"It's like dealing with the Wizard of Oz," Borough Attorney John "Jack" Pidgeon told the Bernardsville Borough Council on July 13. "I'm not sure who I'm dealing with or where they are, or anything else."
He was describing a year of letters to the U.S. Postal Service about the post office at 23 Quimby Lane. The borough owns that building and its parking lot. Five weeks later, on Aug. 17, the council took two votes. One ended the borough's agreement with the developer picked to rebuild the block. The other renewed the post office lease at a much higher rent.
Taken together, the two votes show the real limit on the middle of Bernardsville. After 55 months, the borough and the developer still hadn't agreed on a concept plan. Underneath that sat a land problem. Most of the block belongs to private owners who chose not to sell, and the one parcel the borough controls is leased to a federal agency that sets its own moving date.
A Rent Increase of More Than Fifteen Times
The old lease paid the borough $992.08 a month, and it expired on July 31, 2025. Under the extension approved Aug. 17, USPS pays $15,000 a month, or $180,000 a year. The borough's resolution calls that "a market rental rate." The extension also depends on a one-time "true-up" payment of $168,095 for back rent covering Aug. 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026. The Postal Service also pays property taxes, utilities and general liability insurance on the site.
Getting to that number took a while. According to emails The Bernardsville News obtained through a records request, a USPS leasing specialist agreed to the borough's "term and rate" in April. The draft lease that followed set the rent at $15,000 a year, not a month, and the figure was corrected in a July 22 email.
The new rent fixes the income. It doesn't change who decides when the building becomes free.
Why the Borough Can't Set the Moving Date
The borough wanted a clause requiring USPS to "vacate the premise on 30-days' notice." The Postal Service turned it down. In an April 29 email, the leasing specialist wrote: "We cannot be evicted so it would functionally have no effect."
The borough told USPS more than two years ago that it wanted the post office to move. In July 2025, Borough Administrator Nancy Malool told the council, "They keep telling me they're going to identify a possible location, we're going to send an engineer, but they won't tell me where it is."
The lease extension runs through Dec. 31, 2026. The council's resolution says USPS "intends to relocate by Dec. 31, 2026, or earlier if possible." After that date, an addendum lets the tenancy continue month to month if both sides agree. No new post office address has been made public. At the Sept. 28 council meeting, the most recent detailed public discussion of Quimby, nobody announced one.
For people who mail packages and rent post office boxes on Quimby Lane, there is a stated deadline, a fallback that allows month-to-month occupancy, and no destination yet.
Twenty-Five Parcels, Many Owners, No Condemnation
The post office matters this much because of what happened on the rest of the block. The Quimby Village redevelopment area covers about four acres bounded by Mine Brook Road, which is Route 202, plus Olcott Square, Mill Street and Claremont Road, with Quimby Lane running through the middle. It includes 25 separate parcels. The planning goes back to a 2016 master plan reexamination, and Advance Realty of Bedminster was later chosen as the redeveloper.
The plan called for a European-style village with new housing, including 13 affordable rentals, plus restaurants, shops, underground parking and a public plaza. It was also designated a non-condemnation project, which means the borough would not take land through eminent domain, and most owners chose not to sell.
Matthew Jessup, the borough's redevelopment attorney, put it plainly: "When you have 25 different properties that are owned largely by 25 different people, no matter how good Advance is, no matter how big the efforts of the borough, it is difficult to assemble land." The termination resolution says AR at Quimby LLC, the Advance affiliate, bought one condominium unit. It also says the two sides never agreed on a purchase price for the borough-owned Block 70 lots, where the post office and its parking lot sit.
With most private owners declining to sell, the borough's own lots became the most realistic place to start. Those lots are the ones under the post office lease.
What the August Vote Ended, and What It Kept
The vote ended the developer agreement and left the plan in place. "We are not at this time amending or modifying or rescinding the redevelopment plan, which is the zoning for the property," Jessup told the council. The block is still designated an area in need of redevelopment.
The termination resolution treats the two halves of the block differently. Advance's rights on the Block 71 lots ended right away. On Block 70 and the Quimby Lane right-of-way, its designation ends once the conditions in a separate termination agreement are met. At the Sept. 28 meeting, officials described this as a 60-day period for Advance to come back with something. They said the borough had not met with Advance yet and was "quite literally" still scheduling that meeting.
Mayor Mary Jane Canose had already said what she wanted. "Rather than trying to make an old plan fit into today's circumstances, I think we have a chance now to develop a new vision that reflects where we are today," she said in July. She pointed to other approved projects, new businesses, and residents' wish to keep the town's character, "including our movie theater which we all love."
The State Review Starts Later This Fall
The next stage comes from Trenton. On Sept. 28, Canose read a letter from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs saying its local planning team expects "to begin work in late fall 2026." Its project lead will contact the borough two to four weeks before starting.
DCA asked for a local group of five to eight people:
- Someone from the Planning Board
- A department head
- Someone representing the participating organizations
- Anyone affected by the plan
The group's job is to "provide local knowledge and context, review draft materials, and ensure the final product addresses the borough's priorities and concerns." Canose described it as a briefing group. She said a larger community committee and possibly "a couple of town hall type meetings" would follow once the DCA report comes in. No members of either group have been named publicly.
Officials expect the work to run into next year. One said the state's review "will end up bleeding into next year quite honestly," and that the Advance window will close before any DCA recommendation arrives. He also named the problem that comes before any of it:
"The biggest thing is going to continue to be land assemblage on that block... I wouldn't want to do anything that gets too far ahead of understanding how we solve that problem first."
The same problem that ended the 2021 deal will shape the next round.
The Calendar as It Stands
| Date | What happened or is scheduled | Status |
|---|---|---|
| July 31, 2025 | Old USPS lease at $992.08 a month expires | Done |
| July 13, 2026 | Mayor proposes a new Quimby vision | Done |
| Aug. 17, 2026 | Council ends AR at Quimby agreement and approves $15,000-a-month lease | Done |
| Sept. 28, 2026 | DCA timeline read at council; Advance meeting being scheduled | Done |
| Late fall 2026 | DCA local planning work expected to begin | Expected |
| Dec. 31, 2026 | USPS stated target for leaving 23 Quimby Lane | Intended, not confirmed |
| After Dec. 31, 2026 | Month-to-month occupancy possible by mutual agreement | Optional |
What Sits Around the Lot Today
Most of what people use on this part of town stays as it is while these steps play out. Bernardsville Cinema is a three-screen theater at 5 Mine Brook Road. It has showtimes listed on its own schedule this week. A 2025 MyCentralJersey profile described owner Christopher Dunn-Meynell building community screenings and fundraisers into its schedule. Nearby, The Bernardsville News has reported on Plaza Tikal on Quimby Lane, The Coffee Shop and B Boutique on Olcott Square, and Bernards Cafe and Bernardsville Print Center on Mine Brook Road.
For those businesses, clear direction may matter more than a quick decision. In July, Councilman Charlie Szrom said that a revised, smaller plan with resident input would "provide clarity so folks can plan, keep their businesses there for the long term, and know what's around the next corner."
The next public milestones are the borough's report on its meeting with Advance, the DCA project lead's call two to four weeks before the state work begins, and a USPS announcement of a new address before Dec. 31.
Questions about what the Quimby Lane timeline could mean for a property you own downtown, or for a commercial lease on the blocks around it? Godby Realtors has followed Morris and Somerset County downtowns since 1979, and we're glad to go through the public record with you. Request a Concierge Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
