Sports Complex for KIDS. batting cages- skeeball- golf putting area- air hockey tables etc. skateboard area something for our young population. We don't need another liquor store or bar please!

Definitely something for our younger generations... indoor sports complex is a great idea!

TRADER JOE'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree, a Trader Joe's is much desired around here!!

That location is difficult for non-Hillsborough residents to get to, for any business. Fifteen minutes of traffic and lights from the north or south. Surrounding properties are not attractive. As for the next business - not another Bank please! The key to success is to have several smaller sized business on the property that can survive on mostly local resident population or commuters. Indoor sports sounds nice. But big property = big taxes, high operating costs to heat and light, they will need high customer volume or high prices to survive. The town should do a study to identify business opportunities in the area and promote attracting those types of businesses.

A "Hillsborough Sports Complex" (similar to Branchburg & Bridgewater) would be consistent with nearby Docherty Park. However, they'd need to plow the building over to do it as it's probably not tall enough. I thought we already have batting cages in town though (Extra Innings), unless it's closed? We're not a baseball family just yet, so I don't know if it's still open, or if it's the opposite and so overcrowded that the town can support a second place with batting cages? With all the businesses closing, I'd just hate to see something that duplicates something we already have (e.g., pizza, bank, gym) and then drive someone out of business.

Restaurant-wise, I'd still campaign for On the Border somewhere closer than New Brunswick, but they may prefer to start from scratch rather than use the existing building.

With it not being at an intersection with a traffic light, it can be CRAZY to make a left in/out of there during higher traffic times. So no one expecting huge exiting traffic will want the space. It's too bad they can't run a road behind this space, Lora's gas station, etc. to get up to the traffic light at Browns for traffic safety.

Maybe something more like a children's museum?

Agree a sports complex might work for this location. But hillsborough needs a Trader Joes! My dream is trader joes at the old cost cutters, whole foods at the old pathmark and a sports complex where mastro was. As for the kmart location, now i am really dreaming here, a new strip mall with lots of nice stores. I am not sure that any of this would work in hillsborough but a girl can dream!!!!!!

Ditto what Donna said!!

A Golden Corral!

No matter what goes in that spot it needs better signage - so you can see it, especially at night, when you drive down 206. More lighting, too? It's a stand-alone building, so there is no shopping plaza to highlight it. I lived here for years before I even knew that a restaurant was there - drove right by it without a second glance many times!

Making a left turn into (and out of) that location is problematic, too, just as Sue M said.

Unless these issues are addressed, any new business in this location might turn over again in two years, I fear.

Friendly's. Many of us have to drive to Somerville or Montgomery to get our fix. Why not have one in town for our families....

I think the square footage at Maestro 206 might be a bit small for a indoor sports complex. Great idea just not there To many inside walls or high enough ceiling. Moving to Hillsborough from Woodbridge last year I really Harbor Freight tools. That place is a goldmine and didn't impact the Lowes or HD less then a mile away. The closest to here is Wdbg, Sayerville or Trenton. We need one smack in the middle. The demographics are perfect for the Meastro space.

It closed? Crap. I had one of those Dining Deals certificates for that place and never got around to using them.

Hopefully, the business advocate is trying to attract business that offer something new to town. Please, we have too many banks, hair and pizza places as it is.

Sadly, without more of a nearby community to help support it, I don't that location will sustain a restaurant. They'd be better off building something like an indoor sports training facility (like a Soccer Centers, Hoops Heaven or Baseball Training) to pair up with the outdoor fields.

That site has been a bad place to do business for twenty years. While a chain restaurant might make a go of it (a restaurant that people would want to drive to), the best solution is to redevelop the entire area in some systematic fashion. Redevelopment is not one building at a time, but an entire site plan. Do that, and it will be a success. As for Trader Joe's, absolutely! Cost Cutters of KMart, who cares? This town is full of opportunities to redevelop existing spaces. Not a single additional tree needs to be cut down. Woods Tavern is testimony of what can be done.

Nothing will survive there unless there is a light there. No one will wait 20 minutes to make a Left turn. Can you imagine having a business thats actually thriving it would take 2 hours to get out of the parking lot.

