A vacant 7.65-acre parcel on Oak Tree Road in Edison could soon become a three-story complex with nearly 100 apartments, dozens of shops and a pair of restaurants, under a proposal now headed to the township's Planning Board. JK Estates LLC is seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval for the mixed-use development at 1696 Oak Tree Road, along with a variance to exceed the site's height limit.
The property sits near the Patel Brothers grocery store and the intersection with Wood Avenue, according to mycentraljersey.com. The land is currently empty and falls under the 1696 Oak Tree Road Redevelopment Plan, which governs what can be built there. The application is scheduled to go before the Planning Board at its Nov. 16 meeting.
The proposed project would add shops, restaurants and apartments to the Oak Tree Road site.
Retail on the Ground Floor, Apartments Above
The first floor of the proposed building would hold 58,785 square feet of commercial space and 4,000 square feet of restaurant space, with room for 39 commercial tenants and two restaurant tenants, per the same account. That ground floor would also include two lobby areas, two administrative offices, two package rooms, fire pump and electrical rooms, and two trash and utility rooms each.
Above the retail, the second and third floors are planned to hold 90 age-restricted apartments, with about 18 units set aside as affordable under the New Jersey Fair Housing Act. Each upper floor would carry an identical layout: six one-bedroom units, 39 two-bedroom units, an amenity room, two trash rooms and two utility rooms.
The proposed 18 affordable apartments would make up one-fifth of the project’s 90-unit total. The state’s affordable-housing framework is also in a new phase: a 2024 law set up a revised process for calculating and resolving towns’ housing obligations for the 2025-35 round. The law allows bonus credits for certain qualifying age-restricted housing, among other categories, but that statewide provision does not establish how this particular project’s units would be counted. The state’s 2024 law established the new framework.
Roof Decks, Green Space and Parking
The plans call for two roof decks with seating areas, along with 1,712 square feet of green space, elevator and stair bulkheads, and lobby shelters for residents heading up to the decks. The project description also includes signs, grading, drainage, utilities, landscaping, lighting and a perimeter loading zone, the article notes.
Parking would be split between a basement garage and a surface lot. The basement garage is planned for 174 spaces, including eight ADA-accessible spots and 27 electric vehicle spaces, while the surface lot would add 302 more spaces, including 10 ADA-accessible spots and 12 for electric vehicles.
A Request to Build Above the Height Limit
JK Estates LLC is also asking the township for a variance tied to the building's roof height. The site's maximum permitted height is 50 feet, but the proposed structure would stand slightly more than 54 feet tall, exceeding that cap by a few feet.
Whether the Planning Board grants the approvals and the height variance at its Nov. 16 session remains to be seen. For now, the proposal represents one of the more substantial mixed-use pitches along the Oak Tree Road corridor, combining senior housing with a built-in retail and dining strip on a lot that has sat empty.
