Anthony Licciardello | May 2, 2026
Scotch Plains, Nj
Scotch Plains Series · Post 06 of 12
For most of the last four decades, downtown Scotch Plains has been a downtown in name more than in practice. That is starting to change. Two new apartment buildings opened on East Second Street and Front Street in 2026, a Lidl supermarket is under construction on the former Snuffy's site at Park Avenue and Route 22, and the Township's designated redeveloper, Woodmont Properties, presented its plan for roughly nine acres of Township-owned land around Park Avenue and Bartle Avenue in May 2026.
The Woodmont project itself is not under construction. It is still a proposal working through New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) flood hazard area permitting. This post covers what the Township has designated, what has been delivered around it, what still controls the schedule, and how we expect all of it to show up in North Side pricing and in the 2027 revaluation.
Anyone who has driven through downtown in 2026 has seen the change. Scotch Plains Crossing at 1776 East Second Street had its ribbon cutting in April 2026. 18 FIFTEEN on Front Street, behind the Stage House, opened later in the year. Site work for the Lidl supermarket and park-and-ride on the former Snuffy's property at Park Avenue and Route 22 began in October 2025.
The larger piece, the Township-owned land around the municipal building, library and Bartle Avenue parking, is a separate project. The Township designated Woodmont Properties, LLC, a Fairfield-based firm with close to six decades of experience, as conditional redeveloper in June 2023. The plan caps buildings at four stories and is now in the NJDEP flood hazard area permit process.1
Between them, the two completed buildings added 82 apartments within walking distance of Park Avenue. That is the part of the downtown story that is real today. The Woodmont piece is the part that is still planned.
The Township Council adopted the downtown redevelopment plan for publicly owned properties, which local coverage has called "Tier 1, Phase 1," on November 8, 2021. When the Township released its Request for Qualifications in March 2022, it described the area as roughly 9.5 acres made up of seven public parcels, one private parcel and two rights of way. Eleven firms submitted proposals.2
On June 13, 2023, the Council designated Woodmont Properties, LLC as conditional redeveloper for about nine acres of that land. The Township's announcement cites Woodmont's work on downtown revitalization in Morristown, Cranford, Red Bank and Metuchen. It also lists these parameters:
Local reporting at the time put the plan's residential cap at a maximum of 350 units, with about 15,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space. At the Township's May 18, 2026 public information session, Woodmont presented a proposal with about 10,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space and a large public plaza along Park Avenue. Final unit counts, affordable set-aside and parking details will be set in the redevelopment agreement and site plan approvals, and they have not been finalized.3
District | Location | Designation |
|---|---|---|
Bartle Avenue | Districts A and C | Mixed-use commercial and residential |
Forest Road | District A | Mixed-use with public space integration |
Park Avenue | District B | Primary commercial corridor anchor |
Source: Township of Scotch Plains, June 2023 designation announcement and Woodmont conceptual renderings, scotchplainsnj.gov.
The Woodmont project is still waiting on permits, but several projects around it were approved under separate redevelopment plans and have moved ahead on their own schedules.
The centerpiece is still in permitting. Much of what surrounds it is already open.
Elite Properties broke ground in August 2024 on three vacant parcels under a redevelopment plan the Township Council adopted in 2022. The result is a three-story building with 40 apartments (six of them affordable), about 2,140 square feet of commercial space and 67 interior parking spaces. The Township held the ribbon cutting in April 2026, and units are now leasing.4
REDCOM Design & Construction broke ground in late 2024 on this three-story building at 1815 Front Street, around the corner from the Municipal Building. It has 42 apartments, nine of them affordable, with parking on the ground floor. The project traces back to a 2020 Township ordinance. The Township held its ribbon cutting in 2026.5
The former Snuffy's Pantagis Renaissance property at Park Avenue and Route 22 is being redeveloped under its own Lidl Redevelopment Plan. The plan calls for a Lidl supermarket and a 51-space park-and-ride lot for NJ Transit bus commuters. Site work began October 1, 2025, and the amended redevelopment agreement requires Lidl to finish construction by December 31, 2026.6
The Township has a separate redevelopment plan for this site. Local reporting in 2025 described a planned 30-unit residential project there that had not yet started. We have not seen a public construction start since then.
