Warehouses, shops coming to Route 33
Facility will house retail, office and flexible space
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The township is welcoming a new, large-scale commercial development to part of its portion of the Route 33 corridor.

After receiving the architectural standards for a proposed nine-lot subdivision off Route 33, the Planning Board unanimously granted the project's final approval at its June 13 meeting.

Riverside Center, owned by 33 Associates, will develop nine lots in Millstone on 57.7 acres in the planned commercial development (PCD) zone. The property is located on the westbound side of Route 33 and straddles the border of Monmouth and Middlesex counties. The developer owns another nine lots on 71 acres in adjacent Monroe Township.

Greg Clark, the applicant's architect, said there will be many different types of buildings in the subdivision, but they will be homogeneous in terms of their looks and configuration. He said the complex will be made of split-face concrete blocks and stucco accents in earth tones.

All the buildings "are meant to be tied together materially," he said.

Buildings won't have vinyl siding, which he called more of a residential look than a commercial one. Clark also said buildings won't have cedar siding either, since it is not appropriate for buildings of this scale.

"Metal panels could be used under some circumstances," he said. "A wide palette of earth tones can be used."

The complex will have various types of roofing, but the buildings will look traditional, Clark said. The use of metal roofing will be encouraged whereas fiberglass, shingle roofing will be discouraged, he said. The metals will not be bright, according to Clark.

The warehouse buildings in the development will have flat roofs, punctuated with cornices and parapets, he said.

Each lot in the commercial subdivision will have to go before the board as separate site plan applications for individual approval.

The applicant's attorney, William Mehr, said the retail, commercial and office buildings will be in the front of the property, while the larger warehouse structures will be in the back and also on the Monroe side. He said that sign requirements for the different types of buildings will vary.

Clark said signs would be architecturally compatible with the building they represent.

Mehr said sign colors have universal standards, and that there are 75 varieties of red, for example. However, he said the town could choose a series of acceptable reds from all those varieties so that people preparing their signs would have set standards.

The board decided that any type of light-emitting diode (LED) signs would be unacceptable.