"Given the new realities of the bankruptcy proceedings and the upcoming sale of the properties, One Westfield Place will not be moving forward in its current form." Mayor Jeremy Berman said this at the July 14, 2026 Town Council meeting, according to the official minutes. That sentence took the largest planned residential project in downtown Westfield off the calendar.
If you're comparing Union County towns and expecting Westfield to add a wave of new condos, townhomes and lofts over the next few years, the plans make that look reasonable. Very little of it is actually being built. Right now, new housing in Westfield means one rental building under construction, one small apartment addition with approval, and a lot of zoning that lets owners build but doesn't require them to.
The Paper Pipeline, Line by Line
Here is what has been planned or zoned in Westfield, and where each piece stood in late October 2026.
| Project or site | Homes in the plan | What was planned | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| One Westfield Place, former Lord & Taylor site and station lots | 205 | 138 apartments, 32 townhomes, 35 lofts | Developer filed Chapter 11; owners plan to sell; project won't go ahead as designed |
| 195–233 Elm Street, current Stop & Shop | 70, a plan scenario | Inclusionary multifamily | Rezoned; mayor says no current plans to redevelop |
| 221–341 South Avenue East | 96, a plan scenario | Inclusionary multifamily | Rezoned; no project announced |
| 530–600 South Avenue West | 78, a plan scenario | Inclusionary multifamily | Rezoned; no project announced |
| 544–576 North Avenue East | 54, a plan scenario | Inclusionary multifamily | Rezoned; no project announced |
| 412–436 South Avenue West, by the station | 30, a plan scenario | Inclusionary multifamily | Rezoned; no project announced |
| The Vantage, 112 Ferris Place | 60 | Rentals | Under construction since December 2025 |
| 184 Elm Street | 10 | Apartments added above an existing building | Planning Board approval on Aug. 3, 2026 |
Add up the One Westfield Place plan and the five site scenarios and you get more than 500 possible homes. Only 60 of them are under construction.
The site figures come from the Town's adopted 2025 housing plan. They are planning scenarios, not approved building programs. No developer, application or timeline has been reported for any of the five sites.
How One Westfield Place Fell Apart
The townhomes and lofts were the part of the pipeline that mattered most to buyers. When Westfield revised the plan in June 2025, Real Estate NJ reported a mix of 138 apartments, 32 townhomes and 35 lofts, along with office space, retail and parking. The plan covered the former Lord & Taylor property on North Avenue and parts of the north and south station parking lots.
Then, in January 2026, Saks Global filed for Chapter 11. Mayor Berman told TAPinto Westfield that the filing covered SW Westfield and the eight LLCs set up for One Westfield Place as well as the parent company. He also said the Town still owned all the municipal parking lots in the plan and had no financial exposure. Patch reported that no groundbreaking date had been announced.
According to the June 23 council minutes, the Town had by then hired bankruptcy counsel to protect its rights under the redevelopment agreements. It was also pursuing amounts it said Saks owed, including $153,000 that the Town said the bankruptcy court had agreed to count among Saks' obligations.
At the July 14 meeting, Mayor Berman said Saks had emerged from bankruptcy as a newly formed entity and that the owners planned to sell the former Lord & Taylor building and the two parcels across North Avenue. He said there was "significant interest from several local, experienced developers." He also set out the Town's terms for any buyer:
- Redevelop the privately owned Lord & Taylor properties
- Reimagine the plaza on the north side
- Make safety and traffic improvements at the three intersections of North Avenue with Elm, Broad and Clark
- Keep the North and South Avenue commuter lots in Town ownership, which the Council has no interest in selling or developing
Patch's July 15 coverage named no buyer. The mayor's opening remarks at the Council's October 6 meeting didn't mention the project. As of late October, nothing public shows a completed sale, a new developer or a revised unit count.
Losing the station lots matters too. Those lots were part of the footprint for the old design, and they're now off the table. Whatever a new owner proposes has to fit on the private parcels alone. The mayor said the redevelopment plan still gives the Town "an important role in shaping what ultimately moves forward," and that the Town will keep "rigorous oversight" of any future proposal. Until a buyer brings that proposal forward, there is no unit count to plan around.
Rezoning Gives Owners an Option, Not a Building Permit
The second big source of paper capacity is Westfield's Fourth Round affordable housing plan. The round runs from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2035, with a prospective obligation of 380 affordable units. TAPinto Westfield reported that the December 2025 settlement with Fair Share Housing Center called for realistic zoning opportunities for 98 affordable homes across nine sites.
