EMERSON—An Oct. 16 trial date is set to hear a lawsuit filed in June 2020 by the Borough of Emerson against its redevelopment partner — and the redeveloper’s countersuits — over the non-payment of $500,000 in construction services in exchange for a deed to the former home of the Emerson Volunteer Ambulance Corps (EVAC).
When initial agreements between the borough and Emerson Redevelopers Urban Renewal (ERUR) to redevelop the Block 419 or Emerson Station Project were signed in late December 2018, those agreements gave the borough one year, until Dec. 31, 2019, to obtain a building site and site design for a new EVAC headquarters in exchange for deeding over the ambulance property.
When the redeveloper did not pay out the $500,000 in construction services, claiming the borough did not have a site or design for the new facility by the deadline, the borough tried to negotiate with the redeveloper for about six months but eventually filed a breach of contract lawsuit in June 2020.
The late-2018 agreement deeded over the EVAC property to the redeveloper, in the waning days of immediate past mayor Democrat Louis Lamatina’s administration.
In early 2019, Republican Mayor Danielle DiPaola was sworn in. Consistent with her views and votes from council, DiPaola’s mayoral campaign opposed the massive downtown redevelopment, which was approved days before she assumed the gavel.
Since the borough filed its complaint against the redeveloper in 2020, the court case has sparked countersuits filed by both parties, and 735 days of discovery whereby both plaintiff and defendant were allowed time to interview witnesses.
Since summer 2022, construction has continued on the 147-unit Emerson Station project, a residential mixed-use complex, including 15,000 square feet of retail space in the heart of downtown Emerson, near the borough’s busy train station. Pedestrians and vehicles passing by can view the partly completed complex, which stretches over four downtown blocks.
In summer 2021, the Superior Court appointed a Mount Laurel implementation monitor to help expedite the 29 units of affordable housing approved as part of the mixed-use complex, including 22 on-site units and seven offsite units.
The case was originally scheduled for arbitration in June 2022, and then was to go to trial in Superior Court in May 2023. Both dates were postponed by the court. The court case trial docket notes the case had two prior trial postponements, including one in mid-August, 2023, postponed due to a vacation.
(See “Lawsuits tighten around Emerson Station,” Michael Olohan, July 16, 2022.)
Following the August trial postponement, a court notice was sent to all parties, including attorneys for the borough, ERUR, JMF Properties, and Settembrino Architects, to inform them of the October trial date.
Anyone watching or listening to council meetings since the new trial date notices went out in mid-July would be hard-pressed to find any mention of the new date during council sessions. Under most agendas, the closed session items generally include Litigation/Redevelopment Update.
Throughout 2022, the borough and redeveloper traded accusations over whether the original agreement allowed the redeveloper to redevelop seven off-site affordable units at the 129 Kinderkamack Road site, an area now encircled by fencing opposite Dunkin’ Donuts.
In March 2022, McCann had reported that the borough had asked nine questions of the redeveloper following a presentation they made requesting that 129 Kinderkamack Road be rezoned for seven offsite units of affordable housing.
No answers were provided to those questions, McCann said then, which were necessary and needed to help the borough understand issues surrounding 129 Kinderkamack Road’s purchase for future affordable housing. It’s not clear if the affordable housing zoning and construction issues will also be part of the trial judge’s future ruling.
We reached out to DiPaola, borough attorney John McCann, attorney Brian Giblin and the defendants’ attorneys for comment for this story.