Filling Our Empty Offices and Bringing Back the Businesses We Actually Need

Drive through Basking Ridge or Liberty Corner on a weekday and you’ll see it: office buildings with half-empty parking lots and “For Lease” signs that have been up a long time. Every vacant suite is a loss for the landlord, for the businesses around it, and for the township’s tax base. It’s also an opportunity. Bernards Township has the households, the location, and the access to major highways that businesses look for. The question is how we make it easier for the right ones to choose us.

Be honest about what the township can and can’t do

The Township Committee doesn’t decide who leases a building. Landlords and brokers do that. What the township controls is the environment those decisions are made in: zoning, permitting speed, parking rules, signage, and how welcoming the process feels to someone opening a business for the first time. Those are the levers I’d focus on.

Make the zoning work for the buildings we already have

Many of our office buildings were designed for a single use and are hard to adapt. The township can review whether current zoning allows a reasonable range of uses in existing office districts, such as medical and dental offices, personal services, fitness studios, childcare, tutoring centers, and small-scale professional or research uses. Where the rules are unnecessarily restrictive, we should ask why and whether a targeted change would open the door without harming neighbors. Parking requirements deserve the same look. A building that once needed one space per 200 square feet may be overbuilt for today’s mix of tenants, and shared-parking arrangements can free up flexibility.

Shorten the path from application to opening day

A business owner’s biggest cost is often time. I’d want to know how long it takes a typical change of use or tenant fit-out to get approved, where applications stall, and whether a single point of contact could walk applicants through the process. A pre-application meeting, a clear checklist posted online, and firm timelines would cost little and signal that Bernards wants new businesses. The township can also review whether permits for interior work that doesn’t change the building’s footprint can be handled more quickly.

Recruit with partners, not just with signs

Somerset County’s economic development staff, the chamber of commerce, and commercial brokers all have contacts and data the township doesn’t. Regular conversations with them can identify which categories of businesses are looking for space in our region. State programs, including those run through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, sometimes offer incentives for businesses that create jobs in a particular area. Before we promote any of them, we should confirm current eligibility, because program terms change.

Target what residents actually need

Coffee shops and bagel places are fine, but they’re not what most families are missing. When residents talk to me, they mention things like:

• Primary care, urgent care, dental, physical therapy, and specialists who don’t require a drive to Summit or Somerville

• Childcare and after-school programs

• Pharmacies, a good hardware store, and everyday grocery options

• Auto service, dry cleaning, and pet care

• Tutoring, music lessons, and fitness studios

• Accountants, insurance agents, and other professional services for small business owners and families

• Restaurants with a sit-down dinner option that aren’t a chain drive-thru

• Bakeries

Some of these are already here. Others aren’t, and a township can help by identifying the gaps and sharing that information with prospective operators. A simple, public “what we’re missing” list would help brokers and entrepreneurs see the opportunity.

Support the small businesses already here

Recruiting new tenants shouldn’t come at the expense of the businesses in Basking Ridge, Millington, and Liberty Corner that have stayed through hard years. Street appearance, signage rules that are clear and fair, outdoor dining where it makes sense, and consistent event programming all help existing shops and attract new ones. Vacancies cluster when a district feels unfinished, so small improvements can have outsized effects.

What I’d measure

If we’re serious about this, we should track results: vacancy rates for office and retail space, the number of new business openings and closings each year, average permit turnaround times, and tax ratables from commercial property. Publishing those numbers each year, whatever they show, is the best way to hold ourselves accountable.

Bernards Township doesn’t need to become something it isn’t. It needs buildings that work, a process that respects people’s time, and a mix of businesses that makes daily life easier for the people who already live here. That’s a practical goal, and it’s one I’d be glad to work on.