Changes to Cheer About. Really.

IF you ask most people what comes to mind when they hear the word "Rahway," the first answer is likely to be the state prison. A second response might have something to do with Rahway's role as a major stop on the New Jersey Transit lines leading into New York City.

Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Map Rahway, N.J. Graphic On the Market Related Community Profile: Rahway, N.J.

The first association is based on a misnomer, residents are quick to point out. To begin with, Rahway State Prison was renamed East Jersey State Prison 19 years ago. Then there is the fact that the prison is actually in Woodbridge, not Rahway. An arrangement made long ago between the Rahway post office and prison officials has trapped this Union County city in an embrace it has had a hard time loosening.

The second perception, on the other hand, is one that Rahway would like to capitalize on, and that opportunity might be close at hand. Having established a town center around a renovated train station and new plaza, officials are anticipating the completion of 1,500 housing units geared toward professionals. This has led to predictions of another kind for working-class Rahway.

"It'll be yuppie town," said Ted Gielen, owner of the Rahway Grill. "It'll be just like Hoboken."

Mr. Gielen, who hung in when many other downtown businesses fled for the malls, is eager to see the empty shops along Cherry Street come back to life. So is Joe Cimilluca, a broker with the Able Agency Real Estate Company, which also stayed in Rahway when other agencies left.

"There's a lot of buzz about what's happening downtown," Mr. Cimilluca said. "There's no question that this thing is going to turn full circle, but it's going to take time. Just like it took 15 to 20 years to deplete itself, it's going to take that long for Rahway to build itself back up again."

Many people attribute the turnaround to the mayor, James Kennedy, a nearly lifelong resident who has eaten, slept and breathed Rahway since his election in 1990. When other businesses fled Main Street and headed to the malls during the 1970s, his downtown jewelry store stayed put. When a house in the city's historic district came on the market in 1983, he and his wife, Lori, grabbed it. (Mr. Kennedy has renovated nine other older buildings in town, including one that now houses the much acclaimed David Drake restaurant.)

More important, when it came time to entice investors to Rahway, the mayor's connections to Trenton helped. Mr. Kennedy counts as one of his best friends former Gov. James E. McGreevey. Since 1999, more than 0 million in public and private money has been invested in Rahway. In the beginning, Mr. Kennedy admits, the place was a tough sell.

"People were buying here based on good values," he said, "but they were skeptical, because of the reputation of the town, because of the prison. Once the town center is done, I think that stigma will start to evaporate very quickly."

Linda Landmesser, a broker with Countrywide Home Loans and a 40-year resident, put it this way: "Rahway used to be a very quaint old town. To see it coming back like it is, that's very hopeful to me."

Ms. Landmesser, who remembers meeting friends to shop in the stores downtown and eat in the luncheonette, described the construction cranes and diverted traffic as a bearable price to pay, considering what they portend for the city's health.

Projects range from the already completed town houses and apartments on the banks of the Rahway River to a 16-story hotel and luxury condominium being built opposite the train station.

What You'll Find

Rahway's three major arteries divide its neighborhoods into distinct pockets. Through the northern tier there is St. Georges Avenue, a stretch of restaurants, car dealers and shops that serve surrounding middle-class neighborhoods. Through the center of town run the train tracks, around which much of the development is taking place. And through the south runs a somewhat shabby stretch of Route 1, cutting off the southernmost pockets, some of which have not yet benefited from the residual effects of revitalization.

Besides the much anticipated development downtown, Rahway has a solid stock of single-family homes and has long attracted middle- and working-class families from New York and North Jersey seeking good value. So far, brokers say, they have not seen a big influx of upscale city dwellers suddenly discovering this four-square-mile city of 26,500.

"It's always been a good commuter town," said Freddy Rivera, an agent at ERA Village Green Realty in Clark. "Especially after 9/11, you had New Yorkers who wanted to get out of the city but didn't want to move all the way out into the suburbs, so a lot of them came to Rahway."

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