NJ Transit is working with private developer DOR Woodbridge to overhaul Metropark Station as part of a broader mixed-use redevelopment.
The Metropark Transit-Oriented Development plans call for station-area enhancements, including circulation and access improvements, off-site traffic mitigation, pedestrian and bicycle upgrades, new bus shelters, and renovations to the existing station building and parking facilities. Plans include Class A office and retail space, residential buildings with 20% of homes designated as affordable, community amenities, and structured parking.
“This project is the perfect marriage of transit villages with development and with the needs of a municipality,” Woodbridge Township Mayor John McCormac told Railfanning.org News Wire. “We can really use the tax revenue, which is wonderful for us. We can meet our affordable housing obligation, which is wonderful for us, and we can provide this without really burdening the school system, because these kind of apartments don’t really produce school kids.
“We can really get this benefit without traffic impact, because even though cars are going to come in and out, but people will live here and take the train,” McCormac added. “You’re looking at commuters, not people that will will drive to work, and it’s going to have restaurants and it’s going to have health care, a place where people can come on and off the train. … It’s got so much of what everybody wants, what every mayor should want in their town.”
The overhaul is advancing in phases, with the first phase focusing on a 242,000-square-foot Hackensack Meridian Health headquarters that will house corporate and medical office space. The project anchors the broader redevelopment while station upgrades proceed around the campus.
The second phase slated is expected to deliver about 245 apartment homes, with 20% set aside as affordable units, plus ground-floor commercial space and shared amenities.
Work will extend to the commuter parking garage, with upgraded equipment to enable faster entry and exit. The station building and its connection tunnel will be revitalized to improve accessibility, appearance, and day-to-day functionality.
The rail upgrades will proceed in tandem with a new live-work-play district that adds office space, residential apartments, restaurants, and retail.
According to the project timeline, the mixed-use phase began in late summer 2024. Office components are slated for completion by spring 2026, and residential and retail elements are expected by spring 2028.
Metropark Station, first proposed by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in 1968 and opened in 1972, now ranks among the busiest stops on Amtrak and NJ Transit’s Northeast Corridor.
The hub serves both Amtrak and NJ Transit trains and is easily reached from multiple Garden State Parkway exits. NJ Transit reports roughly 4 million passengers use the station each year.
Parking expanded from the original 1,791-space surface lot to two multi-level decks in the 1990s, bringing structured capacity to 3,591 spaces. An overflow surface lot west of the pick-up/drop-off area adds about 300 more spaces.
Bus connections include NJ Transit’s No. 48 to Woodbridge Center, Elizabeth, and Perth Amboy. Metropark Loop buses also serve nearby neighborhoods during peak commuter hours.
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