Located at the prominent intersection of Route 35 and Laurel Avenue, this site had great potential for retail and office use. Managing the mix of uses (office, retail, and residential) to limit traffic concerns, to provide shopping, and to identify housing that would not strain the school system, was important to the township planning process. Revitalizing a dormant property and creating a new tax revenue stream were key goals for the township.

The approval process took four years and involved 20 government agencies. As with most redevelopment projects the primary environmental concerns included cleaning up any contaminants. The site components were cohesively designed to minimize impact on wooded freshwater wetlands and the adjacent residential development to the north, while improving the retail image along the highly developed Route 35 corridor. The redevelopment resulted in a substantial decrease in impervious coverage from the property’s former industrial use.

The site development has three major components. The first is comprised of two office buildings totaling 80,000 square feet, along with a nursing home, and assisted-living facility. The second component includes an upscale, pedestrian-oriented, 235,000-square-foot retail shopping center called The Commons at Holmdel. This main street center includes 21 stores and restaurants as well as outdoor plaza space. The Commons, located on 38 acres closest to Route 35, acts as a buffer for the third component; Cedar Village at Holmdel,158 single-family homes for residents age 55 and older. Recreational space in this portion of the development includes a clubhouse, tennis court, a putting green, and picnic court.

Commons Way, a constructed boulevard collector road, bisects the site and creates a boundary between the retail and residential. The boulevard’s wide-open space, significant land forms, and intensive plantings along the retail side provide a substantial and attractive buffer for the residential units across the new boulevard from the retail component. A park-like pedestrian space with design elements that add character reminiscent of a village setting, including stone, brick, and decorative fencing, are incorporated along Commons Way. Blending the components of the overall project, while including vehicular and pedestrian linkages, was central to the design process. The wet-pond stormwater management system is used to aesthetic advantage with fountains and wetland plantings surrounding the basins.

Significant plantings reduce the building mass of the development to a pedestrian-friendly scale, while providing four-season interest. The use of design materials such as brick face on the buildings, brick and stone walls, and decorative fencing, are intended to evoke a village-like character, while tying together the different uses with a common theme. The project’s strategic use of landscape buffers and plant massing creates pedestrian spaces extending outward from the retail focal point and interconnecting the adjacent land uses both onsite and offsite.