Towaco Crossing on Track for Spring '14 Opening

Those driving by will notice a substantial amount of work being done on the incoming Towaco Crossing at the train station. After breaking ground in April 2012, the estimated completion date is Spring 2014 for the mixed-use facility called Towaco Crossing LLC. It features Rails Steakhouse, six ground floor shops and six second floor apartments.

A more set opening date will be settled on as it nears the spring, but with factors such as weather and construction progress, it’s too early on to say. Towaco Crossing is located at 8 Whitehall Road in the Towaco section of Montville Township.

Rails, an upscale eatery, is located in the northern half of the building and the retail/apartments in the southern half. Covered walkways allow customers to walk easily from one to the other and the concept is to allow people to window shop on the way to Rails.

Towaco Crossing is the seed for the town center and hopes to spur a more connected and walkable revitalization of Main Road. There is already development and upgrades being done to the business strip across from Towaco Crossing and there will be more development on Main Road in the upcoming years.

The town rezoned the Towaco Crossing space, along with about a quarter-mile of Main Road, for mixed use for residents, retail and restaurants in hopes of transforming this section of town into a “beautiful main street,” said Ed Olimpio, VP Marketing for Rails Steakhouse and Towaco Crossing. “The local people are so excited for this. The surrounding towns all want to know what’s going on here … All the residents in the area supported this.”

Towaco Crossing features eco-friendly sensibilities, including LEED guidelines, and uses sustainable materials like heavy timber.

For Rails, “hopefully this is the flagship of a chain,” said Jim Stathis, design and construction manager.

Stathis “is a great person to construct a building with,” said Mike Franey, construction site supervisor. “We’re working with a very professional architect, Tony Garrett. Between Jim, Tony and I, we put this all together. It’s a truly design-build job.” The project’s architect is Anthony Garrett, of the Bilow Garrett Group in Ridgefield Park.

Check back with Patch for a full walkthrough of Rails and its features along with a video. Here’s a look Towaco Crossing’s other features, such as the residences and retail space.

Exterior

The building is to have four fronts to make it aesthetically appealing on all sides. To keep the aesthetics in mind, the large chimney actually houses large equipment such as the HVAC, restaurant equipment, etc …

There will be an “old-style railroad type of bridge” over the culvert that connects the existing railroad crosswalk and the Towaco Crossing building. “We negotiated with NJ Transit to lease some land from them to put in the bridge that goes from that walkway onto our property upstairs to rails,” said Stathis. “The town wanted us to connect both sides of the tracks because this is the future town center.”

From Main Street, passer bys will see large exposed timber frames as part of the architecture.

Local stone masons chip and lay real stone for the exterior façade. Classico Landscape Construction of Rockaway, “they’re the best masons in town. They hand-carve every stone,” said Stathis.

Retail

The retail section, known as The Village Shops At Towaco Crossing, may settled in after Rails because demand for the retail area will increase after Rails opens its doors.

“We have a boutique that’s interested in (a retail) space.” Retail stores could be flower shops, cafes “or possibly a bakery,” said Stathis.

There are no firm retail tenants as they just started giving tours to realtors and brokers.

Retail stores have flexible options to customize their space, including having walls of separation put up and choice of doors to use as their entrance/exit. Tenants can also have entrances from both the east and west side of the building.

There is one entrance that will be used for the restaurant, retail and residents, but residents will have a card-key door for a secured access.

A total of 6,600-square feet of space is in the plans for the shops and each shop will have secure storage space available in the basement as well as an on-site caretaker.

“Towaco Crossing is looking to draw certain types of businesses to the village shops—businesses that not only enhance the overall experience of the center, but will also fill a void in town. At the top of our list are cafés, boutiques, gift shops, specialty dessert stores or other eclectic operations,” said Towaco Crossing LLC. For information on renting at the Village Shops, click here.

Residences

Demand will be high for the six apartments, which offer 1 and 2 bedroom rentals. On top of being new construction, the apartments will, of course, be moments away from food, shopping and “It’s ideally located if you take the train,” said Stathis.

Each space offers hardwood floors throughout, marble baths with large shower enclosures in the bathrooms and granite countertops and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen. Each unit will come with secure storage space in the basement and the convenience of an on-site caretaker.

No pricing or availability dates are set just yet, but click here to join their mailing list and get updates when they become available.

They plan to start listing them after getting realtor through the space. However, they anticipate that it will be listed on the high end for 2-bedroom apartments.

To check out their floorplans, go here.

Check back with Patch for a full walkthrough of Rails and its features along with a video.