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.
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Station Place returns to Planning Board
The developer who once proposed 80 units for the Station Place development is expected to come before the Planning Board Tuesday night with plans to convert the project into 116 rental units.
Renaissance bumped up to 88 units
With two more properties acquired since May, developers of Renaissance at Rahway have boosted the number of units from about 64 to 88. Representatives came before the Redevelopment Agency Wednesday night for approval.
In May, Rahway Rising reported that Renaissance had acquired five of the eight properties necessary and would move ahead with 64 rental units and possibly include a second phase once other properties were secured. Developers have since acquired Lots 5 and 8 of Block 379, leaving only Lot 1 (the corner of Monroe Street and East Grand Avenue). The revised project entails Lots 2 to 8.
Originally, the project was to be 72 condos, an even split of one- and two-bedroom units. Now the project will be 88 rental units (80 two-bedroom, 8 one-bedroom) in the five-story structure, with 88 parking spaces on the ground level.
Redevelopment Agency commissioners had some concerns about having enough parking (only one per unit, regardless of bedrooms) and whether parking would be covered (the property creates a triangle in the center of the building where spaces in the middle might be uncovered), but ultimately gave their consent. Commissioners preferred the parking be covered but developers are considering both schemes.
Entrance to the residences will be at the corner of Montgomery Street and East Grand Avenue, though it will no longer be a corner since the development includes building over Montg
omery Street from East Grand to Monroe. Parking will be accessed from Monroe, near the present corner of Montgomery, essentially where the former Triangle Inn currently stands.
Park Square update: October
The first rental units of Park Square are expected to come on line by October. Once the exterior brickwork is finished on the four-story development, streetscape along Irving Street will begin, with a target of Sept. 1.
Certificates of occupancy will be done by floor — about 20 units at a time — said Eric Harvitt of Keasbey-based Landmark Companies during a tour of the project earlier this month.
The Main Street side of the project (right) is expected to be completed in about 18 months and should move quicker since there are no design decisions to make, as it’s very similar to the Irving Street structure.
Park Square will have 159 rental apartments: 63 units on Irving along with 7,000 square feet of retail space, and 96 units on Main Street, with a courtyard and driveway between the two buildings. Retail tenants also are expected to begin operation by the fall; they are in discussions with a coffee/teahouse and an optometrist.
The project broke ground more than a year ago and occupies a block of downtown that once housed, among other things, a bank, hardware store, boarding house, gas station and thrift shop.
Park Square in talks with coffee house
Developers of Park Square are in “serious discussions” with a tea and coffehouse, as well as an optometrist for half the commercial space, according to Eric Harvitt of Landmark Companies.
The first major residential redevelopment project to break ground downtown, Park Square is expected be ready for occupancy by August. It is comprised of 159 luxury rental one- and two-bedroom apartments and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space along Irving Street between Elm and Elizabeth avenues. Since the retail space can be subdivided, the number of tenants will depend on their size.
Construction has begun on the Main Street side of the project, which will mirror the Irving Street side. Formerly home to Cliff Hardware and other properties, including a boarding house on Elm, Park Square broke ground in October 2006.
Condo projects into rentals
If it can happen in everyone’s redevelopment mentor city of Hoboken, it can happen in Rahway. It looks like two projects originally planned as for-sale condos will become rentals.The developer of Station Place has started to look at a plan for 116 rental units instead of 80 condos for the five-story project on a 1.6-acre site on Campbell Street. “Because of what happened in the economy in general, and the financial sector specifically, condos are very difficult to finance,” Clay Bonny of Heartstone Development said at last week’s Redevelopment Agency meeting. “Apartments are very easy to finance.” No major lenders are getting into condo construction, he said, so to keep the project moving, they decided to examine rentals instead.
A recent Wall Street Journal story pretty much confirmed the lending situation, for both consumer and businesses: “Banks continue to get more restrictive in their real-estate lending as the housing bust adds to their losses.”
Heartstone received Planning Board approval in March 2007 (.pdf) for 80 units, so it would have to get approval again for the increased density. Zoning currently allows for 60 units per acre.
The current occupant, A&M Industrial Supply, is under contract to be relocated to Edison, said Bonny. Some minor environmental issues on the property have to be cleared up, he added, so an extension on the closing has been requested through September.
Heartstone’s other project in Rahway, the 135 rentals at River Place, is 100 percent fully occupied for the first time since it opened in 2004, Bonny said.
Renaissance
at Rahway was to be a 72-unit condo project on property encompassing the former Triangle Inn. Renaissance has five of the eight necessary parcels under contract so rather than go through what could be a two-year condemnation battle, developers will move forward with 64 rental units as part of a first phase. The second phase could include the remaining units if the properties are eventually acquired, said Joseph Ranieri, an attorney with Weiner Lesniak representing Renaissance. “This project works better under these economic conditions,” he said, adding that it’s not certain they can get financing for the whole thing.
at Rahway was to be a 72-unit condo project on property encompassing the former Triangle Inn. Renaissance has five of the eight necessary parcels under contract so rather than go through what could be a two-year condemnation battle, developers will move forward with 64 rental units as part of a first phase. The second phase could include the remaining units if the properties are eventually acquired, said Joseph Ranieri, an attorney with Weiner Lesniak representing Renaissance. “This project works better under these economic conditions,” he said, adding that it’s not certain they can get financing for the whole thing.The five-story project, which would include parking on the ground floor, would eliminate and be built on top of a short stretch of Montgomery Street between East Grand Avenue and Monroe Street.
Renaissance has been unable to acquire Block 379, Lots 1, 5 and 8. City A
dministrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the owners of Lots 1 and 8 are not interested in selling at all. An unacceptable counteroffer was received from the owner of Lot 5, he said, which bifurcates the whole project, so if it sells in the future, it could be added. It’s unclear how many more units could be built with Lot 5 part of the project, Pelissier said. “That’s the economic dilemma,” he said, the land costs versus the number of units that could be built; do you overpay for those or go through a costly, unfriendly sale?
dministrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the owners of Lots 1 and 8 are not interested in selling at all. An unacceptable counteroffer was received from the owner of Lot 5, he said, which bifurcates the whole project, so if it sells in the future, it could be added. It’s unclear how many more units could be built with Lot 5 part of the project, Pelissier said. “That’s the economic dilemma,” he said, the land costs versus the number of units that could be built; do you overpay for those or go through a costly, unfriendly sale?