A project by 50 Union Street Realty LLC, a subsidiary of Premier Properties, calls for 150 studio apartments at 50 Union St. in downtown New Brunswick. — Rendering by Steven Schoch/Courtesy: Premier Properties
By Joshua Burd
A developer has secured a key entitlement for a proposed 150-unit luxury apartment building in the heart of Rutgers University’s campus in downtown New Brunswick.
According to the applicant, a subsidiary of Premier Properties, the $60 million project calls for consolidating properties at 40, 46 and 50 Union St. That would pave the way for a collection of studio apartments with amenities such as a 1,300-square-foot fitness room, several lounge and gaming areas with televisions and laundry facilities on each floor.
The proposal by 50 Union Street Realty LLC received preliminary and final site plan approval last month from the city’s zoning board.
“This building will compete with the finest, comparable, off-campus student housing projects in the country,” Premier Properties’ Mitchell Broder told the zoning board, according to a news release. His firm secured a variance for the building’s height, among others, noting that the structure is slated to exceed 84 feet.
Premier Properties and its affiliate, Construction Management Associates, have already redeveloped the three parcels under a previous project in which it replaced abandoned fraternity houses with private student housing, the news release said. It did not provide an exact date for the start of construction on the new project, whose architect is Steven Schoch, with a design that includes red, orange and tan exterior materials.
“So, while the units stack efficiently going up, there’s visually a lot going on in the façade, window configurations and materials, different colors and textures that break that up,” Schoch said.
The first floor will feature a coffee bar with high-top stools, a mail and package management room and several seating areas, such as booths and tables conducive to studying, the news release said. The developer also plans to install a rooftop solar system with the goal of providing power to all of the building’s common areas.
Additionally, the project will include 67 off-street parking spaces, 12 of which are electric vehicle charging stations, with entrances to parking off Union and Mine streets. There will also be 42 spaces for bicycles.
“Looking back to when we first acquired the property at 50 Union St. approximately 25 years ago, my only regret now was not taking pictures of the Union Street scape at the time,” Broder said. “Union Street was known to be unsafe and troublesome with primarily unkept fraternity houses. Over the years, we have essentially reinvented the whole street including redeveloping seven different properties.
“We even conceived and implemented a street branding concept to include poles and banners down the whole of Union Street,” he added.
