Anthony Licciardello | August 8, 2026
Livingston, NJ
Livingston is a town that didn't have a downtown — so it built one. The Livingston Town Center, a red-brick, pedestrian-friendly mixed-use village at the heart of town, is where Livingston's shops, restaurants, and its most walkable homes come together. Here's the story of how it came to be, what's there today, and what it's like — and costs — to live in it.
For most of its history, Livingston's business district stretched three miles along its avenues with no true downtown — no focal point, no place to stroll. A community visioning process changed that: in 2000 the township declared a deteriorating shopping plaza at Livingston Avenue and Mount Pleasant Avenue an area in need of redevelopment, struck a redevelopment agreement in 2002, and built the Livingston Town Center — two-to-four-story red-brick, Federal-style buildings (echoing the town hall) holding tens of thousands of square feet of shops, restaurants, and offices around a pedestrian-friendly core with a parking garage. Crucially, it's also a place people live: roughly two dozen condominium flats above and beside the retail — served by amenities including a pool, fitness center, club room, and concierge — about seventy townhomes, and a ring of single-family homes. Residences trade in a broad, indicative $600,000–$1.5 million band and rarely come available. In a town built around the car, the Town Center is Livingston's one genuinely walk-to-dinner address — which is exactly why demand for it never quits.
The Town Center is both Livingston's "downtown" and one of its most distinctive places to live, so it earns its own guide within our development coverage. Tenants, events, and prices change — verify current details before relying.
Livingston grew up as a crossroads town, and its commerce spread accordingly — a business district stretched along roughly three miles of its avenues, with no downtown, little pedestrian life, and no community focal point. The idea of creating one came out of a community visioning process, which settled on a fading shopping plaza near the intersection of Livingston Avenue and Mount Pleasant Avenue (Route 10) as the site.
In 2000 the township declared the plaza an area in need of redevelopment; after negotiations with the owners, a redevelopment plan and developer agreement followed in 2002, with the project expanded to include adjacent land. The result is deliberately traditional: two-to-four-story red-brick buildings in a Federal style that echoes the township's municipal building, arranged around walkable streets and gathering spaces. It's a textbook example — cited in planning circles — of a suburb building the downtown it never had, and today it anchors the town's everyday life.
The Town Center today is a compact, pedestrian-friendly village along Town Center Way: boutique shops, cafes, and restaurants at street level, office space above and beside them, landscaped sidewalks and places to sit, a multi-level parking garage that solves the suburban parking problem invisibly, and a calendar of community events that gives the town a natural gathering place it never had.
It doesn't stand alone, either. The surrounding Livingston Avenue and Northfield Road corridors carry the town's longtime local businesses and restaurants, the Livingston Mall and Route 10 cover big-box needs, and the upscale Short Hills Mall is minutes away in Millburn. The Town Center is the walkable heart of that larger retail ecosystem — the one part of Livingston where errands, dinner, and a stroll happen on foot.
What makes the Town Center more than a shopping district is that it was built as a neighborhood. The residential mix, from the original plan:
Roughly two dozen luxury flats above and beside the shops, in a full-amenity building: indoor/outdoor pool with sundeck, fitness center, club room, business center, and concierge service. The closest thing to city-apartment living in Livingston.
On the order of seventy townhomes woven into the village blocks — multi-level living with the shops and restaurants a short walk from the front door.
Detached homes ringing the center, stitching the village into the surrounding neighborhood fabric.
Composition per the original redevelopment plan and project sources; counts are approximate and published tallies vary slightly. Amenities per property sources; confirm current offerings and fees directly.
Pricing across the Town Center's residences runs in a broad, indicative $600,000–$1.5 million band depending on product and size — and listings are genuinely scarce, as we cover in our condo & townhome guide. The draw is simple: in a car-dependent town, this is the one address where daily life happens on foot. For downsizers leaving a big Livingston colonial, and for New York transplants who want the schools without giving up every ounce of urban texture, it's often the exact right answer.
Buying in a mixed-use village adds a layer to the usual condo homework. Beyond the standard HOA review — budget, reserves, fees, rules — read the master deed to understand how the residential and commercial components share costs, parking, and decision-making. Ask about parking allocation for residents and guests, how deliveries and restaurant hours interact with the homes, and — for the condominium flats — confirm current lender warrantability and any FHA approval status, which mixed-use buildings should always have checked before you fall in love.
