phases.