One of the first residential projects that helped to kick off Rahway’s redevelopment, River Place, has sold for $26.25 million.
Category Archives: Apartments
Officials meeting with Water’s Edge developer
City officials in recent weeks have met twice with a developer whose project was tabled by the City Council last month.
Continue reading Officials meeting with Water’s Edge developer
Work begins again on Brookside apartments
Reconstruction of Brookside at Rahway, the St. Georges Avenue apartment complex that was destroyed by fire in January, began earlier this month.
Work on the site originally began in summer 2009, with construction starting in earnest the next year, and the 50-unit rental complex was nearly completed when the fire, an incident local police concluded was arson, occurred. Demolition of the three-story structure took several weeks in the spring. No word on when completion might be expected.
UPDATED OCT. 11: Jim Sisto of Fanwood-based United Excavating/Sisto Realty, which is building the project, said boxes started getting placed on the site Sept. 12 and are expected to be finished this week. He’s hoping to open for business by April 1.
***
In case you somehow missed it, here’s the story this week from nj.com detailing an ethics complaint filed by City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier against Mayor Rick Proctor, in which Pelissier alleges the mayor encouraged him to hire his wife.
The Savoy steel finally coming down?
In what might be the first bit of good news about The Savoy property in years, the bank behind the project has orders to level the site — steel and all.
Dornoch declared in default
The Redevelopment Agency this month declared Dornoch Holdings in default of its redevelopment agreements on The Westbury and The Savoy, which has entered the foreclosure process with Wachovia Bank/Wells Fargo for failure to repay construction financing.
Park Square targets June opening
 |
|
| Corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Main Street |
The second building of Park Square, one of the first cornerstone projects of downtown redevelopment efforts, should be ready for occupation starting in June.
Joel Schwartz, principal with Keasbey-based developer Landmark Companies, appeared before the Redevelopment Agency at its meeting last week to provide an update on the 159-unit complex. He last appeared before the agency in late 2009 for an update.
Schwartz expects the second building to obtain certificates of occupancy one floor at a time — which also was done with the first building — so it should be fully occupied by about September. He said the second building boasts larger windows and more space. One-bedroom units list for starting rents of $1,600, two-bedrooms at about $2,000.
The project first broke ground nearly five years ago (October 2006) and the first building on the Irving Street side, which houses 63 of the units, was completed just about two years ago, beginning leasing in summer 2009. The Irving Street side also has 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space which is fully occupied, with five tenants, and Schwartz said the rental units are 100 percent occupied, with some turnover. The Main Street building, without any retail space, houses the remaining 96 units.
 |
| Corner of Elm Avenue and Main Street |
Schwartz presented renderings that were part of Planning Board hearings in 2004 and 2005, and compared them to present-day photos of the project, as well as what the 2.4-acre site looked like before construction. He said they took a two-pronged approach: first, to redevelop in the spirit of what had been downtown, and second, to incorporate the best of redevelopment efforts from around the state and country. Some of the areas that inspired Park Square include Princeton’s Palmer Square, Forest Hills in Queens and Lake Forest, Ill. As time goes by, Schwartz hopes the complex has more of a connection with Merck as well as be more actively involved in the day-to-day activity of downtown.
The entire complex has 159 units and 205 parking spaces, including ground level parking on the Irving Street side, and two levels of parking on the Main Street side. [Note: The photos above are from last fall]
Zoning Board approves senior housing
With virtually the same application presented in January that raised concerns about neighborhood parking, a senior housing facility was approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment last month.Zoning Board to take up St. Mary’s senior housing
The Zoning Board of Adjustment is expected to take up an application for a 51-unit senior housing development at its meeting Monday night. The four-story structure would be built on the St. Mary’s Church (now Divine Mercy Parish) complex, where the former convent building on Esterbrook Avenue was razed last year.
After three hours of testimony, questions from board members, and some public comment at its Jan. 28 meeting, the Zoning Board instructed the applicant, Domus Corporation, to come back with more feasible parking options. Domus is the development arm for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, building similar affordable senior housing in other New Jersey towns, with funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including rent subsidies.
At issue is whether the project will provide enough parking. The current plan eliminates eight of the 86 existing spaces from St. Mary’s parking lot while adding 27 specifically designated for senior housing, leaving a total 105 spaces. The applicant seeks several variances in addition to preliminary and final site plan approval.
***
A good read from NJ Monthly about two brothers who have helped to redevelop Jersey City over the past 30 years, and in particular their current project, a former hospital in the Hamilton Park neighborhood.