New Jersey politicians, clean energy and environmental justice advocates and news media convened at an Earth Day week community solar event organized by project developer Solar Landscape to highlight a regional warehouse and logistics business providing solar energy to some 700 local residents.

On Wednesday, pv magazine USA toured a 1.1 MW (dc) rooftop solar system of RPM Warehousing and Transportation in Avenel, N.J., where Brendon Shank, executive vice president for engagement, Solar Landscape, introduced seven statewide speakers who discussed the shared benefits of equitable solar generation hosted on commercial and industrial rooftops.

Thomas Connery, chief operating officer of site host RPM Warehousing, told pv magazine USA that after the owner, operator and lessor of 10 warehouse facilities first installed a 480 kW rooftop solar array to offset its Edison, N.J. headquarters’ energy consumption in 2017, its management team saw the benefits of providing its “hundreds of thousands of square feet” warehouse roof space to provide clean energy to local residents.

Connery said RPM now generates 4.3 MW of solar energy from two of its warehouse facilities in Edison and Avenel, N.J., which is available to local residents, and the logistics business plans to install a third rooftop solar array of about 3.5 MW to 4 MW on a 480,000 square foot facility at a site within a few miles of its Edison home base.

The logistics executive said having on-site solar generation has offset 100% of the company’s own energy consumption, and over the last two years it saw traction in the New Jersey community solar market taking off to provide clean power access to local residents, many of whom are in low-to-moderate income households. In the early stages of providing community solar to Garden State residents, Connery said combined its facilities have saved local residents about $150,000 per year in energy savings and removed 3,600 tons of CO2 emissions from being burned by conventional power plants.

Solar Landscape’s Shank said RPM’s first 3.2 MW facility in Edison, N.J. is nearly fully subscribed, while its second facility (1.1 MW) is nearing completion. John Bruno, a Solar Landscape rooftop installer, said the 1.1 MW facility is using about 2,300 Hanwha QCells modules on its rooftop, equipped with SolarEdge inverters. The installation took about one month to assemble.

Bruno said he received solar installation training over a week-long training course held at a GAF Energy training center in Asbury Park, N.J., and finds the new career exciting, while in a nascent market “creating thousands of jobs along the way.”

“Solar jobs are booming in New Jersey thanks to community solar,” said Tony Staynings, business community liaison, Edison Job Corps, a career training program for young adults. “We are training our students to become part of the green energy workforce of the future and build projects like the one we are touring today.”

After neighboring state Maryland put out official plans for a long-term community solar platform earlier this week, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is in the mid stages of seeing the state’s pilot community solar framework become a long-term platform. The New Jersey Board is receiving public stakeholder feedback at an April 24 public hearing, taking place at 1 p.m., while stakeholders have a May 15 deadline to send feedback to the regulator for or against the community solar framework, said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, a clean energy advocacy group.

“New Jersey is the Saudi Arabia of rooftops,” said O’Malley about the Garden State’s many adaptable rooftop areas suitable for commercial and industrial solar systems.

Just 20 years ago, New Jersey had just six solar installations under its belt. Now the state has 4.41 GW of aggregate solar installations and provides enough clean energy to more than 705,165 households, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, who represents the state’s 19th legislative district in Perth Amboy, N.J., was in attendance at the event and commended Solar Landscape for installing “shared access” power systems that provide clean energy to low-income residents across her district.

“Whether it’s local composting, recycling, or now shared community energy access, we’re building a future for a time to come,” said Matilde Montalvo, a local community solar subscriber who signed up to procure power from a community solar project over the last year.

Formed in 1981, RPM Warehousing is a public warehousing and transportation company with 1.5 million square feet of food-grade and general warehousing space along the East Coast at 10 facilities.

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AVENEL, N.J. — The familiar sights and sounds are still there: the scuffed and faded floor tiles, the relentless beige-on-beige color scheme, the toddlers' clothes and refrigerators and pretty much everything in between.

There's even a canned recording that begins, "Attention, Kmart shoppers" — except it's to remind folks about COVID-19 precautions, not to alert them to a flash sale over in ladies' lingerie like days of old.

Many of the shelves are bare, though, at the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, picked over by bargain hunters as the store prepares to close its doors for good April 16.

