Exterior work is progressing on Vermella East Brunswick, a 40-acre, $500 million complex in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Designed by Shore Point Architecture and developed by River Development Equities in partnership with Russo Development, the master plan will span nearly 790,000 square feet and yield 535 rental apartments and 218 townhomes. The complex will also include retail space, restaurants, medical offices, and additional commercial space, as well as indoor and outdoor residential amenities. The project site is bounded by Ruth Street to the north, Lake Avenue to the south, Route 18 to the east, and Renee Road to the west.
The following photos show Vermella’s first structure partially topped out and its grid of floor-to-ceiling windows beginning installation between green insulation boards. Work is further ahead on the southeastern portion of the site, while crews are still erecting the wood superstructure for the adjacent wings between the set of egress cores. This building will be the largest in the master plan and will contain 307 rental units, 33,665 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and enclosed parking.
Phase one at Vermella East Brunswick. Photo by Michael Young.
Phase one at Vermella East Brunswick. Photo by Michael Young.
Phase one at Vermella East Brunswick. Photo by Michael Young.
Phase one at Vermella East Brunswick. Photo by Michael Young.
Phase one at Vermella East Brunswick. Photo by Michael Young.
Phase one at Vermella East Brunswick. Photo by Michael Young.
The below rendering offers a street-level preview of the mixed-use complex.
Street-level perspective of Vermella East Brunswick.
Below is an aerial view of the former site conditions prior to demolition work. The property was formerly occupied by several low-rise strip malls.
The overall parameters for of Vermella East Brunswick and former site conditions.
Phase one began last fall with the demolition of the Zakon Realty strip center, an Office Depot, and two smaller retail buildings at the corner of Route 18 and Lake Avenue. The new building currently under construction is rising on their former footprint.
Phase two is planned to start shortly after the completion of phase one next year and will replace approximately 121,206 square feet of old retail space. This phase will consist of one four-story residential building with 240 rental units and 341 parking spaces, as well as a community park located at 253-261 Route 18.
Phase three will be the largest in overall scope, with 14 smaller condominium structures yielding 218 stacked townhomes. This stage will also include 554 total parking spaces, with 436 enclosed and driveway combination spaces and 116 on-street parking spots, and a new park centrally located on the property at 233-245 Route 18, the site of the Loehmann’s Plaza directly to the north. The existing East Brunswick Racquet Club facility along Ruth Street will remain in place.
The below diagram details the various components of the master plan. The structure currently under construction in phase one is Building A on the easternmost end of the site. Phase two will introduce Building B to its immediate southwest, and phase three will add the townhome buildings along the southern edge of the parcel. Two additional structures containing a hotel/restaurant and a grocery will round out the development along Route 18.
The future layout of Vermella East Brunswick.
Developers hope to open the first building at Vermella East Brunswick in the spring of 2026.
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This is a very typical NJ development with several floors of wooden structure over a masonry base. NYC does not permit these. A ride on the NJT North Jersey Coast Line passes a number of examples.
This country is full of mostly empty retail strips and abandoned malls just waiting to be redeveloped as housing. Over-retailing happened before online shopping replaced it.
These wooden ‘fivers’ (five floors) are awful to live in. You hear and feel neighbors closing doors, yelling, and even ‘bodily functions’ in some cases. I knew so much about the state of my neighbors relationship that I started rooting for the women against her boyfriend/husband. I knew he was a real bastard even though I was never actually in the same space as him. I was much quieter. I don’t think they had any idea I had had a front row seat to all their arguments AND ‘make ups.’
Wood construction has nothing to do with it. I have no trouble hearing my neighbor through the brick wall in the adjacent next building.
Proper insulation is key. A 1 inch layer of foam board between walls and under the floor joists stops noise. This is a cheap and easy fix most architects and builders can’t be bothered to care about.
Not to mention, maybe apartment living just isn’t their thing. NJ is an auto-centric hellscape, I like the suburbs but European ones like in the Netherlands. Suburbs don’t have to suck but when the whole society revolves around cars then yeah it’ll suck, we need viable alternatives to driving so the only ones on the roads are those who need to be and or want to be, I don’t wanna be. East Brunswick would be amazing if we had a network of bicycle paths for all people of all ages & abilities no matter if you cycle, scoot, roll etc. You said it best, this country is filled with dead/dying malls, massive parking lots & strip malls. Many commercial corridors along state highways in NJ could be turned into little urban villages & also ideally i’d love if these “stroads” were actual nice main-streets. We have the potentially to fill in our “missing middle housing” people deserve more choices than just a high rise in NYC or a single family home in Dallas lmao, and as of recent these 5×1 mixed use apartment buildings (which I’m finally happy we stopped building suburban apartment & tbh I’d love if we could just ban those like if we’re going to build an apartment today they should all just be 5×1’s period). These types of developments also tend to have townhomes that also come with them, for families who wanna own but I feel like America isn’t progressing enough as we should. I like the medium density mixed use apartment buildings, and townhomes but I’m still wanting more options even if that means going into existing neighborhoods. I wanna see way more duplexes, rowhomes, detached single family cottage courts, bungalow courts etc. These types of housing options would go so hard versus building yet another culdesac of traditional suburban single family homes or worse a whole new massive subdivision of culdesac of traditional suburban single family homes, it’s okay to want that but I think we have plenty.