Barbara A. Preston | October 16, 2025 (Updated October 17)
Montgomery officials announced a "significant milestone in its ongoing affordable housing plan" during the Township Committee meeting on Thursday night.
The Township Committee has reached an agreement with Atlantic Realty, the owner of Pike Run, to extend affordability controls on existing units.
This agreement means the Kenvue site, slated to include 417 housing units, will no longer be included in the township's Round 4 affordable housing plan.
The township will begin a formal process in the coming months to amend its housing plan and remove the Kenvue site.
Developer Eli Kahn submitted an application this week to appear before the Montgomery Planning Board for a General Development Plan (GDP) review to construct a 1.2 million-sq-ft industrial complex on the site. Current zoning would permit it, he says. This would be one step in what could be a lengthy approval process.
From left: Matt Adams and Eli Kahn of E. Kahn development corp at a Montgomery Planning Board meeting in September. Their plan to build high density affordable housing on the Kenvue corporate site was met with push back from residents.
Photo by Barbara A. Preston
Kahn the "equity owner" of the 257-acre Kenvue site on Grandview Road in Skillman, told The Montgomery News during a telephone interview that he submitted a plan to the township planning office this week to build a multi-tenant industrial complex on the Kenvue site.
Kahn says his application is consistent with the current zoning for the site, which was once used by Johnson & Johnson to manufacture disposable diapers.
The complex could include multiple flex buildings for a wide range of industrial uses, everything from a brewery to bio-tech/lab space, an auto-parts warehouse, packaging/distribution centers, coffee roasters, and more.
According to Kahn’s application, the existing warehouse building located within the southern portion of the site is proposed to remain. The I. M. Pei Building within the northern portion of the site is proposed to be demolished. Nine additional buildings are proposed within the northern portion of the site.
Above: The nine industrial buildings proposed for Kenvue. Building "J" already exists.
Map from EKahn's Application.
Kahn said, "We are not trying to be bad guys. We want the townspeople to know we submitted this plan. We have a 380-acre property and we have no idea what direction the township wants us to go in.
"As far I am concerned, as of today, Oct 15, we are still in the 4th Round Plan. There will be some kind of a hearing shortly in front of a judge, per the law, in which we are going to say, 'Yes, we are capable, and we are ready to proceed."
If Kenvue is removed from the plan, Kahn wants to be ready with a plan to develop the site. He says his company, "already wasted a year" working with township officials trying to build what they asked them to build, which was a residential affordable housing development.
The 417-unit housing plan for the Kenvue site. Grandview Road is to the right.
If Montgomery succeeds in removing Kenvue from the plan, Kahn said he must be ready to do something else with the property. "This is really a defensive measure to make sure the township doesn't do anything to preclude our legal right to develop the property under its current [industrial] zoning,"he said.
"We had no choice but to submit a 'by-rite General Development Plan (GDP)," which is allowed under section 40:55 of the municipal land-use law for any property over 100 acres. So the state law allows the property owner to submit a GDP.
According to state documents, a municipal planning board must grant or deny general development plan approval within 95 days after submission of a "complete application" to the municipal administrative officer, or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Failure of the planning board to act within the period prescribed shall constitute general development plan approval of the planned development.
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Township Administrator Lori Savron told The Montgomery News on Thursday that EKahn's industrial complex application is not an actual application for development. "It's a general development plan, that, according to the developer, has been prepared in accordance with the current zoning," she said.
Montgomery Township's Round 4 Housing Plan has four challengers, including two non-profit residential public interest groups (Save Montgomery and Montgomery Neighbors United), the Fair Share Housing Center (a nonprofit advocacy organization that uses legal, policy, and community-building strategies to fight for housing justice in New Jersey), and the developer EKahn Development.
The NJ Fair Housing Act (NJSA 52:27D-302) established an Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, known as "The Program." It is basically a court-based oversight consortium of retired judges who will hear the formal objections, disputes, or challenges that were filed in June — including the four mentioned above.
By December 31, 2025: "The Program" must either approve or require changes to Montgomey's affordable housing plan, or they can revoke immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits.
