Sovereign Bank Building to Be Demolished Soon

The building that formerly housed Sovereign Bank on South Avenue in Fanwood is nearing its final days.

During a redevelopment agency meeting of the council Wednesday night, it was announced that the redeveloper of the site, Elite Properties, has indicated that it plans to demolish the building soon.

Diane Dabulas of Rogut McCarthy LLC, the firm overseeing Fanwood's downtown redevelopment, told the council that she has been in close contact with Elite Properties, speaking with them as recently as Wednesday, and that the group is moving right along with its plans to develop a mixed-use building on the site. They've just completed phase one on the property, she said, and they're now in the bidding to get an environmental engineer to come on site.

"They'd like to meet with us to take this to the next level, to nail down the plan," Dabulas said. "Their ideas are innovative, but right along with what we've been wanting to do on that site for quite a few years."

Elite Properties purchased the Sovereign Bank site a few months ago, and in December was officially appointed by the borough as the conditional redeveloper of the property.

The Warren-based group boasts of its family-run mentality and familiarity with Fanwood.

During a special meeting of the Redevelopment Agency in December, Elite Properties' David Checchio told the council that his company, which consists of his father, brother, and two other partners, is committed to seeing out the vision already established for downtown.

"We're very excited about this progress because we know Fanwood," Checchio said, noting that he and his brother were raised nearby in Scotch Plains and his father is the treasurer of the Scotch Plains Italian-American Club. "We're familiar with your vision and we share that vision." 

Dabulas said that based on the indications the company has given her, they could be ready to sit down with the borough in February or March to go over contracts and legal issues associated with their plans.

"Sovereign Bank is the critical piece (of Fanwood's redevelopment) and at some point we'll have to go into executive session to start going over contracts and legal issues," Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr said Wednesday night. "We have to negotiate with them the redevelopment agreement that ultimately documents what they're building, where they're building it and what it looks like."

Elite Properties purchased the Sovereign Bank site with the idea that it will also likely purchase the Livingston-Wilbur site for development once it's ready for that step.

Dabulas also provided an update on the Livingston-Wilbur site Wednesday night, stating that Eco Science, the group overseeing the groundwater and soil testing on the property, submitted its site investigation report to the Department of Environmental Protection that day and will move on to complete a remedial investigation report and action work plan once it hears back from the DEP.

The site investigation report identified contaminants on the back corner of the property, which they think is most likely the result of the railroad ties and historical fill that inhabited the space when there was a lumber yard there years ago.

While Dabulas noted that the next report will establish the volume of the contaminant in that back corner, Mayor Colleen Mahr also pointed out that the front end of the property was found to be in pretty good shape. That, she said, is the most developable portion of land.

Councilman Mike Szuch, who has a background in wastewater operations, questioned potential plans to pump the contaminated groundwater out the site, rather than treating it, noting that he thought doing so could risk contaminating neighboring properties.

"Pumping creates an area that's going downhill, when you really think it's going away," he said.

Mayor Mahr said that she hopes such a situation won't occur, but stated that Eco Sciences will be invited to speak before the redevelopment agency before any decisions are made.

In other news in downtown redevelopment, Dabulas reported that the Station Square property downtown has completed its site cleanup as required by the DEP.

"They're hoping for February that they'll have approval to the planning board to subdivide the lots to sell before moving forward with the final site plan," Dabulas said. "The biggest hurdle was the DEP cleanup. They hit additional groundwater that wasn't anticipated, and that slowed progress down. They've got the worst behind them and hopefully they'll be able to move along."

Jeffrey Realty Inc. is also in the process of trying to sell the property on the corner of South and Martine avenues. The borough received the site plan for that property about a year ago, Dabulas said, but the developer indicated about two months ago that it will not be proceeding.

Also downtown, the Lings, who own the building housing Enchantments, have fully leased out all the apartments in their mixed-use property, as has Ronnie Marcovecchio, who owns Fanwood Clippers and the accompanying building. One of Marcovecchio's tenants also indicated this week that he'd like to purchase one of the first-floor spaces for an office, which is allowed through a rule that OK's 25 percent of the first floor being used for such purposes.