Advanced Knee Pain Treatment in Sewaren, NJ

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Yes, a tiki bar really is coming to the Woodbridge municipal marina in Sewaren (648 Cliff Road).

Today, for the first time ever, the Township provided renderings of how it envisions the tiki bar will look.

Patch already reported in January that Mayor John McCormac seeks to build a tiki bar there. But the "new" news this week is that Woodbridge Township is now officially asking vendors to submit proposals to build the bar.

Woodbridge is looking for someone to build and operate the tiki bar. Bids are due to Woodbridge by Aug. 22; the Township is calling this the "Up Smith's Creek complex."

Here's How To Apply To Build The Woodbridge Marina Tiki Bar

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Woodbridge said it is looking for someone to construct a 215-seat outdoor tiki bar overlooking the marina. Whoever is chosen by the town will also build restrooms, add new and improved walkways, lighting, fencing and additional parking. Woodbridge has received some grant money to help fund the project.

Woodbridge may even approve an outdoor stage for live music.

McCormac told MyCentralJersey this week the town originally wanted to open a full waterfront restaurant at the marina, but had to scale it back because it was costing too much money. Instead, the town will allow food trucks to park there once the tiki bar is complete.

In the past year, Woodbridge already replaced the bulkheads and removed debris at the marina. That was Phase 1 of what the town is calling the "Sewaren Marina Complex and Waterfront Improvement Project."

Construction of the tiki bar will be Phase 2. Phase 3 is adding more boat slips: Currently, the Sewaren marina has 28 slips. Woodbridge wants to add 25 more slips, with an additional 11 dock-and-dine slips.

Woodbridge also plans to make improvements to the adjoining dog park off Cliff Road, and add a walking bridge connecting to Alvin P. Williams Park. That is far off in the future, however. No date has been given when the walking bridge to Alvin P. Williams will be built.

Both the towns of Woodbridge and Carteret are trying to greatly expand their access to the Arthur Kill — and Raritan Bay and New York Harbor beyond. In 2019, Carteret opened this 185-slip municipal marina, located at Carteret's Waterfront Park on Middlesex Avenue.

Prior: Tiki Bar And More Boat Slips Coming To Woodbridge Marina (Jan. 2023)

An aerial view of the Sewaren Marina on Smith’s Creek that shows how it appeared a few years ago.

An overview of the Sewaren Marina & Recreation Center that show a new Tiki Bar and other amenities now underway.Photo Credit: WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP

An aerial view of the Sewaren Marina on Smith’s Creek that shows how it appeared a few years ago.Photo Credit: TAPINTO FILE PHOTO/WOODBRIDGE

An overview of the Sewaren Marina & Recreation Center that show a new Tiki Bar and other amenities now underway.Photo Credit: WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP

PublishedNovember 9, 2023 at 7:22 AM

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A 215-seat Tiki Bar, and many other outdoor amenities, should be ready by next summer to welcome visitors to the town-owned Sewaren Marina & Recreation Center.

That’s the forecast from municipal officials who held a recent groundbreaking ceremony for the next $4 million phase of the Sewaren marina project, largely funded with state grants.

Woodbridge recently awarded a $4.03 million construction contract for the Sewaren waterfront project to McCauley Construction Co., of Long Branch. It subcontracted architectural design work for the Tiki Bar and surrounding site to The Vaughn Collaborative of Ewing.

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Joining Mayor John E. McCormac at the groundbreaking were state Sen. Joseph Vitale, Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, Councilwoman Sharon McAuliffe; Business Administrator Vito Cimilluca; Marta Lefsky-Darden, township planning director; Heather LaMotta, deputy director of the local redevelopment agency; and Jeff Kosick from T&M Associates, the town’s engineering consultant.

Also on hand was Chip Vaughn, managing partner at Vaughn Collaborative, and Vaughn architect Warren Buonanno. The entire ceremony can be seen here:

Construction will soon be underway for the 215-seat outdoor Tiki Bar with an outdoor stage for live performances; an area designated for food trucks; better waterfront access; more parking plus safer walkways, more lights, new fences and other security features.

The Sewaren marina is on Smith’s Creek, a deep stream that leads a half-mile to the Arthur Kill. The federal government paid to dredge it after Superstorm Sandy; and 19th District lawmakers delivered nearly $5.5 million in state grants for further dredging, new steel bulkheads, and to help pay for the current improvements.

