The Station is an American brasserie moving into Demarest's old railroad depot on Park Street. It is still renovating the interior of a building that went up in 1872, and it plans to open in early 2027.
The stone depot has been on both the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places since 2004. That listing is why the restaurant's interior finishes are being worked out with the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office as well as the borough. According to the mayor's October 2 update, that work is still going on, and the restaurant is planning to open in early 2027.
A $6,000 Building by the Architect of the Old Met
The depot's designer was J. Cleveland Cady, the architect behind New York's original Metropolitan Opera House, built 1881 to 1884, and the American Museum of Natural History, built 1888 to 1899. A history of the Demarest Railroad Depot quotes a period description of the building as "an elaborate work of art," built of freestone "quarried on the Palisades slope in the immediate vicinity." The stone was donated, and construction cost $6,000.
Cady used the Romanesque Revival style. Most stations in the region were Gothic Revival, including the Tenafly station built around the same time, which has Victorian Gothic trim. Demarest's depot has a different set of features:
- heavy rough-cut stone
- round arches
- squat dwarf columns
- deeply recessed windows
- densely carved decoration
- a tower above the roofline
Those are the features a restaurant conversion has to work around.
From Depot to Senior Center to Brasserie
The building has had several jobs over 154 years.
- 1872. The depot opens on the Northern Railroad of New Jersey.
- After World War II. An American Legion post and various community groups start sharing the building with passenger service.
- October 3, 1966. Passenger service ends. The Erie Lackawanna had asked to end all passenger service in the state, a state subsidy kept more than half of it running, and the Northern Branch was considered expendable.
- 1978. After the Legion and community uses continue for another twelve years, the borough buys the depot and turns it into a senior citizens' center.
- May 13, 2004. The building is listed on the New Jersey Register as the Demarest Train Depot.
- July 7, 2004. It is listed individually on the National Register as the Demarest Railroad Depot.
- October 2025. After a public bidding process, the Borough Council accepts a bid and authorizes a lease with what the mayor called "an experienced restauranteur."
- April 16, 2026. The state Historic Sites Council takes up the borough's "Demarest Train Depot Adaptive Reuse" application at a 10 a.m. meeting on Zoom.
- Fall 2026. Interior renovation is underway, with finishes being coordinated with the borough and the state preservation office.
- Early 2027. Planned opening.
Because of the 2004 listings, the 2026 work goes through state review.
Why a Borough Lease Brings in the State
The depot belongs to the borough, so any project there is a public undertaking. Under the New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act, a project that involves a state, county or local government agency and could affect a registered property has to go through New Jersey Register Review. That review asks three questions. Is the project an encroachment? If it is, can it go ahead anyway? And if it can, on what conditions?
The Historic Preservation Office's examples of encroachment include "alteration of key character-defining elements of a listed property" and new construction that doesn't fit the historic property. In a building whose value comes from its stone, arches and recessed windows, those are exactly the elements a restaurant fit-out could affect.
The Historic Sites Council does not have the final say. It makes a formal recommendation to the DEP Commissioner. Under the review rules, DEP must decide within 120 days after it receives a technically complete application, and projects that meet the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties can be approved administratively.
In March, the mayor's weekly update called the April hearing "the next step in the approval process so that we can jump-start downtown vitality and infuse life, good food and drink for our downtown while honoring the history of Demarest." By October the project had moved on to interiors. The mayor's October 2 update described it this way:
"The Station restaurant coming to the Train Station is continuing its interior renovation and working with the Borough and NJ Office of Historic Preservation on the interior finishes. They are planning to open in early 2027."
What The Station Says It Will Be
The concept has kept its name and its promise through the process. When the lease was awarded, the mayor's October 2025 update introduced it as "The Train Station - An American Brasserie Experience." It said the operator was committed to a dining experience that is "sophisticated and charming, while preserving the historic nature of the Train Station," with "a great menu, cocktails, wine."
The Station's own site describes it as an American brasserie "inspired by the timeless restaurants of New York City" and gives the address as 24 Park Street. It also uses the depot's history in its pitch: for generations the station was "a place people passed through on their way somewhere else," and "Soon, it will become somewhere worth stopping."
In August, Boozy Burbs reported that the restaurant describes itself as inspired by classic French dining, with seasonal dishes, approachable favorites and cocktails. According to that report, the restaurant says it has kept original architectural elements and references to the building's years as a passenger depot on the Northern Railroad of New Jersey.
No menu, hours or soft-opening date have been published. The restaurant's website has a guest list where people can sign up for soft-opening notices, early reservations and updates.
The Rest of Downtown Is Moving Too
The depot is one of two downtown buildings the borough is redeveloping. The other is the former bank building at 129 Hardenburgh Avenue. Both come out of the 2024 state designation of the borough's commercial center as an "Area in Need of Redevelopment," which the December 2025 borough newsletter presented as the groundwork for investment that keeps the town's small-scale character.
As of the October 2 update, the bank building's redevelopment agreement and its $1.66 million purchase-and-sale agreement were both fully executed, and environmental testing was done. The next step is for the Economic Development Committee to review concept plans for a mixed-use building with underground parking. After that, the full council must approve a plan at a public meeting and adopt any changes the redevelopment plan needs.
The same update set a date for another project. Pine Terrace is the last dirt road in Demarest to be approved for paving, and paving of all the dirt roads, Pine Terrace included, is scheduled to be finished in spring 2027. With paving fully funded, the mayor has asked the finance committee to consider making drainage upgrades the priority in coming budgets.
The Station is planned for early 2027 and the dirt-road paving for spring 2027. The 129 Hardenburgh plan has no date yet. It goes to a public council meeting once the committee has a concept to recommend.
The Park Street depot shows how much a building's history can shape what happens to it. If you own a Northern Valley property with history of its own, The Taylor Lucyk Group can show you how its architecture and character play in today's market. Request Your Luxury Home Valuation.