None of that is a warning against the Town Center — it's how you buy it well. Units here surface rarely and draw immediate attention, so the playbook from our condo guide applies doubled: shortlist, pre-approve, set alerts, and work the community directly. We watch the Town Center continuously and handle mixed-use due diligence line by line. Browse current Livingston homes for sale and tell us if the walkable life is your target — we'll find the door.
Before you buy at the Town Center, spend a Friday evening and a Saturday morning there — on foot, at the hours you'd actually live it. Mixed-use living is a rhythm: dinner crowds, weekend browsers, delivery trucks at dawn, the quiet of a Tuesday night. Most people love it; a few discover they wanted the idea of walkability more than the soundtrack of it. Two visits cost you nothing and tell you more than any listing — and if the rhythm suits you, you'll buy with total conviction, which in a market this scarce is exactly the mindset you need.
"The Town Center is my favorite Livingston story to tell — a town that wanted a downtown badly enough to build one, brick by brick, and got it right. When a unit comes up there, I get calls from two directions at once: empty-nesters who want to stay in town, and New Yorkers who want the schools without losing the walk-to-coffee life entirely. That's why they trade fast. If it's your target, let's get you ready before the listing, not after."
— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
Knowing how a planned downtown works — from the master deed to the market — is exactly the depth a broker with government experience should bring. 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 captures places like the Town Center the way they deserve — aerial storytelling with audience performance exceeding industry benchmarks for real estate media.
Anthony Licciardello · Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
Town Center units are scarce and move fast. Tell us what you're after, and we'll set the watch and handle the mixed-use homework.
Does Livingston, NJ have a downtown?
Yes — a built one. The Livingston Town Center, near Livingston Avenue and Mount Pleasant Avenue, is a planned mixed-use village created through a 2000s redevelopment of a fading shopping plaza: red-brick, Federal-style buildings with shops, restaurants, offices, a parking garage, and homes, arranged around pedestrian-friendly streets. It serves as the town's downtown and gathering place.
Can you live at the Livingston Town Center?
Yes — it was built as a neighborhood: roughly two dozen condominium flats above and beside the shops in a full-amenity building (pool, fitness center, club room, concierge), about seventy townhomes woven into the village blocks, and a ring of single-family homes. It's the most walkable address in an otherwise car-dependent town.
How much do Town Center homes cost?
Residences trade in a broad, indicative band of roughly $600,000 to $1.5 million depending on product — flat, townhome, or house — size, and condition. Listings are scarce and samples are small, so treat published figures as indicative and price any unit off recent sales in the community itself. Our Livingston condo and townhome guide covers the wider market.
Is buying in a mixed-use building different?
Somewhat. Beyond standard HOA review, read the master deed to see how residential and commercial components share costs, parking, and governance; ask how resident and guest parking works; and confirm lender warrantability and any FHA approval status for the condominium flats, since mixed-use buildings warrant that check. It's normal homework — just make sure it's done before you offer.
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Livingston Homes for Sale — Browse Current Listings
Town Center details per the Township of Livingston (Master Plan Land Use Element), planning and project sources (including the original redevelopment program), and property sources, 2024–2026, for Livingston Township, Essex County, NJ (ZIP 07039). Livingston historically lacked a downtown, with commerce spread along roughly three miles of its avenues; following a community visioning process, the township declared a deteriorating shopping plaza near Livingston Avenue and Mount Pleasant Avenue (Route 10) an area in need of redevelopment in 2000, reached a redevelopment plan and developer agreement in 2002, and the Livingston Town Center was subsequently built as a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use village of two-to-four-story red-brick Federal-style buildings, including tens of thousands of square feet of retail and office space, a multi-level parking garage, and residences — approximately two dozen condominium flats (in a building with amenities reported to include an indoor/outdoor pool, fitness center, club room, business center, and concierge), roughly seventy townhomes, and a ring of single-family homes; published unit tallies vary slightly by source. Residence pricing of roughly $600,000–$1.5 million is an indicative band from small samples, not a valuation. Tenants, events, amenities, fees, warrantability status, and prices change; this is general information, not financial advice. Verify current details with the community, the Township, and your own professionals before relying.
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