Anthony Licciardello | September 13, 2026
Woodbridge, NJ
Roughly two hundred units in Fords. Five hundred already delivered in Avenel with a performing arts centre attached. Sixty affordable senior rentals with a preference for veterans. A million square feet of warehouse. A bowling alley becoming self-storage. Woodbridge is building in every direction at once — and the mix tells you more about where this township thinks its value is than any single project does.
This is not one pipeline, it is four. Residential: roughly 200 units in Fords, 60 affordable senior rentals in Avenel, and apartment proposals at Metropark — while Avenel's 500-unit arts village is already built and open. Supportive: a 28-unit permanent housing building in Hopelawn. Industrial: a million square feet in Avenel with a tenant lease near signing, a Brookfield warehouse opening early 2027, and more behind them. Conversion: a bowling centre becoming self-storage and a department store box awaiting a use. Where your section sits in that mix matters far more than the township total — and one six-acre site has a mayor on record refusing both apartments and warehouses.
Development scopes, approvals and timelines change constantly, and the reporting below spans several years. This is a snapshot of what has been publicly reported, not a complete inventory — the Township maintains dozens of adopted redevelopment plans. Confirm the status of any project with Woodbridge Township before relying on it.
This one belongs in the pipeline only as context, because it is finished. The plan for an Avenel Arts Village on the former General Dynamics property was first outlined in 2007 and prepared in 2009, and it delivered: Station Village at Avenel opened in October 2017 with 500 apartments and townhomes, 10% affordable, and the Avenel Performing Arts Center opened on April 10, 2019, alongside 25,000 square feet of arts-themed retail and a renovated NJ Transit station.
It is included here because it is the template the rest of this list is working from — a 27-acre contaminated brownfield, abandoned since 2000, bought for $10 million in 2014 under a 30-year tax break and turned into a working transit village. The Council required that any environmental issues be fully remediated by the builder to NJDEP standards, and that walkways connect existing homes to the retail, theatre and station with no vehicle cut-throughs from the residential area. The full account is in our Avenel section guide — including why the section still carries the township's lowest values despite all of it.
Green Oak Senior Housing at 535–537: 75 senior units, transferring to the Woodbridge Housing Authority on completion and replacing the 1960s Olsen Towers. The Park at Fords Corner at 555: 113 market-rate units, 15% affordable, with a ground-floor café, rooftop amenity space and 128 parking spaces. The full breakdown is in our Avenel — The Transit Village That Already Got Built
Fords section guide.
Construction was reported as beginning soon on a complex next to the Greens on Rahway Avenue — 60 apartments, all rentals, all affordable senior housing, with a preference given to veterans.
The Township is helping the Raritan Bay Area YMCA open a 28-unit building providing 40 beds, funded by Woodbridge and the City of Perth Amboy using state and county money. The YMCA's president and CEO has publicly corrected the characterisation of it as a shelter: "Everybody in that facility will have a lease and they'll be permanent residents until they move out." The building will serve people experiencing sudden homelessness or fleeing domestic violence.
A proposal for two new apartment buildings near the Metropark train station has been before the Planning Board, and separately the Governor and NJ Transit unveiled a plan to build high-rise apartment and office buildings at Metropark. The station area already holds The Grande at Metropark, a 355-unit residential community. The wider picture is in our Metropark transformation analysis.
Residential is only half the story, and the other half gets far less attention. Woodbridge sits at the intersection of the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike, which makes it prime logistics ground — and the township has been converting former industrial sites into modern distribution space at scale.
Avenel — approximately one million square feet on the former Woodbridge Developmental Center site, with a tenant lease described as "very close to being finalized" and a parking garage also to be built
Brookfield warehouse on the Perth Amboy border — reported to open in early 2027
51 New Brunswick Avenue, on the Fords and Hopelawn border — construction started on a commercial warehouse
The Keasbey firehouse lot — the Township plans to sell to a private developer, who would demolish the firehouse to build warehouses
It cuts both ways, and honest answers require naming both. Large distribution buildings generate ratables — commercial tax revenue that carries municipal costs a residential base would otherwise carry alone — and they generate employment. In a township with one tax rate across ten sections, that revenue reaches every section equally.
