Most of what's opening near the Fanwood train station this fall comes from people who already run a business within a few blocks of it. The owner of Jessica's is building a market. Fabio's owners are moving across the street into a building they bought. The family behind Shovlin Mattress opened a second business. Behind all of it, crews have started restoring the 1874 station, the building the downtown grew up around.
Together they show where Fanwood's downtown growth is coming from right now. Owners who already know these blocks are putting more of their own money into them.
What the scaffolding is for
Restoration of the Fanwood Historic Train Station began in mid-October. Workers removed a first-floor window so it could be repaired in a workshop off-site, and the rest of the first-floor windows will follow the same way. TAPinto Scotch Plains/Fanwood reported that the full project covers:
- Replacing the windows on the upper levels
- Repairing damaged wood
- Stripping several layers of paint and repainting the whole exterior
- Fixing minor structural problems before they get worse
The lead architect is Michael De Biasse of De Biasse & Seminara, who lives in Fanwood. Paragon Restoration Corporation is the contractor. Paragon was one of three firms the borough prequalified in May, along with Spartan Construction and Alden Bailey Restoration. The Borough of Fanwood noted $15,000 in Union County support on top of a $500,000 state grant. The borough hasn't published a completion date.
The building is old even by local standards. It went up in 1874 in the Victorian Carpenter Gothic style, it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's the oldest train station in Union County. Trains stopped there until 1965. Today it houses the Historic Fanwood Train Station Museum, whose collection traces the borough's ties to the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The railroad's land development company built some of the Victorian and Queen Anne homes in the Fanwood Park Historic District. In other words, the station is where Fanwood's first wave of private investment started.
Who is opening what along South Avenue
The TAPinto business roundup from mid-October was published as advertorial content for the outlet's marketing partners. Its details on who is building what are still the most complete list available. Laid out by owner, it looks like this:
| Owners | Business they already run | What they're adding | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armen Saqe and Petrit Zeqaj | Jessica's Restaurant; Zeqaj formerly ran Nostimos Mediterranean | Meze Market | 265 South Ave. |
| Ronnie Vojka and Greg Kowalczyk | Fabio's Bistro, 217 South Ave. | A new Fabio's with apartments above | 200 South Ave., former Sheelen's Crossing |
| Ron and Kara Shovlin | Shovlin Mattress Factory, in Fanwood since 2007 | Beem, infrared sauna and light therapy | SoHo building |
| Joseph Mortarulo, with Michael Marcovecchio | Houdini Pizza Laboratory; Darby Road Public House in Scotch Plains | 1874 Coffee Company | South Ave., across from the station |
Meze Market is the one under construction now. It's going into the former Family Investors building, between Dunkin' and the post office. The partners got their permits in late September and have started interior demolition. The plan is Mediterranean food to go, imported goods, and gelato made on site. It sits close to where Nostimos once operated at 383 South Ave., so Zeqaj is coming back to a street he already knows.
Fabio's is making the bigger change. Its owners are leaving a rented space for a property they own across the street. "Moving from a rented space to a property we own is a big step for us, but we believe in Fanwood and in a community we call home," Vojka told TAPinto.
The coffee shop has the deepest local roots of the group. Its building belongs to the Marcovecchio family. Ronnie Marcovecchio ran the Fanwood Clipper as a renter for nearly 40 years before buying neighboring properties. In 2008 he built one of the borough's first redevelopment projects, at South and Second Streets, with 10 apartments and two retail spaces. His son is now Mortarulo's partner in the coffee shop, which shares a year with the station it faces.
The newest arrival on the list doesn't have a name yet. The last open retail space at Fanwood Crossing, 250 South Ave., has been leased to a bagel shop expected to open soon, which leaves the building fully leased.
Why owners keep doubling down here
In the same article, Mayor Colleen Mahr explained the repeat investment as the payoff of a plan the borough has followed for more than two decades:
"The downtown that people experience today is the result of an intentional, long-term vision that used transit as a catalyst for new storefronts, housing and public spaces."
The starting point helps explain her view. The blocks facing the station used to include vacant and underused properties, plus the contaminated Dean Oil site, which took 10 years and $1 million to clean up. That parcel is now Station Square, with restaurants, shops, offices, and apartments. Joel Tomlinson, who handles leasing at Fanwood Crossing, put the borough's retail vacancy rate at 3.2% as of mid-October 2026, down from 8.5% two years earlier. That figure comes from the person leasing the space, not from an independent survey.
The pattern matters for what comes next. When owners who already run a business here open a second one, they bring regular customers, staff, and a track record from day one. Mahr made the same point: "They're not just opening businesses in Fanwood, they're putting their own money behind the future of the downtown." On the public side, the $500,000 state grant and $15,000 from Union County are paying for new windows, wood repair, and fresh paint on the 1874 station at the center of that plan.
What is still undated
None of the three new food businesses has announced an opening date. Back in September 2025, TAPinto reported that the Fabio's owners hoped to open the new location in a little under a year. That window has passed, and the October coverage still describes the building as under construction. Meze Market is in demolition, and the bagel shop hasn't been named. For now, the 217 South Ave. Fabio's is still open. Its Saturday hours on game days have run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with wing and fries specials.
A few weeks of reasons to be near the station
While the windows are in the workshop, the borough calendar is filling up for November. Most are in Fanwood, at the library, the Carriage House, or La Grande Park, and the first is just over the line in Scotch Plains:
- Saturday, October 31, 9 a.m. The Fanwood and Scotch Plains mayors, council members, and Green Teams host "Walk with the Mayors" at Ponderosa Farm Park, 1600 Cooper Rd., Scotch Plains.
- Thursday, November 5, 7 p.m. The Fanwood Memorial Library hosts "Evening with the Artists: Paula Pearl and Tracy Rasmussen."
- Thursday, November 12, 5 to 6 p.m. The borough's free rabies clinic for dogs and cats runs at the La Grande Park Building, 170–204 La Grande Ave. No appointment needed.
- Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. The library's "Food with Friends" evening features cookbook author Melissa Knific.
- Saturday, November 14, 7 to 9 p.m. Scott Krokoff and the local trio Strikes & Gutters play the Fanwood Performance Series at the Carriage House, 135 Watson Road. The suggested cash donation is $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, and the organizers ask for reservations by email. Details are on the TAPinto event listing.
- Wednesday, November 18, 2 p.m. The library hosts an ASK Union County Aging Services kiosk.
The museum was open for Union County's Four Centuries in a Weekend on October 17 and 18. It showed vintage tin wind-up toys, Joe Refinski's collection of American flags spanning the country's 250 years, and photos from Fanwood's past. The Borough of Fanwood's news page is where the next restoration update and the next museum hours are likely to be posted.
If you own near South Avenue and want to know what these new storefronts, the station work, and the borough's long-running downtown plan could mean for your own block, The Isoldi Collection can go through it with you street by street. Request a Private Market Consultation.