By March 31, 2026: The Montgomery Planning Board must approve the amended plan during a public hearing, and the Township Committee must adopt any required ordinances.
Mayor Neena Singh said a public town hall will be held in the near future to ensure community engagement and transparency.
Montgomery Township then will initiate the formal process to amend its housing plan and remove the Kenvue site. This change will be addressed through the required court mediation process, and once a date is confirmed for the Planning Board meeting, it will be publicly announced.
Above: Apartment Complex proposed for 23 Orchard Road in Skillman.
>> Read More: "Kenvue and 23 Orchard Properties Eyed for Affordable Housing in Montgomery Township, Public Hearing on Monday" (The Montgomery News, June 17, 2025)
Montgomery Township has 324 affordable units allowed to convert to market-priced units under state law. The township had been trying to strike deals with the owners to extend the affordability controls. These include: 210 units at Pike Run, 95 units at McKinley Commons, and 19 units at Montgomery Walk.
Keeping affordable units affordable is a state-wide issue. State law/policy required a 30-year deed restriction on low cost units – instead of making them affordable indefinitely.
In Montgomery’s case, the NJ Round 4 Affordable Housing Mandate now requires the township to build/provide 260 more affordable units between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2035.
Do the math: 324 affordable units become un-affordable while the township must provide 260 more affordable units.
The new agreement with the Pike Run owner will change this equation for Montgomery.
The Pike Run housing development in Belle Mead has 210 affordable units scheduled to come off dead restrictions. The township just made a deal with owner to extend the restrictions to keep the units affordable. Township officials could not comment on the deal at press time.
Photo by Barbara A. Preston
Mayor Neena Singh said at the Township Committee meeting on Thursday night that the planning department and the township professionals have always wanted to keep the existing units affordable, rather than allowing them to convert to market price units.
"From the outset, our objective has been clear: to meet our state-mandated affordable housing obligations by extending affordability controls on existing units wherever possible. These units already exist, and by extending existing units, we can limit the need for new construction. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Township Committee and Township Administrator, we have reached an agreement with the owner of Pike Run that enables us to do just that."
"For those who may ask why we were not able to make agreements for the extensions before the June 30 deadline, the rules for how these extensions can be accomplished were changed in December of 2024," Singh said. "So, in addition to the rigid deadline in the adoption of the plan, the state also moved the goal post on the rules governing how to do extensions, even after they adopted the deadlines."
"Hey, we are in the plan, we want to be in the plan, but the township is saying they want to take us out of the plan," Kahn said.
"We had done everything right, but because the township has not been transparent, some of the stink has gotten on us."
"I'm used to going into neighborhoods and having people not liking what we are proposing. But, in this case, we went in over a year ago [in August 2024] and proposed a version of this manufacturing plan and the township [officials] didn't like it," Kahn said. "We then spent a year of our time coming up with the 417 units — which included affordable housing.
"The township asked us to do that, to include it in the Fourth Round program. So we did."
Kahn says that at the last public hearing in Montgomery on the Kenvue housing plan, a gentleman stood up and asked the board: "If Kenvue is removed from the Round 4 Plan, is that what we are going to get?"
"This is the fundamental question," Kahn said. "Pick one."
"As much as I appreciate the lady who wants me to build an arts center there, I am in business. This is my livelihood. People are upset with 417 units. But it's a fraction of the traffic and the impact that the industrial development will have.
"Housing is clearly, by all measures — traffic, noise pollution, light pollution,— it's by far the least impactful. And, 200 acres would be gifted to the community for open space.
"The Kenvue property is zoned for light manufacturing. If the housing does not go there, then that's what you are going to get," he said.
The Kenvue housing plan would have gifted 200 acres of farmland on Grandview Road at the base of the Sourland Mountain, to the township as open space. Kahn's industrial plan calls for building homes on those 200 acres - which consists of 13 lots across the street from Kenvue on Grandview Road. It includes four lots zoned for 10-acre housing, and nine lots zoned for 5-acre hosing. Kahn said he would sell off the lots to a home builder, or to individuals.
