(rshsdepot) Bound Brook, NJ

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Courier News.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Bound Brook seeks new tenant for NJ Transit station
 
By KARA L. RICHARDSON
Staff Writer
 
The borough is looking for someone to fix up and operate a restaurant at  the 
local NJ Transit station.
 
The brick station is on the westbound side of the tracks, facing East Main  
Street downtown. It is the centerpiece of the borough's Transit Village  
designation and yet, it has sat empty for the past year.
 
The station had been home to The Rail, a sports bar that closed when the  
borough foreclosed on the operator's lease for nonpayment, Council President Jim  
Lefkowitz said. The bar had been there for about a decade, he said.
 
This summer, the borough looked to start fresh with a new operator of the  
space. Officials put out a Request For Proposal with a Nov. 5 deadline. However, 
 no one showed up to the Oct. 15 walk-through of the building that was 
mandatory  for all developers who wanted to bid on the project, borough Clerk Donna 
Marie  Godleski said. Now it is up to the borough council, which meets again 
on Oct.  28, to decide what to do next.
 
At least 800 commuters pass through the train station daily — an increase  of 
10 percent from the previous year.
 
Plus, Lefkowitz said, the train station sits amid several of the borough's  
redevelopment projects, bringing both new residents and other businesses to  
town.
 
"As far as a captive audience goes, you've got it here," Lefkowitz said  
about hundreds of commuters, along with the surrounding community.
 
NJ Transit owns the station and leases it to the borough, NJ Transit  
spokesman Joe Dee said.
 
"We welcome the borough's initiative to lease restaurant space in the  
station because it will provide an amenity for our customers and will promote  
business activity in the downtown district," Dee said in a written  statement.
 
Lefkowitz, a Republican, and Councilman Anthony Pranzatelli, a Democrat,  
hope a healthy business takes on the project.
 
The Request For Proposal, which offered a five-year lease, stipulated that  
the station's new operator must be an experienced "high-quality food service  
operation, but may also include other retail services."
 
The new operator would be responsible for improvements and paying rent. The  
amount of rent was not stipulated in the Request For Proposal.
 
Manisha Patel, who owns the neighboring convenience store, Quick Stop, is  
glad the borough is looking for a new retail outlet in the train station.
 
"It's good when there's something good in town," Patel said, adding that he  
hopes that a new business would also draw people from out of town as The Rail  
once did. She said her business has dipped slightly since The Rail closed a 
year  ago.
 
"It will be good for the town. It will be good for my business too," Patel  
said.
 
Pranzatelli said the station project is even more important in the age of  
escalating fuel prices and more people using public transportation.
 
The Request For Proposal stipulates that the new operator must keep the  
historic elements of the train station.
 
The borough operates the NJ Transit train station and has the state  
historical go-ahead to make about $600,000 in improvements to the eastbound side  of 
the station.
 
The borough also is working to make the station more pedestrian friendly  and 
create better signage for the various parking areas for the train  station.
 
Another project moving forward at the train station is getting rid of the  
abandoned contents of The Rail. Stacks of dishes from the former operator sit  
below a dimpled-glass sign for the Bound Brook Ticket Office.
 
At a glance
 
What: Bound Brook auctions old restaurant kitchen equipment and other  items
 
When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25
 
Where: NJ Transit station, 350 E. Main St., Bound  Brook
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1792
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org