By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – The township committee has designated the Circus Liquors property along Route 35 as an area in need of redevelopment for condemnation purposes, initiating the process of taking ownership of it.
The Azzolina family has owned the parcel for decades but their plans to develop the site with high-density housing instead of commercial spaces were in violation of the redevelopment agreement they had with the township.
Pursuant to the Circus Liquors Redevelopment Plan, the governing body, at its latest meeting, condemned the site, bringing it back on track for the intended commercial redevelopment.
The commercial tract is the remaining part of a larger 126-acre property owned by the Azzolina family under the company Mountain Hill LLC. In 2017, the township entered into a redevelopment agreement with the family for the entire 126-acre parcel. In 2018, the township adopted the Circus Liquor Redevelopment Plan, subdividing the property into a residential and commercial tract.
While approximately 80 acres of the tract have already been developed by Toll Brothers into 350 townhomes with 70 affordable units, the redevelopment process for the nearly 52-acre commercial tract that includes the Circus Liquors retail store and a cluster of adjoining parcels on Route 35 has been waiting in the wings for several years.
The commercial tract is located along Route 35 by Kings Highway East and is known for the landmark Calico “evil clown.”
“The Circus Liquors site is blighted and has not been fully productive since the 1990s,” Middletown Mayor Tony Perry told The Two River Times in September.
According to Perry, the Azzolina family has been claiming a farmland tax exemption by harvesting the remaining trees on the site; township records show they paid $87,285.84 in taxes in 2023 for the 52-acre commercial tract.
The commercial tract was previously being studied for noncondemnation purposes and was approved for an approximately 340,000-square-foot retail center called Village 35/The Shoppes At Middletown, to include tenants such as Wegmans, a movie theater, a sports bar and more. But with the onset of the pandemic, “a lot of commercial tenants started to back away, didn’t want to expand anymore,” Anthony Mercantante, the Middletown Township administrator, told The Two River Times last year. Mercantante confirmed that the developer, National Realty, which had proposed to build the commercial spaces, withdrew its application in July 2020.
Last summer, the Azzolina family entered into a purchase contract with redeveloper AAMHMT Properties LLC., with plans to build high-density residential units on the property instead of the agreed-upon commercial spaces. The governing body denied the residential plan proposal because it was in conflict with the township’s redevelopment agreement.
The township was then served with a builder’s remedy lawsuit by AAMHMT in August 2023, which claimed that the township was not fulfilling its fair share housing obligations as mandated by the state.
In order to advance redevelopment of the commercial tract pursuant to the redevelopment plan, the governing body directed the township’s planning board in August to investigate the property as an area in need of redevelopment for condemnation purposes according to the criteria set forth in the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law of the state. The law allows the township to use eminent domain to take ownership of a property that meets certain criteria for condemnation, in exchange for fair market value. Its purpose is to encourage and assist redevelopment of an area consistent with the goals and objectives of the community, which generally includes upgraded structures and improvements in the area.
In February the planning board recommended the township designate the Circus Liquors site as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment based on evidence presented in the Condemnation Investigation Report conducted by Francis Reiner of DMR Architects, a Hasbrouck Heights-based architecture and planning firm.
During the meeting, Reiner provided an overview of each parcel on the property, noting if it meets the condemnation statutes. Reiner’s report included a detailed analysis of the deterioration of onsite single-family homes as well as the Circus Liquor store. The report highlighted the dilapidated and unsanitary state of several structures and safety concerns. Reiner also noted police reports that show vehicle accidents within the parking lot of Circus Liquors that he attributed to “faulty arrangement and design.”
At the Feb. 20 township committee meeting, the governing body concurred with the planning board’s recommendation and adopted a resolution designating the Circus Liquors site as an area in need of redevelopment for condemnation purposes. They further authorized a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to solicit proposals from qualified redevelopers, bringing matters up to speed that had slowed down due to the socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article originally appeared in the February 29 –March 6, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
