New tiki bar pavilion coming soon to NJ waterfront town

🔵 Millions of dollars in improvements are coming to the Carteret waterfront

🔵 Look for a tiki bar pavilion by next summer

🔵 Plus, miles of added boardwalk

CARTERET — Some big changes are coming to a Middlesex County borough waterfront, hopefully by early summer 2025.

More than $4 million in improvements are underway at Waterfront Park in Carteret with many new projects coming to fruition, said Mayor Daniel Reiman.

This is 20 years in the making, he added. Veterans Pier was built in 2003. Since then, the borough has opened a waterfront park, built a 188-slip marina, added two miles of boardwalk, and put in a floating dock and boat ramp.

“So this is really two decades and over $100 million in public investment in the making to provide public access to the waterfront,” Reiman said.

Improvements

With this particular project, more than $4 million in overall improvements will be made, including a 3,000-square-foot tiki bar pavilion built on Veteran’s Pier and a snack stand on the southern end of Veteran’s Pier next to the municipal marina in a spot that does not conflict with local fishing areas.

The picnic areas and walkways will also be expanded, a new prefabricated restroom building will be built, a 24 by 32-foot band stage pad will be installed, the gazebo modified, and seats will be added because the borough holds many concerts by the bay down there, including Latin Fest and Independence Day Festival.

“It’s really an exciting time. Our waterfront is used by tens of thousands of people throughout the year, and not just from Carteret. They come from all over New Jersey and even Staten Island,” said Reiman.

"To provide this level of amenity, to provide the tiki bar, to provide food and beverage in an open public setting is a great opportunity to invite guests and residents to utilize a beautiful natural resource that’s taken us to that point, two decades to assemble and put together back to public access and public use," he said.

Funding

Open space grants from Middlesex County will provide $1.5 million in upgrades, Reiman said.

“We have our own municipal open space dollars, and we have some redevelopment funds that have come in from various redevelopment projects in the municipality, impact fees, and other things that generate additional dollars for the borough that are set aside,” he explained.

For example, one of the projects adjacent to this is the northern boardwalk, and Crow Holdings has contributed $350,000 toward that boardwalk project. The state Department of Environmental Protection through the Natural Resource Restoration Program contributed $6.5 million toward that boardwalk project.

“So, this is always assembling nickels and dimes from various programs. Over the last two decades, we’ve assembled over $100 million in federal, state, county, local, and corporate grants and donations, endowments, and natural resource restoration fees,” Reiman said.

Twenty years ago, there was no access to the waterfront. So, for the first time 20 years ago, the public had access to the waterfront in 100 years because Reiman said the borough went after companies like U.S. Metals and Dupont Chemicals, and all of these great polluters who came in in the late 1800s and took what was waterfront access, and built chemical companies.

“Since then, and even to this day, we continue to go after polluters to provide for public access. Part of the settlement is not just civil penalties to the municipality but providing those easements to allow us to build public access and boardwalks along the waterfront,” Reiman said.

Work on the $4 million improvements is underway. Reiman said the tiki bar has been ordered, and the food concession truck has been built, so he believes everything will be open in time for summer 2025.

But wait, there’s more

In addition to these improvements, ground is expected to be broken in the spring on a $45 million ferry terminal building, as well as a boardwalk that will connect the northern boardwalk to waterfront park to the southern boardwalk, Reiman said.

There is also a federal grant for a “Rails to Trails” program.

“In essence, we’re talking about taking the two and a half miles of boardwalk, tying it into the abandoned rail line, and creating this five-mile rails to trails loop around the waterfront,” Reiman explained.

This is on top of the private development where the borough has designated a redeveloper. They’re looking at a $1.5 billion film studio production facility along the waterfront, along with hotels, and other restaurants, as well.

Impact on Residents

The improvements along the Carteret waterfront will have a positive impact on the community and its residents, Reiman said.

They will provide taxes, and create jobs. When you think about the number of people who will be able to utilize the ferry, the marina, the waterfront park, the walking trails, and all the other recreational amenities, it’s a very exciting time, he said.

“You’re talking about a Central Jersey town in an urban area where we’re able to provide this boardwalk. In fact, when the state awarded boardwalk improvement grants last year, Carteret was the only town north of Ocean County that applied and received dollars because we have this three-mile coastline,” Reiman said.

When you typically think of boardwalks, you think of Ocean, Monmouth, and Atlantic counties, Reiman said. But now Carteret has a nearly three-mile boardwalk under construction that will open soon.

Updates on the construction project can be found here.

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