"Rezoning gives this site a new life," says Glen Fishman, who co-founded the Morristown-based Dornoch Holdings in 2004 with partner Frank Macios. Clearance to build the office building comes with the city's decision to change the zoning from light industrial.

"Professional and medical office condos are a good fit for the location," Fishman adds, noting the location near both the St. Peter's Medical Center and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. The building's main entrance will be on Joyce Kilmer Avenue, and the project also calls for on-site parking.

"Redeveloping this property will play a role in the neighborhood's revitalization," Macios says. "Municipal approval of the change in the site's use is a major step toward making that happen."

The project is the latest of several that Dornoch Holdings, whose niche is repositioning under-utilized properties, is currently working on in the Garden State. Two of those other projects are in the city of Paterson. As reported recently by GlobeSt.com, an affiliate of the company, Dornoch Ellison LLC, acquired the property at 75-81 Ellison St. from the City of Paterson and will redevelop it as a Cablevision public access studio.

And another affiliate, Dornoch Paterson LLC, has a proposal before the city to redevelop a portion of the Great Falls Historic District area. Dornoch's plans for the site call for nearly 1,000 residential units, along with 60,000 sf of retail space and an 83,000-sf hotel and conference center.

Still other projects in the Garden State include Dornoch Rahway LLC's acquisition and redevelopment of two retail/residential buildings in downtown Rahway, related to the state's transit village program. And affiliate Dornoch Newark LLC has picked up a vacant lot in the Lincoln Park redevelopment area of New Jersey's largest city. The company's plans for the latter site call for more than 120 units of market-rate housing.