MIDDLESEX TWP — At the southeastern corner of Routes 8 and 228, developers are hard at work preparing nearly 100 acres for new residential and commercial structures.

Middlesex Crossing has been in the works for over year and a half, with plans approved in May of 2016. Developers are now expecting residential units to be finished this summer.

Today, motorists passing by the development will see a plot of land free of vegetation and populated by towering mounds of earth, punctuated by yellow excavators and construction trucks.

“They're still in the grading process,” said Travis Cavanaugh, Middlesex Township manager.

The plan for the 93-acre development includes 108 single-family homes and 40 town homes in the southeastern half of the plan.

“We're concentrating on residential units first,” said developer Chris Kaclik.

The other section of the plan will include a gas station and retail, commercial and office space along Route 8 and Overbrook Road.

“We're hoping to have a pharmacy and a bank, a gas station and maybe a grocer,” Kaclik said.

The development has yet to find businesses to sign on to fill the plan, though Kaclik said that is mainly due to the developer's focus on preparing the residential units first.

The plan has received final approval from the township, Kaclik said, although developers must get final approval for each of the six phases.

Each phase will be preceded by a public hearing, said then township manager Eric Kaunert at the time of the plans approval.

The development will have four entrances, two of which have already received their highway occupancy permits.