Station Place rentals approved

The Planning Board unanimously approved an amended preliminary and final major site plan for Station Place on Tuesday night, paving the way for 116 rental units instead of the 80 condos that gained approval 18 months ago.

Clay Bonny, managing member of East Hanover-based Heartstone Development, said the tenant in the existing building — A&M Industrial Supply — has up to 12 months to relocate once the developer closes on the property at 1414 Campbell St. He expects demolition could take three months or so, with another 18 months for construction. It’s conceivable then that the project would not be completed for at least three years, perhaps sometime in mid to late 2011.

Bonny envisions Station Place to be very similar to River Place, the 5-year-old, 136-unit Lewis Street complex, in both design and size. He also expects a similar ratio of about 50 to 55 percent of residents commuting to New York City. Apartments would be slightly bigger (830-860 square feet in a one-bedroom versus 800 at River Place), and newer, so rents would be a little higher, starting at about $1,600. Two-bedroom units would start at about $1,800 and be between 1,200 and 1,500 square feet, Bonny said.

Shaped like a T fronting Campbell Street, Station Place will have a mix of approximately 55 percent two-bedroom units (~64) and 45 percent one-bedroom units (~52), according to Bonny, with 29 units on each floor. The original concept some years ago was to develop the entire block from Campbell to Esterbook.

No variance was necessary for increasing the density as the redevelopment plan for the property allows 116 rental units. The A&M Industrial Supply property is about 1.8 acres but several adjoining lots that Heartstone has acquired over the years, including the home on the corner of Elm and Campbell, pushes the total size of the Station Place property to just over 2 acres.

The original concept some years ago was to develop the entire block from Campbell to Esterbook. The project as it’s currently proposed encompasses Block 149 Lot 1 (A&M, 1414 Campbell), Lot 5 (A&M’s sliver of property on West Cherry), Lot 23 (small, vacant lot listed as 118 Elm), Lot 24 (small, vacant lot listed at 116 Elm) and Lot 25 (1442 Campbell).

The project will remain five stories, with a 90-space garage and 17 parking spaces on the ground floor. The entrance to the lot and garage will be on West Cherry Street. While 83 units were required by city ordinance, developers also can count 18 on-street parking spaces as being on-site, and have discussed plans with the Parking Authority for 65 overflow spots at Lot F along Broad Street. Bonny, who said each unit would be guaranteed one parking space, anticipates an average of 1.3 or 1.4 cars per unit, similar to the ratio at River Place.

After about an hour of testimony, the Planning Board heard from several residents of West Cherry Street and Elm Avenue who expressed concerns about the parking in the neighborhood, as well as trash pickup and snow removal. (FULL DISCLOSURE: As a board member of the homeowners association for the building across the street from the proposed project, I was among those who spoke about potential parking problems on Campbell Street.) Another resident alerted the board to a continuing drainage problem along West Cherry and Esterbrook Avenue.

The long-term goal of the city is to build at least two more parking decks downtown, city planner Lenore Slothower said, that should help with commuter traffic.

When asked by a Planning Board member, Bonny said the idea of converting the rentals into condos in the future should the market rebound is not being ruled out, but also not “contemplated today.”

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0 thoughts on “Station Place rentals approved”

  1. I really dont understand why the town keeps allowing these projects to get bigger and bigger but not provide adequate parking. Part of getting downtown going is having enough easy parking for everyone.

  2. I won’t even look at a downtown house or condo that doesn’t have parking. Non-starter. This is America, the 2BR dwellers are going to have 2 cars and want 2 spots that they don’t have to search for. Bad move. Make the units larger, build fewer units, charge more and provide adequate parking. Bring a higher caliber resident into the city.

  3. Realist – There would be the perfect condo and you still wouldn’t buy it because you have a negative personality. No condo will be perfect for you and there will never be a good time to buy for you. In an up market things are too expensive, in a down market things will keep falling. You’re obviously a renter who doesn’t have the balls to make a financial decision or take a risk and although you think you are smart and planning on waiting on the sidelines for the “right moment” to buy, this moment will likely pass you buy as well.

  4. Condos to rentals? In Rahway? Perish the thought. That would have been considered blasphemous back in the glory days of 2006. I’ve taken hits here for predicting this turn of events. But I won’t gloat. Watch for foot-dragging on the construction then another scaling back of the plan.Scott,It looks like Station Place won’t have enough room to house my Ark. I have bought at the right time and I will buy at the right time again. I’m not doom and gloom all day every day. I just recognize a bubble when I see one.

  5. Half the people in the world are optimists, the other half pessimists. When things go well, the optimists boast how they predicted it and the pessimists claim it just further supports their view that things will go badly soon. When things go badly the pessimists boast that they predicted it and that things will get worse while the optimists say things are so bad that they have to get better.NCR – Just because you have a negative outlook on life and things happen to turn badly doesn’t mean you predicted anything. And it also isn’t a shocker that you are predicting more doom and gloom. (although predicting construction projects will scale back when that has already happened isn’t even much of a prediction). If you really are so wise as to predict the rise and fall of markets then you’d be a billionaire, which I’m quite certain you are not. So continue to spew negative commentary up for debate, but please refrain making boasts of prediction as whenever markets do recover you’ll most likey still be standing on your soapbox claiming the world is ending and waiting for the day that it does so you can once again claim your throne.

  6. Scott – I would troll through comments I’ve made here over the last few months on my occasional visits to prove that I’m not just predicting a stock market crash on October 31, 1929, but I have better things to do. My family advised against buying in Rahway because the redevelopment plans can change and are less of a sure thing than Hoboken or Jersey City (that whole 10 mins to Manhattan thing). I’m glad I listened. You’re assuming that just because I don’t shake real estate pom-poms like you that I must be in a dimly lit rented room living on Alpo, waiting for the sky to fall so I can feel vindicated. I assure you that I have a happy, rewarding life. I didn’t want things to turn badly for the city, but when I saw all the warning signs of a local bubble forming as well as the big national housing bubble, it all looked too good to be true.

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