Visions for Vacancies: What Should Church St. and W. South Orange Ave. Become?

We know South Orange Patch readers have strong opinions about what businesses should move into town.

So here's your chance.

In an occasional column, we present a vacant space and ask you to tell us what you think would be the best use. Let's call this a digital spin on community planning -- Patch's version of a charette, a digital drawing board where all ideas are on the table.

Forget any zoning rules and regulations, for now. If you had your way, what would you like to see there? What would be the best use for the community?

At the corner of Church Street and West South Orange Avenue stands a group of buildings and a vacant lot.

Believe it or not, this area was once the hub of the Church Street neighborhood.

Records date from 1930 until 1975, showing that not only did families live above the stores, but the stores included a butcher, a dress shop, and a beauty salon.

As recently as 1992-93, owner Saiyd Nagim annouced plans for the space in The Gaslight (see attached in photos).  At that time, The Gaslight reported that Nagim demolished the building that held a rug store "to build a new 7000-square-foot showroom with 14 apartments....The new building will connect to 116 West South Orange Avenue, which will received exterior and interior renovations..."  At that time, according to The Gaslight, "construction [was] expected to begin by summer."

However, no such construction began that year, and the buildings remain vacant and unrenovated more than a decade later.  Two years ago, the windows were decorated for winter, but no other signs of change are apparent.

(Patch has been unable to contact the owner of the site, or to learn definitively why the construction never happened.)

So, South Orange, what would you do with the space if you could?