Raritan Town Square combines the elements of a power center, with the pedestrian-friendly aspects of a lifestyle center, through creative land planning and engineering. This multi-purpose redevelopment proposal includes a community-shopping complex, entertainment, and office spaces. Wal-Mart and Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, act as the economic force behind the facility. MEA’s full-service land planning, engineering, landscape architecture and development-permitting services were integrated throughout the approval and construction processes.

MEA worked with the developer to achieve the community’s desire for a downtown, pedestrian-friendly gathering place for township residents. To meet the objectives, the project was developed around two central greens, with a traffic pattern resembling a traditional town square. The site incorporates traffic calming circles, one-way streets, and on-street parking that create a true downtown area. All of this was accomplished while retaining critical mature trees, a must for the municipality. Development pressures tend to take focus away from the value of saving existing trees, ignoring the warm sense of scale and character that mature trees add to any neighborhood project. MEA understands each municipalities commitment to the environment and has found a variety of solutions to preserve existing character while maintaining budgetary concerns. Our landscape architects and engineers worked diligently to provide attractive, functional settings for the Raritan Town Square facility, preserving Hunterdon County’s charm.

The scope of MEA’s services included developing the substantial onsite features and utilizing our roadway designers to develop off-site NJDOT and County road improvement plans. Additionally, our engineering staff produced plans for an adjacent full- size football facility and our permit expeditors managed the myriad of local, county, and state approvals for the developer.