Redevelopment of former Woodbridge Developmental Center site begins. Here's what's planned

WOODBRIDGE – Construction of a warehouse at the site of the former Woodbridge Developmental Center in the Avenel section began Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony.

The Morris Companies’ approved redevelopment plan calls for the construction of a 1,175-square-foot warehouse along with 20,000 square feet of office space and a 20,000-square-foot office mezzanine. The project also includes a 300-car parking lot, a 502-trailer parking lot and 100 loading docks, in addition to landscape fencing and buffers to enhance the site.

“This redevelopment project has transformed the long-closed New Jersey State Developmental Center in Woodbridge into a productive commercially successful facility that will benefit the township tax base for years to come,” said Mayor John E. McCormac, adding the development would not have been possible without the commitment of The Morris Companies, the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency and the Department of Planning.

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The mayor was joined at the ceremony by Keith E. Morris, vice president of The Morris Companies; Johnnie Jones of The Morris Companies; Woodbridge Councilman Cory Spillar; Middlesex County Commissioner Charles Kenny; Caroline Ehrlich, executive director of the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency; Marta Lefsky, director of planning and development of the Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency; and representatives of the Avenel business community.

The Morris-Avenel property is a 91-acre site to the north of Avenel Street, located on the west side of Rahway Avenue in what was the former Woodbridge Developmental Center site and the former Premiere Diecast warehouse property.   

The Woodbridge Developmental Center, with a campus-like setting, opened in 1965, as an intermediate care residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities.

The facility closed on Jan. 1, 2015 following a 2012 state task force report, addressing declining enrollment at state developmental centers, that called for the closing of the North Jersey Developmental Center in Totowa and the Woodbridge Developmental Center, and the relocation of residents to other developmental centers and group homes. At the time of the 2012 report there were 333 residents, many considered severely or profoundly developmentally disabled, living at the Avenel facility.