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Once it shutters, the number of Kmarts in the U.S. — once well over 2,000 — will be down to three in the continental U.S. and a handful of stores elsewhere, according to multiple reports, in a retail world now dominated by Walmart, Target and Amazon.

The demise of the the store in the middle-class suburb, 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of New York City, is the tale of the death of the discount department store writ small.

"You're always thinking about it because stores are closing all over, but it's still sad," said cashier Michelle Yavorsky, who said she has worked at the Avenel store for 2 ½ years. "I'll miss the place. A lot of people shopped here."

In its heyday, Kmart sold product lines endorsed by celebrities Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith, sponsored NASCAR auto races and was mentioned in movies including Rain Man and Beetlejuice. It was name-dropped in songs by artists from Eminem to the Beastie Boys to Hall & Oates; in 2003, Eminem bought a 29-room, suburban Detroit mansion once owned by former Kmart chairman Chuck Conaway.

The chain cemented a place in American culture with its Blue Light Specials, a flashing blue orb affixed to a pole that would beckon shoppers to a flash sale in progress. Part of its success was due to its early adoption of layaway programs, which allowed customers who lacked credit to reserve items and pay for them in installments.

For a time, Kmart had a little bit of everything: You could shop for your kids' back-to-school supplies, get your car tuned up and grab a meal without leaving the premises.

"Kmart was part of America," said Michael Lisicky, a Baltimore-based author who has written several books on U.S. retail history. "Everybody went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not. They had everything. You had toys. You had sporting goods. You had candy. You had stationery. It was something for everybody. This was almost as much of a social visit as it was a shopping visit. You could spend hours here. And these just dotted the American landscape over the years."

Kmart's decline has been slow but steady, brought about by years of falling sales, changes in shopping habits and the looming shadow of Walmart, which coincidentally began its life within months of Kmart's founding in 1962.

Struggling to compete with Walmart's low prices and Target's trendier offerings, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002 — becoming the largest U.S. retailer to take that step — and announced it would close more than 250 stores.

A few years later, hedge fund executive Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart and pledged to return them to their former greatness, but the recession and the rising dominance of Amazon contributed in derailing those goals. Sears filed for Chapter 11 in 2018 and currently has a handful of stores left in the U.S. where it once had thousands.

Kmarts continue to operate in Westwood, New Jersey; Bridgehampton, on New York's Long Island, and Miami.

It didn't have to end this way, according to Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University in New York and former CEO of Sears Canada.

Trying to compete with Walmart on price was a foolish strategy, he said, and Lampert was criticized for not having a retail background and appearing more interested in stripping off the assets of the two chains for their cash value.

"It's a study in greed, avarice and incompetence," Cohen said. "Sears should have never gone away; Kmart was in worse shape, but not fatally so. And now they're both gone.

"Retailers fall by the wayside sometimes because they're selling things people don't want to buy," he continued. "In the case of Kmart, everything they used to sell, people are buying but they're buying it from Walmart and Target."

Transformco, which owns Kmart and Sears, did not respond to an email seeking comment and a phone number listed for the company was not taking messages.

Nationwide, some former Kmarts remain vacant while others have been replaced by other big-box stores, fitness centers, self-storage facilities, even churches. One former site in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is now a popular dine-in movie theater.

Employees at the Kmart in Avenel found out last month that the store would close.

Unlike 20 years ago, when news of impending Kmart closures around the country prompted an outpouring of support from loyal shoppers and a Detroit radio station even mounted a campaign to try and save a local store, the closing of the Avenel location was met mostly with an air of resignation.

"It's maybe a little nostalgic because I've lived my whole life in this area, but it's just another retail store closing," said Jim Schaber, a resident of nearby Iselin who said his brother worked in the shoe department at Kmart for years. "It's just another sign of people doing online shopping and not going out to the retail stores."

The closing packed a little more of an emotional punch for Mike Jerdonek, a truck driver who recalled shopping at Kmart in Brooklyn and Queens in his younger days.

"It's like history passing right in front of our eyes," he said as he sat in his car outside the Avenel store. "When I was younger I didn't have any money, so it was a good place to shop because the prices were cheap. And to see it gone right now, it's kind of sad."

WOODBRIDGE – A ribbon-cutting marked the opening of a new affordable housing community backed by a public and private partnership.

Greens at Avenel, located in the Avenel section, consists of 101 affordable units, including 25 for individuals with special needs.

