rutgers-grease-truck

View of Mr. C's food truck, where the meal trucks are stationed off College Avenue at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The trucks must move Aug. 15 to make way for construction that will include student apartments, a park and retail space.

(Star-Ledger file photo)



NEW BRUNSWICK — After more than two decades offering gut-busting fare, the famous grease trucks of Rutgers are preparing to roll away from their coveted spots in the College Avenue campus parking lot.

But the famous food trucks are not leaving Rutgers, officials insisted Monday.

“We’re figuring out where they’re going,” said Christopher Paladino of the New Brunswick Development Corp. “They’ll still be on campus, they’ll still be available to students.”

Heavy construction is not expected to begin until mid-September. But Paladino said the privately owned trucks must vacate the parking lot by Aug. 15 due to “safety reasons” as workers move a bus stop, install curbing and add striping.

The development corporation and Rutgers officials are working with the grease truck operators to get them situated in new locations all over campus by the time students return to classes in a few weeks, Paladino added.

Known for mouth-watering delights like the “Fat Darrell,” “Fat Elvis” and “Fat Cat,” the trucks must move to make way for a $295-million development project to include an academic building, Paladino said.

The project will include apartments for 500 students, 600-square-foot LED video screen with a surround-sound system, a “great lawn like Bryant Park,” where students will watch sports, news and original programming by Rutgers students.

Paladino said the retail space will contain a boardwalk theme with concession stands and restaurants.

"It's going to be an exciting place," Paladino said.

And when construction is done in about three years, the food-truck operators will be invited back to the area from the campus spots where they’ve relocated, Paladino said.

Jack Molenaar, director of Rutgers’s transportation services department, could not be reached for comment this morning.

In an interview with the New York Times last year, Molenaar hinted that something might be done to keep the trucks close to Rutgers.

“We’re working on something internally right now where it will be similar to what cities do in issuing permits,” Molenaar said. “If someone wants to come into Rutgers, they’ll apply for a permit.”

Rutgers spokesman E.J. Miranda said today the trucks will be relocated elsewhere on campus but would not discuss any permitting process.

"The university has been in discussions with these food truck operators about alternative sites," Miranda said in an email. "We expect this to be resolved shortly."

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