Harbor Freight Tools is opening on Rte 22 West in Green Brook in the former Saturn dealership building so doubt they would put another store in Somerset County. A branch of Harold's Deli from Edison might be a nice fit.

I would love to see an Amish Farmer's Market come to town. I think the Cost Cutter's space would be perfect. As far as the Maestro location, I would caution against another restaurant.

It would be really nice to have a Panera Bread in town!

Great comments, everyone!
I agree that without a traffic light and a property redevelopment plan any business at the site is unlikely to be successful.
Having said that, my family has voted for a Trader Joe's somewhere in town. For this location, please, not another bank, strip mall, or office park...

I think the main problem is that the restaurants that have been in that location have not been good - Maestro's especially was not good . I totally agree with some other suggestions of specialty restaurants (i.e Panera's) - I think those may work however the other comment of building a road behind this building, leading to the traffic light is a must. Although I do not like fish, I think a restaurant specializing in fish may work well., I do not think there's any of these around Hillsborough.

I think it should be a nice resutraunt like outback steackhouse or fun place like ice skating or laser tag.

On a horse of a different color -- How about a firehouse for the north side of town there?

when can we expect to see Weis moving in??

I might not go back anyway. I love the new ShopRite in somerville!!

Thank God Maestro is gone. The last time my wife and I went there, the place smelled like urine and we found ants crawling in the menus.

That location is very difficult because of the traffic, but if anything is going to work in that spot it has to be a big name restaurant like a Bonefish Grill or someone that has a large customer base like that.

I also like the idea of the indoor sports complex for Hillsborough but that requires a large space so maybe that could go in the Kmart location. Trader Joe's definitely needs to come to Hillsborough as well as Panera Bread. Maybe even a real cool upscale pool hall that is also a lounge/bar. I know Joey G's just recently opened, but let's be honest it's not that great. For starters it's beyond bright in there with the lighting, the walls are too light which doesn't make it feel like a bar and it's partitioned off in a weird way to make it feel cramped.

Everyone's ideas sounds great, but I think in the end we'll just have more Banks, Pizzeria's and Liquor Store open in these spots LOL.

One thought on Maestro - I've been to a restaurant in San Jose, CA area that was pretty cool. It was family style Italian (big tables, can support large or small parties) and (here's the cool part) they had bocce courts that you could rent while you are there. That would be pretty unique in this area and provide places that could handle larger groups. Rather than relying just on locals for business, they could do "business" and group dinners. Family style Italian can be cost effective. The bocce and setting would make it different than all of the other Italian restaurants in the area.

Wouldn't it be great if the KMart mall cleaned up that mess to be a Bonefish (which I had hoped for instead of Joey G's), Panera and a couple of stores that could work well with those types of places? A lot of people like the "Outlet" stores for brand names...maybe a couple of thoses. It just seems like there's no master concept for the consumer businesses in town. I'm really tired of having to go to Rt 22 and Rt 1 for everything we need (except for pizza, haircuts and ATMs).

No more liquor stores or banks, enough already. Why can't we have some good family restaurants and keep them. what is our business advocate doing; sleeping?
he should be talking up our town, we need FAMILY prices & food & atmosphere.
There are folks that are not millionaires in this town that would like to go out to eat at a decent restaurant. We have LOST so many places that are still in business elsewhere that something seems to be wrong here. We also need a good discount store maybe Target at Kmart now. a place that their REGULAR prices are good not that they have to have a sale every week to get rid of their stuff.

You all realize that we want to bring new businesses to town and then complete the bypass so that half the traffic will go around these new businesses. Why would anyone want to open a business here, especially in the so-called "town center." You watch... businesses will open to the north and south of the bypass, and the town center will get nothing.

If you are looking for family restaurants with reasonable pricing then i would not mind seeing a Tex-Mex/Cajun place like Jose Tejas in Woodbridge, that place is always packed when i go.

Haha! Haircut and pizza at the same time--gross! It's true, the bypass will divert a lot of traffic, but a lot of local traffic tries to stay away from 206 when it's jammed up (I know I do), so it might be nice to get rid of the hassle involved in visiting some of these places. The bypass should help out the left turn problem at that location, in any case.