The project, unveiled on Friday, transformed a former vacant and underutilized site into a residential community that includes a new 1.25-acre township youth sports field.

The complex is a partnership between Pennrose, the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency and the township, financed in part by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA).

"Today's grand opening of the Greens at Avenel represents yet another milestone toward achieving our goal of ensuring that Woodbridge Township special needs residents have access to quality residential options that allow them to affordably continue to live in the Woodbridge community," McCormac said. "Our partnership with Pennrose resulted in the construction of the first new fully-accessible residential community specially designed for Woodbridge Township’s developmentally disabled residents.”

McCormac said there are so many programs and services for the special needs community of all ages in the township, and now the township has housing, too, with this project.

"It's a joint project between the state, the township and the private section and it worked out tremendously," he said.

“Providing housing that is affordable and accessible to those who live with disabilities is at the core of our Administration’s efforts to create a stronger and fairer New Jersey for all,” Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who serves as Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), said. “Gov. Murphy and I are thrilled that this new apartment complex is meeting the need for quality, affordable housing while revitalizing the surrounding community. We commend those from the public and private sector who came together to make it become a reality.”

The four-story development includes 20 one-, 61 two- and 20 three-bedroom units. The units are earmarked for residents earning between 30% to 60% of the area median income, according to NJHMFA.

Twenty-five units will be set aside as supportive housing with rental and service support provided by the Department of Development Disabilities (DDD) and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). Of the 25 units, 15 will be reserved for physically and developmentally disabled individuals and 10 will be for residents with mental health challenges referred through DDD and DMHAS, respectively.

The complex includes a 1,300-plus-square-foot community room, a library, game room, fitness center and partially enclosed green courtyard.

“Working together, this public-private partnership benefits the entire Woodbridge community and expands housing opportunities affordable to working families,” NJHMFA Executive Director Charles A. Richman said. “The Greens at Avenel also provides critical stable, supportive independent community-living options for our residents with special needs.”

In 2015, the township took title of site, formerly owned by the New Jersey Department of Corrections, that it had identified as a prime location for the housing. Pennrose was selected as the master redeveloper in 2016 and worked closely with the township to secure funding for demolition and development activities.

According to the township, its financial contribution came from the Woodbridge Township Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is funded by developers, and did not include any taxpayer dollars.

READ:Lord & Taylor at Woodbridge Center closing

“Regardless of their abilities or socio-economic class, everyone desires the dignity of work and the opportunity to live independently," Sen. Joseph F. Vitale, D-19th District, said in a statement.

READ:Woodbridge opens new senior housing complex in Sewaren

Residents are anticipated to begin moving in by the end of October. Rents on the one-bedroom apartments for special needs residents are $565. Rents for a two-bedroom apartment will range from $1,258 to $1,524, and from $1,450 to $1,757 for a three-bedroom apartment, according to NJHMFA.

For rental information, visit www.pennrose.com/apartments/new-jersey/greens-at-avenel.

Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey. Contact her at 732-565-7243 or sloyer@gannettnj.com.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A big jump the estimated cost to build a brand new Avenel Elementary School means the school district is going to scrap that idea, and instead will renovate century-old Avenel Street Schools No. 4 & 5.

Superintendent Joseph Massimino broke that news to the Board of Education at its public meeting on Thursday, Sept. 22, saying he would also send letters to parents and property owners to explain the district’s predicament.

Building a new Avenel Elementary School on six-acre along Rahway Avenue was the centerpiece of a voter-approved $87.7 million bond referendum in March 2020.

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That referendum also included millions of dollars for a host of building additions and major upgrades at most other Woodbridge public schools, plus new technology purchases and increased security measures.

However, district consultant AECOM – a global engineering-architectural firm with regional offices in Clifton – recently told school officials the price for a new Avenel school has swelled from $35 million to as much as $50 million, Massimino said. A video of Thursday's school board meeting can be seen here.

Massimino said the “dramatic change (is) due to inflation that’s gripped our country, exacerbated by supply chain issues (for) steel, lumber and some interior (materials and fixtures).”

“These are not circumstance we chose. They are circumstances we’re trying to manage,” said Massimino. “Obviously, this is something nobody could forecast 30 months ago. But, we are still committed to giving the Avenel community a newer elementary school.”

