New Brunswick OKs high-rise, but lawsuit is pending

NEW BRUNSWICK – The city Planning Board has approved a 23-story mixed use building on the site of the Elks Club despite a lawsuit filed by a neighboring property owner alleging that proper legal procedures were not followed.

The Planning Board approved The Liv, a high-rise with 407 residential units, a 6,000 square foot banquet hall for the New Brunswick BPO Elks 324, a 2,000-square-foot commercial retail space for the George Street Co-Op and 346 parking spaces.

Albish Associates, owner of the property at 83 Morris St., filed suit in Middlesex County Superior Court on Dec. 27 alleging it did not receive proper notice of the proposed city ordinance that included its property and the neighboring lots into the NB Downtown Redevelopment Area. That ordinance, the lawsuit said, “significantly” changed the zoning regulations on its property.

The ordinance was passed by the City Council on April 24, 2023.

New Street Associates, part of New Brunswick-based Weiss Properties which has developed apartment buildings in Somerville, submitted plans for The Liv in July.

At the Jan. 8 Planning Board meeting, Peter V. McArthur, attorney for Albish Associates, said the magnitude of The Liv on less than an acre of land will negatively impact the integrity, character and scale of the downtown central business district, according to a video of the meeting by New Brunswick Today.