Downtown Dwellers Increase

Image of "Courier News" building while under renovation

When I was a kid, my family lived in an apartment “over the store,” a common urban situation. There was a deli downstairs from us where I sometimes had embarrassing encounters with teachers on days when I had conned my mother into letting me stay home from school.

Now developer Frank Cretella has a new apartment offering that is far more elegant. How about living over a “French Brasserie” in downtown Plainfield?

The 1909 home of Courier-News Publishing on Park Avenue now has eight apartments ready for occupancy, according to a flier I picked up there Tuesday on my way to the bank. There is a mailbox on the front of the building that contains the fliers. The ground floor will have "Restaurant Retour," described both as a brasserie and and bistro, either way a departure from American luncheonettes and fast food joints. If it's an authentic brasserie, count on Mark Spivey to tell you what beer goes best with choucroute.

In my wanderings downtown, I used to wonder why the floors over existing stores were not all occupied. Now, between the two refurbished mixed-use Paramount projects and the two Cretella buildings, all on Park Avenue, there is a new influx of downtown apartment dwellers. Cretella's approach is more sophisticated than Paramount's, but more people downtown has long been a goal of the TOD crowd. It will be interesting to see what kind of a difference these new apartments make, as Cretella plans a couple hundred more in various downtown projects.

The new apartments are ready for occupancy starting March 1, according to the flier. Rentals range from $1,200 to $1,350. Call (201) 761-0025 ext. 10 for a showing.

--Bernice