New Providence?

It was discussed for a long time, but happened a couple years ago.  Now you can drink at the Diner.  Part of the reason for not having on site liquor licenses was probably that there are not a lot of restaurants and those we had were usually small, family owned businesses who don’t typically have licenses anyway.  Once restaurants like Providence Kitchen started up, there were people willing to pay for the licenses.  I think licenses were available, but very expensive, so they were unsold.  There are plenty of places 5 minutes away in Summit or BH that you could drink with dinner.  There are at least 3 liquor stores, so it was never a dry town.  I despise BYOB, but it wasn’t an issue as with the exception of the Mexican restaurant, most of the places are not the type that would have licenses in any town.  And I am really looking forward to the gastropub

It was never possible to get a license.  in the '70s, a waiting list was set up for when or if it ever became possible to obtain a liquor license. A guy named Augie Nigro had his name as first on the list. He died before licenses were offered. 

The internet tubes say the first license was sold in 2018.

Our sitter lives in Cranford and seems to like it a lot.  I'm sure she'd be happy to speak talk or email with you if you wanted to ask her more about it.  She's also in the midst of flipping a house there for the second time so probably knows a bit about the housing market there and isn't coming from the angle of a realtor.     

A friend of mine just moved to Fanwood which shares a school district with Scotch Plains.  It's right next to Westfield which she loves going to their downtown, but without having to pay the higher housing prices.  She likes it a lot and says the schools are great (she moved recently from Millburn needing more affordable to expand), her neighbors are super friendly, and it appears to have some diversity then most of the other surrounding towns.  There is a train, with transfer in Newark, and the houses are  on the more modest side though Scotch Plains appears to have some pretty expensive areas as well.                 

Funny you're asking about NP now.  I just last week noticed an amazing house on the market in NP that I fell in love with, a rare occurrence when you're looking to downsize).   It was almost affordable because it the main house was small but with a massive two story vaulted great room addition with beautiful deck/yard etc.  I started  to look into New Providence out of curiosity.  Schools seem good, looks nice with a variety of houses on the market to choose from but there wasn't anything that drew me into it (except the vaulted glass house that looked impossible to NOT be happy living in it.)  

Big decisions.  Good luck where ever you end up!  

pauli said:
 
A friend of mine just moved to Fanwood which shares a school district with Scotch Plains.  It's right next to Westfield which she loves going to their downtown, but without having to pay the higher housing prices.  She likes it a lot and says the schools are great (she moved recently from Millburn needing more affordable to expand), her neighbors are super friendly, and it appears to have some diversity then most of the other surrounding towns.  There is a train, with transfer in Newark, and the houses are  on the more modest side though Scotch Plains appears to have some pretty expensive areas as well.                 

 Fanwood is a well-kept secret. It's a donut-hole town, much like Morristown is surrounded on four sides by Morris Township, and Metuchen is surrounded by Edison, where the donut hole is more walkable, more commercial, with smaller homes than its enveloping town. OK, so Fanwood-Scotch Plains is more like a donut that has had a bite taken out of it -- Scotch Plains surrounds Fanwood on only three sides. But same concept, same relationship with its surrounding town. 

fanwood and garwood are both cheaper priced options right smack between 2 great downtowns

I go to New Prov every now and again for dinner and my kid's instrument rentals. I've noticed that the downtown is getting cozier (they've done some cityscaping) and more restaurants are moving in. I suspect their downtown development is only just beginning - a great time to invest in a house before it becomes the next "cute downtown" in NJ. 

Also, I have a colleague who moved from New Prov to Millington recently. He said he only added about 10 min on his commute, but gained considerably more house for his money. But no downtown to speak of, tho.

Hahaha said:
I go to New Prov every now and again for dinner and my kid's instrument rentals. I've noticed that the downtown is getting cozier (they've done some cityscaping) and more restaurants are moving in. I suspect their downtown development is only just beginning - a great time to invest in a house before it becomes the next "cute downtown" in NJ. 

 Yes - even though it's really shopping centers that make up the downtown, I think they've done a nice job aesthetically speaking.  Also, a lot of the shops there are actually places I'd use.  

Yes, even though downtown is essentially a small strip mall, it houses useful shops.  A grocery store, some fast casual restaurants, like Chipotle, Smashburger, Chopt, a pet store, a couple Italian pizza places, a Mexican restaurant, a couple hair places, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, 2 liquor stores, one nice restaurant, 2 diners, a UPS store and 2 bagel places and an appliance store, and a hardware store, plus the requisite banks and nail shops There is a big parking lot and no pay street parking.

For everything else, Summit is 5 Minutes away, as is the huge Summit Medical Group campus

There used to a Chen's Chinese restaurant there. I went there when I worked in the neighborhood. Is it still there? It was a good place.

Unfortunately Chen's is no longer there.  It closed in 2012.  There were 2 horrible incidents before that.  There were rumors about the staff being mistreated.   

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/new_providence_cook_stabs_hims.html

https://www.tapinto.net/articles/apparent-suicide-attempt-at-chens-restaurant-in

Chen’s changed into Dim Sum Villa, which was very good.  Dim Sum Villa has closed and the gastropub is opening in its place