The municipal marina now has 77 boat slips after Woodbridge bought nearby Captain Hook Marina, and negotiated a “basically free” acquisition deal for the dilapidated Pirate Cove Marina next door, the Mayor McCormac has previously explained.

The new phase of the marina project is to include construction of 25 more boat slips with an 11 “dock-and-dine” slips that enable boaters to stop, buy food and refreshments, eat outdoors or cast off, the mayor said.

McCormac predicts the Sewaren Marina & Recreation Center will be “a source of enjoyment, community pride, and will enhance the value of homes in the Sewaren area.”

Future improvements are to also include:

● Doubling the size and improving the nearby municipal dog park.

● Building a walking bridge, with Middlesex County funding, to connect the marina area to nearby Alvin P. Williams County Park.

● Creating a “living shoreline” off Cliff Road to restore its natural habitat and halt erosion.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — State 19th District lawmakers delivered a $4 million grant last week to help this town create a lively, new nautical-themed entertainment venue on Sewaren’s waterfront.

The new grant, included in the state’s 2023-24 budget, is earmarked to dredge and deepen Smith Creek, a half-mile-long waterway that leads from Sewaren’s marina to the Arthur Kill and beyond.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez joined Mayor John E, McCormac on Wednesday, Aug 2, at the marina to discuss Woodbridge’s vision for the waterfront’s future. TAPinto has an exclusive video and photos from that event.

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Also joining McCormac were Business Administrator Vito Cimilluca; his Chief-of-Staff Caroline Ehrlich, also the redevelopment agency’s executive director; and Heather LaMotta, who the mayor credits with supervising day-to-day waterfront improvements.

Some of the new state grant money may be also used to turn nearby Sewaren properties into usable “open space for community enjoyment,” state lawmakers said in a prepared release.

This new grant comes almost a year after 19th District lawmakers secured $1.5 million in the 2022-23 state budget to also dredge Smith Creek.

Mayor McCormac says Woodbridge envisions the marina as a distinctive recreation-entertainment venue that will increase property values for Sewaren homeowners.

Among amenities on the drawing board are a:

● 215-seat Tiki Bar, called “Up Smith’s Creek,” a venue centerpiece.

● “Living shoreline” off Cliff Road to restore its natural habitat and halt erosion.

● Larger new dog park.

● Walking bridge that connects with Alvin P. Williams County Park.

● Stage and sound system for live music/theater performances.

● Boat storage area; large parking lot; new overhead lights, landscaping, benches and walkways; improved stormwater runoff area; and upgraded utility services

Woodbridge is seeking qualified developers to build and operate its 215-seat Tiki bar. The submission deadline is Tuesday, Aug. 22.

Interested developers can make in-person visits to the Purchasing Division at the Woodbridge Municipal Complex, 1 Main Street; call its staff at (732) 602-6001; or visit the division’s website.

Contact Tony Gallotto at tgallotto@tapinto.net with news tips or interesting feature ideas.

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Sewaren 7 is a combined-cycle power plant in Woodbridge, New Jersey, US. PSEG Power’s subsidiary PSEG Fossil developed the 538MW highly efficient power project, which produces electricity for 500,000 homes.

With an estimated cost of more than $600m, the new plant replaced units 1, 2, 3 and 4 of PSEG’s existing Sewaren coal-fired power plant on the same site. The units were shut down after approximately 70 years of operation.

PSEG invested in the project due to lower gas prices and also to reduce power plant emissions. Construction of the Sewaren 7 plant commenced in June 2016, and commissioning was completed in June 2018.

The project generated significant tax revenue for the local economy and economic benefits during the construction phase by creating approximately 350 jobs. It also generated another 28 full-time operational jobs after commissioning.

Sewaren 7 plant details

The project replaced the existing less efficient generating units with a dual-fuel combined-cycle power plant. It is equipped with a high-efficiency GE’s 7HA.02 (H-class) gas turbine and A650 steam turbine in a turbine building.

The plant includes a 3,800t modular, C-frame heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), modular air-cooled condenser, fuel gas heating station, emergency diesel generator, auxiliary electrical building, main stack and auxiliary boiler stack.

The air-cooled condenser is 125ft tall and has 20 discrete heat transfer cells, covering an area of 40,500ft². It recycles water continuously for cooling purposes, reducing the need for cooling water. The condenser also decreases the plant’s dependence on the Arthur Kill tidal strait for cooling water.

Additional facilities include a fuel oil forwarding pump house, fuel oil tank, emissions monitoring building, hydrogen and ammonia storage, and fire-water storage tanks. The plant is also equipped with a 230kV step-up transformer, auxiliary cooling tower, warehouse and service water pump house.

