It’s old. It’s empty. It’s blighted.
That’s according to Morristown’s planner, who told the planning board on Thursday that an office building on one of the downtown’s choicest corners should become the next redevelopment project–even if the town must seize the property through eminent domain.
“The board is within its rights to designate this as an area in need of redevelopment, condemnation or not,” Planner Phil Abramson said of 6 Washington St.
Vacant for a decade, the former home of law firm Schenck Price Smith & King could be redeveloped for multi-family housing, offices, retail, restaurants or galleries, Abramson said.
Sitting diagonally across from the historic Morristown Green at the intersection of Washington and Bank streets, the property actually comprises three structures that have been combined since they were erected circa 1870.
Grafted together with staircases and hallways inaccessible to wheelchairs, overlapping parking lots, and confusing ownership, the buildings at 2, 6 and 10 Washington St. are difficult to improve or sell, Abramson said.
It’s a “faulty arrangement” and an “obsolete layout,” which are among criteria established by the state for declaring an area needs redeveloping, he said.
During an hour-long Zoom presentation, Abramson showed images of moldy ceilings, exposed wiring, crumbling bricks and water-damaged basements, from inspections he made in March and August for a voluminous report this month.
“The things you saw are avoidable and repairable. They could be addressed, but they have not been addressed, for as long as I’ve been here as the planner,” Abramson told the board.
These conditions, he contended, satisfy more legal criteria for redevelopment:
The generality of buildings are substandard, unsafe, unsanitary, dilapidated, or obsolescent, or possess any of such characteristics, or are so lacking in light, air, or space, as to be conducive to unwholesome living or working conditions.
The board may vote for redevelopment when it reconvenes on Oct. 22, 2020. Then it’s up to the town council, which doubles as the redevelopment authority, to accept, reject or modify that recommendation. The council authorized the study back in February.
Construction crews have been busy stamping out Morristown “blight” in recent years. Redevelopment projects include apartments nearing completion around the corner on Bank Street, and The Loft apartments on DeHart Street.
The Loft completed the Epstein’s department store metamorphosis, which began in the early 2000s with the 40 Park condos and Metropolitan apartments that ushered in the redevelopment boom.
Down the hill from the Green, a strip mall has been cleared for the M Station office/retail complex. Further down Morris Street, apartments are planned. The Modera 44 and 55 apartments and a CVS pharmacy are pieces of Speedwell Avenue’s redevelopment.
Owners of the Washington Street property are not keen on joining this club, however.
Attorney Michael Ash represents Penobscot Management LLC, the Teaneck corporation overseeing an assortment of entities that bought the three Washington Street structures in 2010 for a combined price of $6.3 million.
Ash unsuccessfully sought an adjournment on Thursday, saying he needed time to line up expert witnesses to counter the town’s arguments.
Earlier in the day, he submitted written objections to the town. The lawyer pressed for them to be made public, and was assured by a town official during the meeting that they were posted on the town website. But as of late Thursday, Ash’s objections had not been posted.
Ash also asked for posting of Abramson’s Zoom presentation for all to see. That drew a stern rebuke from planning board Attorney John Inglesino.
“Mr. Ash, you don’t come up with the rules for the board, and you don’t write the laws which the board will follow,” Inglesino said.
“Mr. Abramson’s presentation is part of the public record, and is accessible by any member of the public who so chooses to see it. Whether or not the town will post Mr. Abramson’s presentation on the website is a decision solely made by the board, respectfully. Not by you.”
The town posts Zoom replays of council meetings, but not of other boards. This summer’s planning board hearings on the controversial M Station project, for example, are unavailable online.
Thursday’s three-and-a-half hour session ended with some virtual levity, courtesy of the Zoom gods.
As Mayor Tim Dougherty attempted to pose questions about a different project, his disembodied audio sounded more and more like a B-movie robot drifting to a distant nebula.
“I…come…in…peace,” deadpanned lawyer Frank Vitolo.
Sounds nice. Can we get a rooftop bar/restaurant please? Perfect area for it.
Great news! I can’t wait to see the concept.
“Further down Morris Street, apartments are planned.”
How “fur?”