Saul Fisher, who owns the buildings that house Village Coffee, Arturo’s and Jerry Rose flowers, and Chris Amundsen, who operates Kokoro and owns its building, both said they would agree to a sale, but did need to see the price.
“Either way it wouldn’t make a difference to me,” Amundsen said. “I haven’t seen anything about it, I don’t know the details, it also comes down to the price they want … Offhand, I’d have no objections to their buying it. But it depends on the economics.”
Fischer added, “I have no problem anyway they want to go.”
Owners of the other four buildings, which run from 168 to 174 Maplewood Avenue, either did not respond to inquiries or could not be reached.
At issue is the parking lot behind their property, which stretches from the former post office site to Baker Street. JMF Properties, which is building the new three-story, 20-apartment, five-retail shop complex at the former post office site, needs to run a new sewer line through the parking lot in order to handle the increased sewer needs from the new building.
The Township currently leases the parking lot from the building owners for $11,829 per year. But Fischer said that is done through a tax abatement and not a direct payment to the landlords.
The Township had been in talks with the building owners to extend the lease, but Mayor Vic Deluca announced last week that the Township intended to buy the parking lot. An appraisal posted by the Township of the land indicates the parking lot area is worth about $600,000.
Fischer said he had been in talks with some Township officials in December, but had not heard back prior to the purchase plan announcement.
“It is valuable property,” he said. “I figured we would continue the conversation.”
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