A developer on Monday will unveil a plan for new stores and housing downtown with a goal of bringing more people to live and shop there.Mayor Edward "Ted" Brennan said Viking is proposing a pair of three-story apartment buildings, more retail and more pedestrian paths on a 2-acre triangular piece of land between Centre Street, East Park Avenue and Chestnut Avenue. Viking Group's preliminary proposal, costing up to $19 million, would redevelop what is now mostly a vacant parking lot bordered by a closed bank, other businesses, a coffee shop, and a trail for walking and biking. It will present the plan at the Borough Council meeting Monday night. https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/2018/09/14/merchantville-downtown-redevelopment-plan-viking-associates/1285470002/

For all the borough has to offer, Brennan said Merchantville could stand to do a better job touting its virtues. Originally founded as a Philadelphia summer vacation community, the little shade tree borough has a lot of historic character and a nascent local business community that has gotten a boost in recent years. The Station Café, with its unique mix of coffee shop and arts center, also hosts the borough farmers market, and has become “a nice little cornerstone business,” Brennan said. Farther up the street, Eclipse Brewing, which took up shop in a former EMS building, offers craft beer at the edge of the central business district. http://bit.ly/2kCSug2

St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society, the nonprofit which specializes in rehabbing vacant properties and promoting homeownership, is “taking what we learned in Camden” and applying it to the suburban New Jersey towns of Pennsauken, Merchantville and Gloucester City, as well as Collingswood. Now, St. Joseph’s is preparing to rehab three properties in Collingswood with the help of the borough: a privately-owned twin at 19 Lees Ave.; a bank-owned bungalow at 254 Harvard Ave.; and a bank-owned large home at 634 Atlantic Ave. http://bit.ly/2kvhCpG

To Merchantville Mayor Ted Brennan, the Station cafe is the keystone to redevelopment in the heart of his borough’s business district. “For a long period of time, it’s just been corporate offices,” which provide ratables, but which don’t offer a unique cultural aspect, Brennan said. Adding a fine and performing arts space at the center of the borough downtown, however; that’s something he can work with. Read more at NJ Pen. http://bit.ly/1dJThoO

The New Jersey Appellate Division on Friday declined to revive a redeveloper's lawsuits over Merchantville, New Jersey's refusal to adopt an amendment to a redevelopment plan covering portions of the borough's downtown. The appellate court issued two separate unpublished opinions respectively rejecting Fieldstone Associates LP's suit

The Ragan Design Group is helping the Borough of Merchantville develop an Amended Redevelopment Plan for the triangular area defined by Centre, Park, and Chestnut. A redevelopment committee, comprised of residents and business owners, meet on a monthly basis. This page is intended to share information about the process