They also generate truck traffic on specific roads. That effect is local and highly uneven — a house two blocks from a distribution entrance experiences something a house two miles away does not. So the useful question is never "is warehousing good or bad for Woodbridge" but "what is the truck route from this facility, and does it pass the street I am buying on?" That is answerable, in advance, and almost nobody asks it.
Note which sections carry the industrial pipeline, because it is not evenly spread. Avenel, Keasbey, Hopelawn and the Fords border are named repeatedly; Colonia and Menlo Park Terrace are not. That concentration is one of the several reasons the section values in our Ten Towns guide differ as much as they do — and it is a reason the township-wide medians in our buyer's guide describe nowhere in particular.
A value model prices the township you live in today. It has no idea what has been approved three streets away.
Roughly 850 residential units and several million square feet of commercial space are moving through this township, and they are heavily concentrated in particular sections rather than spread evenly. Whether that is a tailwind or a headwind for your specific house depends on which project, which street and which direction — and no automated estimate reads a redevelopment plan. We value from matched closed sales, know what is approved nearby, and market to the New York metro buyer pool that reaches this township in about forty minutes.
The third category is buildings changing use rather than land being developed — and it is often the better signal, because it shows what the market will and will not support.
Construction was reported as beginning soon. Self-storage is what a site becomes when it has good access and no better economic use — a modest signal, and a very common one across New Jersey right now.
Reporting indicates the mall has plans to repurpose the former Lord & Taylor section, with the intended use still unknown. Anchor conversions are the single largest variable in a regional mall's future, and Woodbridge Center is the township's retail centre of gravity — worth watching more closely than its square footage suggests.
A developer sought to demolish a private home on Correja Avenue and build a jewellery store with office space above. Small, but it is the kind of parcel-level conversion that tells you where a commercial corridor is expanding into residential frontage. If you own on a street like that, the precedent matters more than the project.
The Township is seeking developers for a six-acre Avenel site that was to be the new School #4/5. The Mayor's stated position is unusually specific: "We are still hoping for a medical use, but in no instance will we approve apartments or a warehouse at that site." A public refusal of the two highest-value uses is a genuine constraint on that parcel, and useful information for anyone owning nearby.
Two more worth knowing about. A public hearing was held on a church proposing to occupy 400 Green Street, the former Wonder Bread outlet. And across the water in Carteret, the mayor has said that a film studio will open alongside the long-planned New York ferry service — neither in Woodbridge, both close enough to matter to the sections nearest the Arthur Kill. Our Sewaren analysis covers that shoreline.
A completed 500-unit arts village, 60 units of senior housing under way, a million square feet of warehouse, and a six-acre site under negotiation. No other section appears in this many categories — which makes Avenel the section where the next five years will change the most, in both directions.
Roughly 200 residential units on New Brunswick Avenue, a supportive housing building, and a commercial warehouse under construction on the shared border. Two very different kinds of development within a short distance — which is exactly why comping across that line, as our Fords guide warns, is so unreliable.
Metropark carries an existing 355-unit community, a Planning Board proposal for two more buildings, and a state-level plan for high-rise apartments and offices. If any section of this township is going to look materially different in a decade, it is this one.
Neither appears in the reported pipeline at any scale. For an owner that means stability; for a buyer it means you are paying today's price for today's neighbourhood, with less prospect of either the upside or the disruption the other sections carry. That is a legitimate thing to want, and part of what Colonia's premium buys.
Three questions worth asking before you buy anywhere in this township. What is approved within half a mile of this address — the Township publishes its redevelopment plans, and there are dozens. What is the truck route from any nearby industrial site. And which side of a section border are you actually on, because the pipeline respects those borders even when the portals do not.
The township overview sits in our Woodbridge guide, and the section-by-section breakdown in our Ten Towns of Woodbridge.
Read the Township's redevelopment plan index before you buy — it is public, and almost no buyer opens it. Woodbridge maintains dozens of adopted plans by name and area: Keasbey areas 2 through 10, New Brunswick Avenue north and rehabilitation, Oak Tree Road rehabilitation, Metropark Station, Metropark Wood Avenue South, Iselin Lumber, Hopelawn VFW, Inman Avenue areas 1 and 2, Main Street Rehab and Transit Village, Olsen Towers, Martin Street, King Georges Post Road and more. If your prospective address falls inside one of those areas, the rules governing what can be built beside you are different from the base zoning — and the plan document tells you exactly what is permitted. Twenty minutes with that index answers a question no listing, no agent and no valuation model will raise on your behalf.
