Town approves deal to sell old police station site

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

The Township Committee voted 5-0 Oct. 4 to sell the former police headquarters on Dunnell Road to a developer that will build a 50-unit apartment building.

The new owner, JERC Partners XVIII LLC, is a subsidiary of Asbury-based J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc, the firm with whom township officials have been negotiating since June.

The sale is priced at $1.75 million, but the new owner will get a $140,000 credit for building four affordable housing units and up to a $500,000 credit for demolishing the former headquarters and handling asbestos remediation.

Combined, those credits could knock $640,000 off the sale price, but still leave the township with more than a $1 million in net revenue.

“You have to subsidize affordable housing or otherwise it doesn’t get built,” Mayor Vic De Luca said after the Township Committee meeting.

De Luca said the developer would start construction next October and be wrapped up in two years. But last month, the president of Petrucci, Jim Petrucci, said he could envision work starting in March and taking 10 months to complete.

The former police building has been vacant since 2008, the year the department relocated to Springfield Avenue.

A commercial building located next door is also for sale, potentially another property Petrucci could acquire.

An informal public meeting, for residents to learn about the project and ask questions, will be tonight at 7:30 in Town Hall.