Plan calls for 'signature' building up to 13 stories Would include hotel, conference center visible from Raritan bridges BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYREVILLE - A developer was recently designated to build an eight- to 13- story building at the entrance to the former National Lead property. The Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) unanimously approved a resolution Oct. 29 designating Surrey Equities, LLC, as the conditional redeveloper of the Atlantic Design Center property. The vacant site is located near Faith Fellowship Ministries on the Main Street Extension, off Chevalier Avenue. "We always wanted a signature building there, because that is a major entrance to the waterfront redevelopment area," SERA Executive Director Randy Corman told the mayor and Borough Council at its meeting Monday. The mixed-use project would involve a center that is similar to upscale businesses on Lexington Avenue in New York City, which sell high-end carpets, faucets and other furnishing wares, Corman said. It would include a hotel, restaurant, design center, conference center and offices, as well as space for parking. SERA made the designation at the recommendation of its professionals and after hearing public comment, according to the resolution, which also states that the designation expires in 90 days and will be extended with mutual consent between SERA and Surrey Equities. SERA Engineer David Samuel told Greater Media Newspapers that Surrey Equities has 90 days to submit its plans for the site, which was used by a strip mining operation many years ago. "He has 90 days to get this data in to us for more detailed review," Samuel said. The building could wind up being the tallest in the borough, as Samuel said that presently the tallest is a 10-story senior housing building in the Lakeview complex near Kennedy Park, off Washington Road. Samuel said the purchase price of the property will be negotiated between the property owner, First Industrial and Surrey Equities. The developer will establish a $10,000 escrow account for the project as one of the conditions of the designation. Surrey Equities' designation requires that it provide an amended concept plan describing the project in greater detail, including building elevations, renderings, and the anticipated location of proposed roads and ramps. SERA Chairman Raniero Travisano said that Surrey Equities approached the agency several months ago about constructing an eight- to 13-story building on the property, which will make it a highly visible landmark from the Edison Bridge. Although the proposal is to locate the building in close proximity to the 400-acre former National Lead site, it is not related to the NL redevelopment project. "It will be the approach to the NL property," Travisano said. "…This is property that those people were interested in, and we asked them to come in and show us what they propose to do there." Based on the presentation that the company made to SERA, Travisano said the business would be a good tax ratable. "We just thought it was a great idea," Travisano said. "Just the thought of having displays there from large manufacturing companies… they do it in New York, and we thought that to have something like that in Sayreville would bring a lot of people to Sayreville and a lot of jobs to Sayreville. It's a good ratable… [It would be] a good-looking building." The show rooms would allow for the sale of high-end plumbing fixtures, in addition to other furniture items, Travisano said. "They would be big commodity-type of show rooms," he said. "People would be able to see the displays and purchase them over there." "We are looking for it to be upscale," Travisano added. SERA designated Surrey Equities as the redeveloper of the site at the same meeting that it selected O'Neill Properties as redeveloper for National Lead. With the agency also looking to move forward on the redevelopment of the former Robert E. Lee site off Route 35, Travisano said he is pleased to see the progress being made with all of the projects so far. "I'm very happy that there is another redevelopment plan in the works," Travisano said, "and I am happy to see something else getting off the ground."