Sewaren 7 technology and fuel

The combined-cycle power plant uses gas and steam to generate power from the same amount of fuel. Natural gas is fired in the gas turbine generator to produce electricity. Waste heat from the gas turbine is diverted towards the HRSG to generate steam, which drives the steam turbine to produce additional electricity.

“The project generated significant tax revenue for the local economy and economic benefits during the construction phase by creating about 350 jobs.”

The 7HA.02 plant gas turbines are highly efficient and can produce the same amount of power from half the quantity of fuel as compared to the older steam generators.

The plant operates on two types of fuel, including natural gas and ultra-low sulphur distillate (ULSD) fuel oil. The dual-fuel capability enables the use of ULSD in the event of a shortfall in natural gas supply, increasing the plant’s dependability and reliability.

The natural gas required for the plant is supplied through the Texas Eastern and Transco pipelines.

Emissions control at the combined-cycle power plant

The technology used in the HA gas turbines reduces the emission rates at the new plant to approximately half of those at the older plant. The emissions reduced by the technology are equivalent to taking more than 150,000 cars off the road.

The plant features low nitrogen oxide combustors and a selective catalytic reduction system to reduce nitrogen emissions. An oxidation catalyst also cuts carbon monoxide emissions.

Contractors involved

Black & Veatch won the engineering, procurement services and construction management contract for the project.

GE supplied the gas turbines, while Holtec International provided the air-cooled condenser for the plant.

Matrix Service Company carried out above-ground electrical construction work in April 2017.

Stonebridge Steel Erection used 1,500t of steel for constructing seven buildings at the plant, including the turbine hall, and fuel and gas building.

JMS Naval Architects performed the engineering review of the barge transport of the HRSG in August 2017. Mammoet Global Engineering performed the load-out operation of the machinery on and off the barge.

VistaEnergy provided construction management, project execution planning and development services, while Durr Mechanical Construction was the mechanical contractor for the project.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — At their meeting Thursday night, the Woodbridge Zoning Board approved the "Arches at Sewaren," in a 5-2 vote.

This means the Arches will move forward. Sandra Vanorden is a lifelong resident of Sewaren who is against the project. She said Friday morning she and a group of neighbors plan to file a legal appeal to stop the project from proceeding.

These are the new apartments proposed for West Avenue in Sewaren, which the Woodbridge Zoning Board actually rejected last year.

The Arches at Sewaren will be located at lots 551, 555 and 561 of West Avenue. It will consist of two white two-and-a-half-story buildings with black shutters; it will have a Victorian look and feel. See a rendering of how the apartment buildings will look.

In November, the Zoning Board rejected the developer's proposal. Board members did not give a specific reason, but the general feeling was the proposal did not fit in with the look and feel of that neighborhood, which is a historic section of Woodbridge. Several homes on that street are in the town's historic registry.

This March, the Arches reapplied before the Board. They sought multiple variances, including to build multi-family in a single-family residential zone.

On Thursday night, they were approved for those variances.

"We filled the room (Thursday night), did our research — and our concerns and evidence fell upon deaf ears," said Vanorden Friday morning. "As stated by the Township's Single-Family Residential Zone bylaws, the purpose of the R-15 Residential Zone is to protect the character of existing larger lots, especially along Cliff Road and West Avenue. Apparently, the Township is not abiding by the rules they've set ... Essentially, there is no need for a Zoning Board or a Historical Commission if they aren't valid. What is their purpose? They're just sucking up our taxes."

These will be apartments, not single-family homes like most of the other properties on that block. The two buildings will have 27 apartment units total, plus a community room.

There will also be a parking lot for 56 cars built in the back. There is currently a dilapidated old home on those lots (pictured above), originally called "The Arches," and it was also the site of the original Sewaren library. That old home will be torn down and many trees will also have to be torn down as well, particularly to build the parking lot.

There is already the existing Ivy Apartments located on West Avenue next door.

The principal investor and owner of Arches at Sewaren, LLC, is Thomas J. Fallon of Manalapan. The architect is Michael Testa of Manalapan.

"Their plan has two buildings on one lot and is not in conformity with the development standards for this zone," continued Vanorden. "The developer truly hasn't considered its responsibility to its neighbors and their properties."

Patch reporting on the Arches at Sewaren: New 27-Unit Apartment Complex Back On Table For Sewaren (March 8)