Livana Livingston: Inside the 280-Unit Westminster Hotel Redevelopment

Livana Livingston is rising at 550 and 570 West Mount Pleasant Avenue, on the nine-acre site where the Westminster Hotel and the former Somerset Regal Bank building stood — both Kushner-owned, both now demolished. The project delivers two buildings designed by Lessard Design: a four-story, 160-unit building reserved for residents 55 and older (a legal age-restricted designation), and a five-story, 120-unit building open to all ages, with 56 affordable apartments blended across the two. Units run from one-bedrooms to two-bedrooms-plus-den, and the amenity roster is extensive — coworking spaces, a fitness center and yoga studio, saunas and steam rooms in the 55-plus building, a golf simulator, movie room, speakeasy lounge, community garden, pickleball courts, and a rooftop terrace among them. Ground broke on June 26, 2025 with township officials in attendance; completion is slated for 2027, when the project becomes Livingston's largest new rental address and a meaningful piece of the township's affordable-housing delivery. This is a news report in our development series — statuses are as of publication, and we'll update it as the project reaches leasing and opening.

The site's story is a full real-estate cycle in miniature. More than twenty years ago, Kushner acquired a former Travelodge on West Mount Pleasant Avenue and repositioned it into the Westminster Hotel — an upscale property that became a fixture for events and gatherings in the developer's own hometown. The firm owned and operated the hotel for two decades before closing it to pursue what its executives described as a higher and better use for the land.

The hotel and the adjacent former Somerset Regal Bank building — also Kushner-owned — have both been demolished, clearing the full nine-acre assemblage. In their place comes the residential project the site's zoning and the township's housing plan anticipated: the largest new rental development Livingston has seen in years, under Kushner's Livana brand, launched in 2024 and already home to converted-site communities in East Hanover and Fair Lawn.

Here's the project as announced, from the developer and its architect, Lessard Design:

The positioning is explicit. "Livana was envisioned with the goal of providing refined rental communities that speak to how people want to live today," said Nicole Kushner Meyer, Kushner's president, at the groundbreaking — a statement of the lifestyle-rental thesis the two-building, two-audience design embodies.

Construction is underway following the June 26, 2025 groundbreaking, attended by Kushner leadership and Livingston Township officials, with completion slated for 2027. For the town, the impacts are specific and mostly positive: the project replaces a shuttered hotel and a vacant bank building on the Route 10 commercial corridor — not a residential street — so it adds housing without touching the single-family fabric. Its 56 affordable apartments are a significant piece of the township's already-satisfied 2025–2035 affordable-housing plan, and the 160 age-restricted units give Livingston downsizers a brand-new rental path that keeps them in town.

For relocating families, Livana will join ParkVue as a true "rent first, buy right" option — land in Livingston, enroll in the schools, learn the sections, then buy with confidence. And for owners of Livingston's scarce condos and townhomes, note what this project is not: it's rental, not for-sale product, so it adds zero competing for-sale inventory — if anything, it deepens the pool of future buyers already living in town. We'll update this report as Livana reaches pre-leasing and opening; check with the developer for current timing.

If Livana is part of your Livingston plan — as a downsizing landing spot or a rent-first move — get on the developer's interest list early and watch for pre-leasing, which for projects like this typically opens months before doors do. First-wave renters at a new lease-up usually see the best unit selection and often the sharpest introductory terms, and the 160-unit 55-plus building in particular will draw from a deep local downsizer pool the moment it opens. Meanwhile, if you're a homeowner planning to sell and move into Livana, the 2027 timeline is your planning anchor — we can sequence the sale to land your closing against the building's opening.

"I've watched a lot of towns fight their big projects. Livana is the other kind of story — a shuttered hotel on Route 10 becoming 280 homes, with the affordable units the town's plan needed and an age-restricted building that lets longtime Livingston owners downsize without leaving. For my sellers, that last part is the quiet headline: every downsizer Livana absorbs is a Livingston house coming to market with my buyers ready for it. When it opens in 2027, this project will move the chess board — and we'll be ready."

— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team

Tracking a town's biggest projects — and turning them into timing and opportunity for clients — is exactly what a broker with government experience should do. I'm Anthony Licciardello, Broker of The Prodigy Team: a former Director of Community Affairs in the Bloomberg Administration, dual-licensed in New York and New Jersey, and a leading broker for cross-border New York–New Jersey transactions, bringing the New York market to New Jersey sellers.

Our Above the Streets cinematic drone series documents Livingston as it grows — aerial storytelling with audience performance exceeding industry benchmarks for real estate media.

Anthony Licciardello · Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345

Downsizing into it, renting first, or selling to buyers it brings to town — we'll build the timeline with you.

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What happened to the Westminster Hotel in Livingston?

Kushner, which owned and operated the hotel for about two decades after repositioning a former Travelodge, closed it and demolished it along with the adjacent former Somerset Regal Bank building. On the cleared nine-acre site at 550 and 570 West Mount Pleasant Avenue, the firm broke ground on June 26, 2025 on Livana Livingston, a 280-unit two-building rental community slated for completion in 2027.

What will Livana Livingston include?

Two buildings by Lessard Design: a four-story, 160-unit building reserved for residents 55 and older, and a five-story, 120-unit building open to all ages, with 56 affordable apartments across both. Homes range from one-bedrooms to two-bedrooms-plus-den, and announced amenities include coworking spaces, a fitness center and yoga studio, saunas and steam rooms in the 55-plus building, a golf simulator, movie room, speakeasy lounge, community garden, pickleball courts, and a rooftop terrace.

When will Livana Livingston open?

Completion is slated for 2027, following the June 26, 2025 groundbreaking. Pre-leasing for projects of this type typically opens ahead of completion — join the developer's interest list if you're planning around it, and confirm current timing with Kushner as construction proceeds.

Will Livana affect Livingston home values?

It's rental product on the Route 10 commercial corridor, so it adds no competing for-sale inventory and doesn't touch the single-family neighborhoods. Its practical effects: 56 affordable units toward the township's satisfied housing plan, a new downsizing path that can free up Livingston houses for sale, and a rent-first option that grows the town's future buyer pool. No one can promise value outcomes, but the structure of this project is about as low-friction as large development gets.

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