According to the latest plans unveiled recently by Anthony DiGiovanni, director of development for the Short Hills-based Garden Commercial and a local resident, the riverfront redevelopment plan would encompass 106 residential units, 20,000 square feet of retail space and 14,000 square feet of professional office space along South Ave., High St. and the river. Architectural plans developed by the Union, NJ-based Appel Design Group call for two three-story mixed-use buildings with a four-story residential building to the rear of the site, along with a pair of 3,000-square-foot public plazas. Projected cost of the project has not been released, but according to the source that number could be in the $75-million to $100-million range.

"This has been a careful and in-depth process which included township officials, and the plan has been tailored to the environmental challenges and location advantages of the site," DiGiovanni says in presenting the latest plan. "It's very specific for Cranford.""The developer has been listening to what the township is asking for," says Cranford Mayor Robert Puhak, in a statement. "The design proposals that have been made have traditional architecture [that would] fit in and complement the existing downtown."

Garden Commercial is the fourth developer with which the township has been involved over the past decade in the effort to get the site redeveloped. In June, the township committee signed an interim cost agreement with Garden Homes, Garden Commercial's parent, giving the firm the exclusive rights to negotiate a formal redeveloper agreement. Several weeks later, Garden got the township committee's nod as the site's developer pending the formal agreement.