The program judge approved the plan on February 9, 2026. At the March 10 council meeting, Mayor Berman described the four site-zoning ordinances in plain terms. They allow inclusionary housing at up to 25 units per acre, and according to the meeting minutes, they "simply provide property owners — not the Town — the option to build housing that includes affordable units on these sites in the future if they choose to do so."
The Stop & Shop parcel on Elm Street shows the gap between zoning and construction. The mayor said residential use above ground-floor retail has been allowed there for years. The new ordinance adds a possible fourth floor, caps density at 25 units per acre and requires affordable units. He also said, "There are no current plans to redevelop this site, and it continues to operate as Stop & Shop."
The Town's post-settlement master-plan amendment points to a practical issue at another site. It notes that the station-side parcel at 412–436 South Avenue West has an existing motor vehicle service station with underground storage tanks that may need remediation as part of any redevelopment. Every one of these sites has an owner with an existing use, a cost to redevelop and no obligation to act. In the same remarks, the mayor said the plan keeps about 70 percent of Westfield zoned for single-family homes.
What Is Getting Built Is Rental
The Vantage is the project with a crane on site. It's at Prospect and Ferris and used to be called The Sophia. Real Estate NJ reported that Vango Development started construction on December 11, 2025. The building will have 60 rentals in one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, including nine affordable units and three live-work rentals, with retail on the ground floor. The developer is aiming for residents to move in early in 2027.
In March 2026, the Council let the project use 118 Ferris Place next door as a staging area and as temporary storage for the historic Mills-Ferris-Pearsall House. The mayor said this could shorten construction by three to six months and keep trucks and crew parking off nearby streets.
The other approved addition is much smaller. TAPinto Westfield reported that on Aug. 3, 2026, the Planning Board approved adding two floors and 10 apartments to the commercial building at 184 Elm Street.
So the realistic near-term supply is 60 rentals plus 10 approved apartments. A downsizer who was waiting for one of the 32 townhomes or 35 lofts at One Westfield Place has nothing new to buy in town for now.
What That Means When You're Shopping
If you want a low-maintenance home in Westfield that you own, you'll be buying from the existing stock of condos and townhomes. Countywide, that market has loosened. In September 2026, the NJ REALTORS® report for Union County showed:
| Union County, September 2026 | Townhouse-condo | Single-family |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory | 97, up 24.4% year over year | 670, up 14.3% |
| Months' supply | 3.4 | 2.8 |
| Days on market until sale | 44, up 144.4% | 27 |
| Percent of list price received | 99.9% | 103.6% |
| Median sales price | $415,000, down 11.8% | $675,000, up 3.8% |
These are county figures, not Westfield figures. Still, they show a split. In September, attached homes across Union County took longer to sell and sold at about list price, while single-family homes kept selling above asking.
In Westfield, the new attached homes that would have added competition within town limits are on hold. That leaves the town's existing condos and townhomes, plus nearby towns where the county numbers show more choice.
Paper capacity becomes homes only after these steps happen:
- A buyer closes on the former Lord & Taylor parcels and is named publicly.
- That buyer brings a new plan to the Town under the existing redevelopment framework, including the plaza and North Avenue intersection work.
- The Vantage delivers its 60 rentals, which the developer has targeted for early 2027.
- An owner of one of the rezoned Fourth Round sites files an application. As of March 2026, the mayor said there were no plans for the Stop & Shop site.
A Few Quick Answers
Is One Westfield Place canceled? In July 2026, the mayor said it won't go ahead "in its current form" and that the owners plan to sell. As of late October, no buyer or replacement plan has been made public.
Will the commuter lots be developed? The Town says the North and South Avenue lots will stay in Town ownership. The Council has no interest in selling or developing them.
Does the affordable housing rezoning mean construction is coming? Not on its own. The ordinances let owners build inclusionary housing at up to 25 units per acre if they choose to. None of the rezoned sites has a reported project.
Are any of the new homes for sale? The projects actually moving forward are rentals: The Vantage's 60 units and the 10 apartments approved at 184 Elm Street.
If you've been waiting on new construction before deciding between Westfield and a neighboring town, let's look at what's really for sale today. I can walk you through the condo and townhome options in Westfield and nearby that fit your timing. Kristen Lichtenthal follows every step of the Lord & Taylor sale so you don't have to. Start the conversation.