"Woodbridge is building in four directions at once and almost nobody's put it together in one place. Five hundred units and an arts centre in Avenel on the old General Dynamics site. Two hundred in Fords on New Brunswick Avenue. Sixty affordable senior units with a preference for veterans. And then a million square feet of warehouse in Avenel with a tenant nearly signed, another opening on the Perth Amboy border in twenty-seven. Here's what matters: none of it is spread evenly. Avenel's carrying more of every category than anywhere else. Colonia and Menlo Park Terrace barely appear. So when somebody quotes you a township number, remember it's averaging a section that's about to change completely with one that isn't changing at all. Go read the redevelopment plan index. It's public, it's free, and it'll tell you what can get built next to you."
— Anthony Licciardello, Broker, The Prodigy Team
Reading a redevelopment plan and knowing what it means for the house next door is native ground for me: I'm Anthony Licciardello, Broker of The Prodigy Team, a former Director of Community Affairs in the Bloomberg Administration who spent years inside municipal government, now dual-licensed in New York and New Jersey and a leading broker for cross-border New York–New Jersey transactions.
Anthony Licciardello · Broker, The Prodigy Team · 718-873-7345
We check what's approved within half a mile — before you offer, not after you move in.
What new housing is being built in Woodbridge Township?
Note that Avenel's 500-unit arts village is already complete — Station Village opened October 2017 and the Avenel Performing Arts Center in April 2019. Currently reported projects include roughly 200 units in Fords across Green Oak Senior Housing (75) and The Park at Fords Corner (113 market-rate, 15% affordable); Peterson Commons, 60 affordable senior rental apartments in Avenel with a preference for veterans; a 28-unit permanent supportive housing building in Hopelawn with the Raritan Bay Area YMCA; and apartment proposals at Metropark, where a 355-unit community already stands. Confirm current status with the Township.
How much warehouse development is happening in Woodbridge?
Reported projects include approximately one million square feet in Avenel on the former Woodbridge Developmental Center site, with a tenant lease described as very close to finalised and a parking garage also planned; the Brookfield warehouse on the Perth Amboy border, reported to open in early 2027; a commercial warehouse under construction at 51 New Brunswick Avenue on the Fords–Hopelawn border; and the Keasbey firehouse lot, which the Township plans to sell for warehouse development. The useful question for a buyer is not whether warehousing is good or bad, but what the truck route is and whether it passes your street.
Which Woodbridge sections are changing the most?
Avenel by a distance — a 500-unit arts village, 60 senior units, a million square feet of warehouse and a six-acre site under negotiation. Fords and Hopelawn sit on a seam carrying roughly 200 residential units, supportive housing and a warehouse under construction. Iselin is where transit density is heading, via Metropark. Colonia and Menlo Park Terrace are largely absent from the reported pipeline — which means stability for owners and less prospect of either upside or disruption for buyers.
How do I find out what can be built near a Woodbridge address?
Read the Township's redevelopment plan index — it is public and almost no buyer opens it. Woodbridge maintains dozens of adopted plans by name and area, including Keasbey areas 2 through 10, New Brunswick Avenue north and rehabilitation, Oak Tree Road rehabilitation, Metropark Station, Metropark Wood Avenue South, Iselin Lumber, Hopelawn VFW, Inman Avenue areas 1 and 2, Main Street Rehab and Transit Village, Olsen Towers, Martin Street and King Georges Post Road. If an address falls inside one of those areas, the rules governing what can be built beside it differ from the base zoning, and the plan document sets out exactly what is permitted.
