Union Center is getting another big piece of new construction. The Union Township Planning Board has signed off on a six-story mixed-use building at Stuyvesant and Morris avenues, along with a 24,000-square-foot public plaza, as the next step in developer Landmark's Centurion Union Center project (via News 12).
The building calls for 113 rental apartments over about 10,000 square feet of first-floor retail, with 143 parking spaces in a structured garage. The plaza is meant to be a gathering spot, with room for outdoor dining and community events.
Landmark says the existing buildings on that corner will come down to make way for the project. News 12 reported it wasn't clear what happens to the businesses there now, and the township hadn't answered its questions about them as of Saturday evening.
This is far from Landmark's first building in the area. The company was named redeveloper for the township's Stuyvesant Avenue Redevelopment Project, and Centurion has been going up in phases for years. Back in early 2022, when the planning board approved the fifth phase, ROI-NJ reported that the first phase brought 80 apartments that started leasing in September 2020, followed by a second phase with 75 homes and seven retailers. That fifth phase, at 968 Bonnel Court, was a five-story building with a two-level garage at the base, including 105 public parking spaces, and 85 apartments above. At the time, the paper noted downtown Union hadn't seen new residential construction in more than 30 years.
The plan has grown since then. In 2022, the full project was pegged at more than 320 homes and roughly 27,000 square feet of retail across five buildings. Landmark now says Centurion has 267 rental homes finished and nearly 15,000 square feet of retail occupied, and it expects about 472 homes, 45,000 square feet of retail and six buildings at full buildout.
New York YIMBY, which covered the approval, reported that MHS Architecture designed the new building to match the materials, colors and window patterns of the earlier Centurion buildings. Melillo Bauer Carman Landscape Architecture designed the plaza, which will be framed by the new building and a second mixed-use building that's already under construction. A landscaped walkway is planned to connect the plaza to a public parking garage recently finished on the site, and setbacks above the fourth and fifth floors will give some upper units private terraces.
Not everyone is sold. Some residents told News 12 they worry about more traffic and tighter parking in an area that's already busy. Others welcomed it. "And as long as they make it affordable, I don't see why not," said John Alves. Ruben Hernandez said cleaning up the area should bring more customers to nearby businesses.
No construction start or completion dates have been made public for the new building.
Why it matters for Contractors
A six-story building with structured parking is a big-GC job, but projects like this spread work around. Demolition, site work, concrete, framing, MEP, roofing, windows and a full slate of interior finishes all get bid out, and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail usually means separate tenant fit-out work once leases are signed.
The plaza is its own package too: hardscape, landscaping, site lighting and outdoor dining areas are the kind of scopes smaller local subs can chase.
Landmark has been building in Union Center for years and has more phases planned, so it's worth getting on the radar of the developer and whoever ends up as general contractor. Keep an eye on Union Township planning board and building department activity for permit filings that show when this one is moving.