Keasbey Firehouse In Woodbridge Will Be Torn Down For 2 Warehouses

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Woodbridge Township has plans underway to sell the Keasbey firehouse lot to a private developer. Developer Stalwart Equities, Inc. will tear down the firehouse as part of their plan to build two warehouse distribution centers.

Homeowners near the firehouse told Tap Into they were also approached by the developer to sell, and their homes will likely be razed, as well. The area where the Keasbey firehouse is located, at 420 Smith Street, has previously been designated by Woodbridge Twp. as an "area in need of redevelopment."

This will all happen a few years in the future; nothing is happening immediately or soon.

In total, 22 acres in Keasbey will be sold to Stalwart; the firehouse is part of those 22 acres.

Stalwart has promised to build a new firehouse and it will remain in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge, said Councilman Howie Bauer at the Aug. 23 meeting.

Woodbridge Twp. will not be funding construction of the new firehouse, cautioned town spokesman John Hagerty: It is entirely the private developer who has agreed to pay for it. The new firehouse will be "state of the art," he said.

Keaseby Fire Commissioner Robert Pawol said the last he heard, the developer was looking into buying property at 177 and 199 Smith Street near the Rt. 9 bridge, and would locate the firehouse there. The developer hired an engineering company to draw up a site plan for a future firehouse at that location, he said.

The Woodbridge Council, under Mayor John McCormac, support Stalwart's proposal to build the two warehouses, saying they will bring jobs to the area and it is a strategic location near the Parkway, Rt. 9 and Rt. 440.

For years, the town has been eager to have this part of Keasbey redeveloped. As far back as 2008, Woodbridge launched this Keasbey 5 Redevelopment Plan, which calls to "comprehensively re-plan Keasbey as a major regional industrial area."

Writes Woodbridge Township in the plan:

"This plan is a part of a strategy to revitalize the entire Keasbey area extending from Industrial Highway south to the Raritan River, north to the Edison border, and east to the city of Perth Amboy. It is comprised of industrial uses and vacant properties."