Fanwood to Seek Developer for Bank Site

The Borough of Fanwood will seek developers to purchase the site of the Sovereign Bank, but it will not purchase the site itself, Mayor Colleen Mahr said Tuesday evening at the borough council meeting.  

Mahr’s comments came in response to an article in last week's Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times that led some to believe that the borough was considering the purchase of the Sovereign Bank site. 

“There was an article in the local paper that led to the belief that the Borough of Fanwood was going to be purchasing the Sovereign Bank site downtown and I want to take this moment to clarify that that is not what I said at that meeting or insinuated at that meeting,” Mahr said. “The borough is not in any position to purchase real estate downtown. We have done our share in moving the development forward.” 

But the mayor made it clear that she believes the closing of the Sovereign Bank branch will boost the borough's redevelopment efforts. With Sovereign Bank out of the picture, the property will increase the available frontage along South Avenue, which could make the property more attractive to developers. 

 “What I had expressed was that I felt the closing of Sovereign Bank on June 19 was not a bad thing for the redevelopment efforts because it freed up the potential for that site,” Mahr said. “The bank owns that property, which is situated right in the middle of the redevelopment, across the street from the train station, so it’s a vital, critical piece to the overall redevelopment efforts that we’re advancing,” she added. “From the borough’s point of view, while we are sorry to see the branch close, it’s a good opportunity for a developer, because they now have more opportunities to create what they want to create there."

The borough controls the property right next door to the Sovereign space, the former Livingston Wilbur site and Mahr said the borough would approach any developer interested in the bank property to offer them the adjacent land. "When you put the two pieces together, whoever has the financial wherewithal to purchase the bank, we will be talking to about purchasing the borough’s property, to give them about 150 feet of prime real estate in a redevelopment effort across the street from a train station that will see ‘one-seat ride’ within the next decade," the mayor said.

Mahr sees the improved mass transit service as a big boost to Fanwood's re-development potential. "Right now, you have to change trains in Newark," she said. "With the ground-breaking this past week of the third tunnel they’re going to build to go into New York, this is a huge, major advance.”