In July 2023, a month after Woodmont was designated, NJDEP adopted new Flood Hazard Area and stormwater rules, and the Township and Woodmont have been revising the design to meet them since. In 2024 the project received NJDEP Line Verification approval, which sets the flood hazard area design elevations. According to the Township, the parties are still working with NJDEP on the required Individual Permit Application approvals.1
For buyers and sellers, NJDEP permitting is now the main factor setting the schedule. No construction start date for the Woodmont buildings has been announced. Until the Individual Permit is issued and a redevelopment agreement and site plan are approved, any delivery date is an estimate.
The North Side is the walkable part of Scotch Plains, and most of the downtown footprint is within about half a mile of its streets. For the background on why the train tracks split the market, see our North-South pillar analysis and the 2026 Scotch Plains market report.
Our view, and it is a projection rather than a measured result, is that North Side buyers have been paying a walkability premium that works like an option: they are paying for a downtown they expect to get. As more pieces are delivered, including the two new buildings now, the Lidl later, and eventually a redeveloped Park Avenue with a public plaza, that option premium could turn into a use premium for something buyers can actually walk to today.
The items most likely to matter to buyers:
None of this guarantees appreciation. How much value it adds, and when, depends on permitting, design approvals, interest rates and broader Union County conditions. Compare it with nearby downtowns in our Cranford NJ market report and our NYC-to-New Jersey relocation breakdown.
Scotch Plains is in the middle of its first township-wide revaluation since 1983. New assessments are scheduled to be certified to the Union County Board of Taxation by January 10, 2027, and the appeal deadline for the revaluation year is May 1, 2027.7
The two can feed each other. If downtown progress pushes North Side values up relative to the rest of the township, the revaluation could move a larger share of the tax levy onto those homes. A revaluation redistributes the levy and does not by itself raise total taxes, but individual bills can rise or fall. For the details, see our Scotch Plains 2027 revaluation breakdown, and for a neighboring comparison, our Westfield NJ property tax breakdown.
Underwrite the downtown that exists now and treat the Woodmont buildings as possible upside, not a certainty. Plan on a longer hold, and estimate your tax bill under a range of post-revaluation assessments, not just the current one.
In your marketing, name specific delivered projects, such as walking distance to Scotch Plains Crossing, 18 FIFTEEN and the new Lidl, instead of a generic "downtown adjacent" line, and describe the Woodmont plan accurately as proposed. Line up your township pre-closing certificates early with our Scotch Plains seller certificate checklist, and avoid the most common Scotch Plains seller mistakes.
Sources & Data Notes
Based on public Township updates through October 2026. Plans, unit counts, renderings and timelines may change through NJDEP review, the redevelopment agreement and site plan approval. Statements about property values are projections, not appraisals or guarantees.
Woodmont Properties, LLC of Fairfield, NJ. The Township Council designated it conditional redeveloper on June 13, 2023. The firm has close to six decades of experience in planning, engineering, construction and property management.
No. As of October 2026, it is a proposal. Woodmont presented it publicly in May 2026, and the Township and Woodmont are still working with NJDEP on Individual Permit approvals. No construction start has been announced.
Four stories maximum across all three districts, a limit meant to keep the existing scale of downtown.
Scotch Plains Crossing (1776 East Second Street) and 18 FIFTEEN (Front Street) were approved under separate redevelopment plans and opened in 2026. The Lidl on the former Snuffy's site also has its own plan and is under construction. The Woodmont project covers Township-owned land around Park Avenue and Bartle Avenue and is still in permitting.
According to the Township, the redevelopment area includes seven public parcels, one private parcel and two rights of way. The core sites are the municipal building and its parking lot, the library and its lot, the municipal lot between Bartle and Westfield Avenues, and the rescue squad property. If you have questions about a particular property, check the adopted plan and Planning Board records directly.
The Prodigy Team
Selling near downtown Scotch Plains?
We will price your home against what has actually been delivered and model your post-revaluation tax line before you list.
Prodigy Real Estate is an innovative real estate company offering high-end video production, home valuation services, purchasing, and home sales. Serving New York and New Jersey.