Colonia — The Most Uniform Section in the Township
Moving to Woodbridge — The Complete Guide
The Ten Towns of Woodbridge — Every Section, Explained
Buying in Woodbridge — Four Sources, Four Prices, One Line You Never Cross
Fords — Five Published Prices, One Section
Sewaren — Woodbridge Is Rebuilding Its Cheapest Waterfront
The Metropark Transformation
Woodbridge Property Taxes — One Rate, Ten Sections
Woodbridge Homes for Sale — Browse Current Listings
Details as of publication, from the sources noted, and subject to change. This is a snapshot of publicly reported activity, not a complete inventory of development in Woodbridge Township; the Township maintains dozens of adopted redevelopment and rehabilitation plans. Approvals, scopes, tenants and timelines change; confirm the status of any project directly with Woodbridge Township and the Planning Board. 2026 development items per Patch reporting summarising major development news in Woodbridge: the Township plans to help the Raritan Bay Area YMCA open a 28-unit apartment building in the Hopelawn section providing 40 beds for people experiencing sudden homelessness in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy, with Woodbridge and the City of Perth Amboy helping to pay using state and county funds, and with Raritan Bay Area YMCA president and CEO Steve Jobin stating it is inaccurate to describe the facility as a homeless "shelter" and that it will be permanent housing for people who are homeless or fleeing domestic violence, adding that "Everybody in that facility will have a lease and they'll be permanent residents until they move out"; Woodbridge Township will soon begin construction on Peterson Commons, a 60-unit veterans' housing complex located next to the Greens on Rahway Avenue in Avenel, described in further reporting as 60 apartments, all rentals and all affordable senior housing with a preference given to veterans; construction will begin soon to turn the former Woodbridge Bowling Center site into a self-storage facility; Woodbridge is seeking developers for a six-acre site on Rahway Avenue in Avenel that was to be the new School #4/5, with Mayor John McCormac stating "We are still hoping for a medical use, but in no instance will we approve apartments or a warehouse at that site"; the Brookfield warehouse project on the Perth Amboy border will open in early 2027; and a million square foot warehouse in Avenel on the former site of the Woodbridge Developmental Center will soon have an unnamed tenant, with the mayor stating "The lease is very close to being finalized" and a parking garage also to be built. Further items from the same publication's Woodbridge real estate coverage: construction started on a new commercial warehouse at 51 New Brunswick Avenue on the Fords/Hopelawn border; the Governor and NJ Transit unveiled a plan to build high-rise apartment and office buildings at the Metropark train station; a proposal was before the Woodbridge Planning Board to build two new apartment buildings near Metropark; a developer sought to tear down a private home and build a jewellery store with office space above on Correja Avenue in Iselin; Woodbridge Center appears to have plans to re-purpose the former Lord & Taylor section, with the intended use unknown; Woodbridge plans to sell the Keasbey firehouse lot to a private developer who would demolish the firehouse to build warehouses; a public hearing was held regarding a church seeking to occupy 400 Green Street, the former Wonder Bread outlet; and Carteret's mayor has said a film studio will open there alongside continuing efforts to launch New York ferry service. Avenel Arts Village — note this project is complete, not pending: Station Village at Avenel opened in October 2017 and the Avenel Performing Arts Center on April 10, 2019, per NJTOD and NJIT Brownfields sourcing set out in our Avenel section guide. The original adoption reporting, per Patch: the Woodbridge Township Council unanimously adopted the plan for an Avenel Arts Village on the former General Dynamics property, creating 500 housing units of apartments and condominiums with one or two bedrooms, an arts centre and retail space, intended to take advantage of the vacant property's proximity to Avenel Train Station as a transit and artisan village; the Council clarified that any environmental issues on the property must be fully remediated by the builder in accordance with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection standards, and that walkways are planned from existing homes to the retail establishments, proposed theatre and train station with no vehicle cut-throughs from the current residential area; the vacant industrial properties had not been used in over a dozen years. Station Village at Avenel and The Grande at Metropark (a 355-unit residential apartment community) per Woodbridge Township's published development announcements. Fords projects per MyCentralJersey reporting, as detailed in our Fords section guide. Redevelopment plan names per the Township's published Woodbridge Redevelopment Area Plans index. No representation is made about the effect of any project on any individual property's value, traffic, or environment; nothing here is a prediction. Household income, age, household composition and school rating data have been deliberately excluded, as we exclude such material for every community we cover. This is general information and market commentary, not legal, planning, environmental, tax or investment advice.
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