I generally like the color scheme and the design. I think one less level would have been more appropriate.

its SO out of place...all you see when you go over the bridge is this monster building.

Is it me, or does the siding have 2 different shades?

I like the design, but it's one story TOO HIGH, and the two different shades of beige have GOT to be changed! That looks terrible! Makes the building an eyesore! Didn't the contractor see that???

Please get businesses in there OTHER THAN another nail place or Chinese takeout. I love both, but I think we have enough of both in the area.

Glad to hear that the two-tone is temporary. Thank goodness! :-)
Otherwise, the design is pretty (although a bit too high for a corner structure.)

Where are the restaurants? What's being done to attract and retain restaurants? I have to go to westfield for good food, fatfree yogart and Super Cuts.

The structure is way too imposing to be so close to the sidewalk. The shadows darken the street.

Let's remember that the block is not yet finished and there will be at least two additional 3 story buildings and one addition 4 story building as it segues' into Helen Ling's 3 story building on South Avenue. I've also heard that some of the building along Martine now want to go up at least to 3 stories.....it won't look so out of place once it's ALL done and it's still several stories shy of downtown Hoboken and other similar new construction sites. Besides.....can you name any other town along the Raritan Valley Line whose downtown doesn't have buildings at least this high and did we forget that the Chelsea is also 4 stories and higher up on a hill.....it's all a matter of perspective.

What's happening to the Dean Oil property? Will the contamination ever be cleaned up, and that building on Second Street renovated?

The site has been cleaned and the owners are trying to sell it. As for that ugly building....it's up to the owner as to what he chooses to do and when to do it.

This building is an example of the beigeification of America.

a few comments...
1) The design is supposed to emulate the train station? Look closely, I'd say it looks nothing like the train station.
2) The mayor talks about another bank in the space? Really? There are three banks within a block in three directions now!
3) Why would we want to look like Hoboken???
Hideous, just hideous.

1000 years from now, its ruins will remind what's left of the world what a great race the Fanwoodians were. Though it actually looks more like shore condos to me. And I thought only we Scotch Plains residents made McMansion zoning decisions! Maybe all this merger talk is making Fanwood finally embrace the SP mentality. Can town council yelling matches and anonymous nj.com forum slandering be far behind?

so the real question is, did the tax payers of fanwood fund this project?

Beautiful !!!!

I'm Holden Magroin and my friends the Rackisore's are hoping to move into this building. Can anyone tell me who Mike and Jules should contact?

It is all about business coming in to expand tbe tax base and reduce residential tax burden or at least reduce the rate of increase. Hopefully coupled with the town merger we can have a coherent strategy for reducing overlap and cutting spending.

Much improved that corner of own. Good job as long as respectable businesses go in.

anyone who thinks that having more businesses there is going to lower are taxes must not have lived in NJ long enough! it is too tall of a building and is an eyesore. And as someone else said, why do we have to look like all of the other towns along the railroad line. FAIL!

"our" taxes

That is terrible! Aside from a major collapse in zoning purpose, it looks like a complete failure of benefit to the families of Fanwood. It's poorly planning, equally executed and lacks any traditional neighborhood aesthetic. That mess looks like a university dorm sitting on what was once a quaint little hometown. It does however make me appreciate my childhood memories of the Fanwood which my friends and I were raised together in.
I'll take the gravel lot, creosote piling defined parking area that once served the Ol school boutique small businesses of that strip.. Any day.

Forget about the color scheme or even the design for a second. Its too big. It is so out of place it will be like walking in a tunnel on that area. Why would they think a building that towers over all the others was the right thing to put there? There will be hours of the day that part of Martine won't get any sun since it will be blocked by this multi-story building.

Hi, I am not Holden Magroin and I do not want to live in the Hoboken of Union County.

For the record, I am not too happy with the building either, but some points are worth noting. 1) There WERE public meetings that addressed raising the height of the building. This discussion was out in the open - whether the result conformed with expectations is another question worth exploring, but the process was followed. 2) If we do want stablilized property taxes that come with a redeveloped downtown while at the same time minimizing direct government involvement, there are only so many ways we can go - like it or not there has to be some give-and-take in how redevelopment takes place. 3) That being said, it is the developer's problem to fill the building, which is as it should be. However, 4) EVERYONE may have to do a rethink on how that happens.

The nature of a "downtown" is itself changing. Personally, I hate going to the highway, a mall, or ticket-happy neighboring towns for everything I buy - expensive gasoline will only accelerate this, but developers and retailers are only now beginning to adjust, and fitfully at that. See

http://www.economist.com/node/21548241

http://www.economist.com/node/18178507

My point is that, eventually, we may end up with some sort of "Town Square" variation on Mayor Mahr's "Transit Village" by default (and in bits and pieces) simply because that is the way the retail wind is blowing. It may not be my aesthetic ideal, but with enough "enlightened flexibility" everyone may get what they need.

I was surprised to see this apartment building being built in Fanwood. Fanwood is or used to be a small quaint upper middle class borough of single family homes with garages, yards and quality schools, where everyone knew everyone else or at least everyone's business. Studies have shown that when there is density in the suburbs there is a slum. Look at the suburban areas where there is high density Elizabeth, Hoboken, Jersey City etc. Only a large city such as New York City can have high density and not be a slum. NYC offers good theater, good restaurants, good shopping etc but it lacks quality schools for all, spacious homes, parking, and yards. Its a nice place to visit but do you want to live there.