Personally I am glad to see Maestro 206 closed. I was there twice during its time and did not enjoy either visit. Frankly, I am shocked they lasted that long because both times I was there (visits were about 9 months apart) we were the only ones in there.

As for the future....some very good suggestions were made. I would welcome a sports facility but think the K Mart location would be better suited as the Maestro location is way too small especially with the parking that will be needed.

A chain restaurant might have better success with name recognition at that location. Would love to see a Jose Tejas as well. Harold, I love the idea of a Harold's here. It would save me from schleping to Edison!

As for the K Mart location I would love to see a Wegman's open up but most probably will not happen in my life time in 08844. I will more than settle for the Weis for now and perhaps a Trader Joe's?

By the way I really like Joey G's. I find the bar area to be really nice, relaxing yet exciting and I always see friends there on every visit. My only problem is that it can be hit or miss. One night the food is great and the next only okay. They do need to add a few TV's to the back restaurant area as well.

In any case we need to work with our business advocate to improve Hillsborough and rent out some of these vacant stores so that we can continue to be proud of Hillsborough and all it has to offer.

Trader Joes or McCaffreys or The Fresh Market

I wonder why there's no bicycle shop in town. There was one at Mountain View, and then it moved farther down 206, and I guess it's gone now.

Our family is VERY happy to see Maestro go! We tried it twice, and the second time was worse than the last: burnt oil caused the french fries to be inedible (the poor waiter knew it too!), and the rest of the food was awful. I contacted the management about it, and never heard anything back. When I talked to people in town, no one had anything good to say about the restaurant.

Anyway.....the only thing I think would work there is some sort of "chain" - a PF Chang's, or Bone Fish - even a Trader Joe's!

I also like the idea of some sort of Sports Complex, especially since it's next
to Docherty Park.

I vote for a pool hall.

Would love to see a Coffee Shop/Cafe with nights for music... a place where young people can hang out and get dessert, listen to locals bands, and be safe. There aren't enough places for the young people in Hillsborough.

A commercial restaurant i.e. Sonic for our younger patrons. Fun food, proven business plan.

Sonic would be good, but can you imagine cars on northbound 206 trying to make the left turn across traffic there? Especially the younger patrons who are new drivers. If they go there from the high school they would be going north. (Maybe it's not as bad as I'm imagining it; I'll have to check it out next time I get gas at Lara's.)

If you search the Patch you will see someone tried to open a Sonic at a different route 206 locations, but I believe it was opposed due to zoning variances and wet land issues. Since Sonic is a drive-in restaurant not sure someone would want to invest the money to redevelop that property for one.

Thanks everyone for all of your great comments. We discussed the issues about this location with the town's business advocate. You can read that story here: http://patch.com/A-rGVr

What about a Bakery?? There are no good ones in the immediate area. Please don't say Randazzo's..... For "real" Italian pasteries and baked goods, I have to travel down to Bradley Beach to Del Ponte's Bakery.

That commercial location just screams for a Gentlemans’ Entertainment Club / Sports Bar and Grill, I bet one would do will there, just saying :-)

I opened that building with the owner of CoCo La.....Nice Spot....I now own The Red Cadillac....Tacos & Tequila in Union.....I think a Red Cadillac would do GREAT there..
www.TheRedCadillacNJ.com
http://springfield.patch.com/articles/this-red-cadillac-roars

CHEERS
My Hillsborough Amigos
\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/
Joe Montes
Chef / Owner
The Red Cadillac

The other reason Sonic didn't open in town was because of the neighbors in the back that didn't want "IT IN MY BACKYARD"..anyway, Trader Joe's a definite would be great where Cost Cutters was, how about Cracker Barrel next to Ash's where Packard's used to be and put Sonic where Columbia Lumber used to be on the corner of Old Camplain Rd & 206 before the bridge...those are are alot of good places mentioned to go in where the Maestro was...when I was in High School here some 30 yrs. ago there was always talk that there should be a bowling alley, so something to do with sports or any recreation would be great. Dave & Buster's usually doesn't have a bowling alley in it except for the one in Franklin Mills because it was a Jillian's before that.