A $67.5 million construction loan has closed to finish the second phase of Meridia Brownstones in downtown Rahway, clearing the way for 200 new rental units on the site of a former cereal factory. The five-story building at 1999 Elizabeth Avenue is expected to be complete by November 2028, according to the lender's announcement.
The project marks the final chapter of a redevelopment that has been more than a decade in the making. Capodagli Property Company acquired the 1999 Elizabeth Avenue site in 2012, a parcel that previously housed industrial facilities including the historic Wheatena cereal manufacturing factory, according to the Commercial Observer. The loan itself was first reported by New York YIMBY, which detailed the financing terms and building layout.
Scale Lending, the debt financing arm of Slate Property Group, provided the floating-rate loan, which runs for 30 months with two six-month extension options, per the New York YIMBY report. The proceeds will retire an existing senior loan on the property and fund completion of the ground-up development, and the deal was sourced through a direct relationship with the borrower, the outlet noted. Meridia Construction Management, a Capodagli affiliate, will serve as general contractor, according to the New York Real Estate Journal, which identifies Capodagli as Linden-based.
A Decade of Planning Reaches Its Final Stretch
The full Meridia Brownstones development was first approved by the Rahway Planning Board and City Council in August 2014 as a 487-unit, multi-building master plan, according to Rahway Rising. Capodagli completed Phase I in 2022, a 298-unit complex that the Real Estate Journal reports is now fully stabilized, demonstrating strong tenant demand ahead of Phase II's launch.
That early success came with a catch. The City of Rahway amended the site's redevelopment plan in October 2024 to mandate that a 79-space surface parking lot remain open as supplemental parking for at least one year following Phase II's completion, a response to parking pressure that built up during Phase I, per the same Rahway Rising account. Phase II itself sits on Block 228, Lot 1.01 and Block 226, Lot 1 in municipal tax records, officially held under the entity Meridia Rahway 2000 Urban Renewal LLC.
What's Rising at 1999 Elizabeth Avenue
Designed by Netta Architects, the new five-story building spans 168,500 square feet and will offer one- and two-bedroom rental units alongside 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, according to New York YIMBY. A two-level parking garage will hold 493 vehicles, and plans presented to the Rahway Redevelopment Agency call for a U-shaped ground floor with two residential wings running parallel to Elizabeth Avenue above the parking levels.
Most of the residential inventory will sit on floors three through five, though eight second-floor units will have their own walk-up entrances from Elizabeth Avenue, the outlet reported. A single courtyard will contain amenity space, and the building will include a fitness center, a yoga room, an indoor-outdoor pool with an outdoor deck, a multipurpose lounge, a coworking space, a dog wash, bike storage and a basketball court. Six units will be reserved for affordable housing under a 30-year PILOT agreement with the City of Rahway.
Executives Point to Transit Access and a Repeat Lending Partnership
Slate Property Group Co-Founder Martin Nussbaum said the leasing success of Phase I demonstrated strong market demand, while Capodagli Chief Investment Officer John Longo cited Scale Lending as a key recurring financing partner, according to the Commercial Observer. Scale Lending has provided more than 25 commercial real estate loans across New York, New Jersey and Florida, per Traded.
The executives' confidence is rooted in Rahway's transit geography. The city was designated a New Jersey Transit Village in 2002, leveraging its downtown NJ Transit station along the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines to offer 40-to-50-minute direct rail commutes to New York Penn Station, according to The Transit Friendly Planning Newsletter. That access has helped fuel a wider building boom downtown: the multi-family construction pipeline in Rahway's core now exceeds 700 new residential units across several transit-adjacent projects, including Park Square and River Place, per Prodigy Real Estate.
Meridia Brownstones now moves toward its anticipated November 2028 completion as the last piece of a redevelopment that began with a 2012 land purchase on a former industrial site.