Updated a number of times over the decades, Avenel School No. 4 was built in 1912 and School No. 5 opened in 1948.

The superintendent said money earmarked for a new school would be used for more extensive renovations to Avenel schools 4 & 5, expressing confidence that work could be done “with minimal disruption” to its 400-plus students.

Massimino did not say if those renovations would include new school administration offices, planned to be part of the new Rahway Avenue school. The district’s current offices at 421 School Street are in old School No. 1, built in 1876 and now nearly 150-years-old.

“The pandemic obviously changed our world. Some projects were put on hold for quite some time,” Massimino said. “The budget of $35 million (for a new Avenel school), set almost 30 months ago, would now be roughly $45 million … almost closer to $50 million by the time we go to construction.”

AECOM told the district the new school could not be built “without additional revenue, as well as dramatically changing the scope of the building,” said Massimino.

“I would never be comfortable going out (for another) referendum to ask the public to finance another $15 million,” the superintendent said.

Mayor John E. McCormac said "the district has made a wise, thoughtful decision not to ask voters for another $15 million. By using its already-approved bonds to make essential renovations to the Avenel schools, it will save money.”

The March 2020 referendum – the fourth one Woodbridge voters approved since 2000 – passed by a vote of 2,560–1,549 in a community with nearly 63,500 registered voters.

The district gave AECOM a $35,200 contract in August 2021 for surveys, design and engineering services related to the new Avenel school

Photo Credit: File photo

The Kmart has been the go-to discounter in Woodbridge for decades.Photo Credit: Facebook

By Tony Gallotto

PublishedMarch 13, 2022 at 1:57 PM

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — “We're getting further away from Kmart,” sounds like a prophetic quote from 1988’s hit movie “Rain Man,” after news that discount store will close its landmark Avenel store on April 17.

This Kmart is has been a fixture in Delco Plaza, at St. Georges and New Brunswick avenues, for more than four decades.

It’s departure means the once-mighty department store chain will have only one remaining New Jersey store, in Bergen County’s Westwood, and just two others in Bridgehampton, NY, on Long Island, and in Miami, Fla.

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It also means Avenel Kmart’s employees, now reduced to fewer than 50 workers, will soon lose their jobs.

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac says he is “very sorry to see this Kmart close because of its impact on the people who work there. Hopefully, another business will soon come to replace it.”

Avenel’s Kmart straddles the Woodbridge-Rahway border; both towns must agree to future changes at the site, McCormac noted.

Employees at the Avenel Kmart began marking down prices on merchandise a few weeks ago, well before SB360 Capital Partners – which handles retail liquidations – announced this store’s closure last Thursday.

Store manager Kenneth Grysko, contacted at work on March 13, said he was asked not to speak with the media about the store’s closing. “It’s closing April 17th … that’s all I can say,” said Grysko.

Kmart employees, contacted at the store last week, also said they were told not to speak about the store’s demise. But, one long-time employee got emotional when asked about her future.

“I’ve worked here (many) years. It’s so sad. Maybe there’s another job out there, but I’m worried. The economy isn’t good right now.,’’ said the employee, declining to give her name.

Another Kmart employee, interviewed at the store March 11, said “(the store) has just been hanging on by its fingernails for a while. (We made) the most out of a not-so-good situation,” she said.

That employee also recalled shopping at the Avenel Kmart as a youngster with her family for clothing and back-to-school supplies in the late 1990s. She was hired as a Kmart cashier after her high school graduation “and I’ve been here since. Am I sorry about the closing? You bet I am.”

KMART’S DECLINE

Kmart traces its roots to Detroit-based S.S. Kresge Corp., beginning as a modest five-and-dime store chain in 1899. This discount department chain grew exponentially, going nationwide and got renamed “K-Mart” in 1977. At the height of its popularity in 1994, there were 2,323 stores across the United States.

Kmart merged with Sears in 2004. By 2018 — with just 11 New Jersey K-Marts left – Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company was spared from liquidation after it was bought by billionaire investor Eddie Lambert, who created Transformco to manage its Sears and Kmart stores. That began to fizzle a year or so later.

Market analysts speculate that economic setbacks, coupled with competition from online sales, as well as mega-giants Walmart and Target, gradually caused Kmart to lose its grip on the discount retail market.

The Avenel store held out much longer than most and will be remembered by generations of Woodbridge residents in search of a bargain.