Cranford looks to small-scale growth

The Town of Cranford, New Jersey, still has a traditional, mixed-use downtown, and town officials are taking a proactive approach to staying competitive while keeping growth small-scale and incremental. Alberto & Associates of Odessa, Delaware, has prepared a plan for the redevelopment of an underutilized part of downtown, south of the New Jersey Transit commuter train tracks and station. The elevated tracks present a barrier between the redevelopment area and the mixed-use downtown. To overcome this obstacle, the plan combines improvements to a pedestrian underpass with the creation of a plaza on a site currently occupied by a surface parking lot. The plaza will be flanked by a parking garage with liner shops and a new office and retail building. Two-story townhouses will create a transition to the single-family homes nearby, and along with new three- and four-story apartment buildings will create 83 new residences downtown. The redevelopment plan also includes a four-story hotel and restaurant complex on the banks of the Rahway River. The first building to get underway, an 8,500-square-foot bank, is designed in accordance with the classical architectural style called for in the plan.