Published in the Star-Ledger, Thursday, March 6, 2008
[Landmark Developers]Orange ends deal for new housing
Project put on hold for lack of progress
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff
The Orange City Council has voted to terminate an agreement with a housing developer to construct market-rate housing, including a high-rise apartment building, in the city's Valley section.
The 2006 redevelopment initiative would have covered 10 lots, including the Bravo supermarket on Scotland Road, but is now on indefinite hold, Marty Mayes, the city's director of development, said yesterday.
Frank Cretella, manager of Landmark Developers, also known as LMD Orange Urban Renewal Co., said in a letter to city officials that he tried to make the dream come true, but found no investors and he himself determined the venture to be way too costly.
"We're going to look for another developer, but we're not going to look for one right away because we want to concentrate on other redevelopment areas, primarily the (former) Hospital Center at Orange site, and two former hat factory sites," Mayes said.
Those three housing initiatives are expected to finally take shape this year, officials have said.
In a Feb. 13 letter to Mayes, Cretella wrote that building market-rate housing on the Bravo store site, part of Orange's Central Valley Redevelopment Area, is not financially viable.
"My anticipated acquisition costs, along with the relocation fee to Bravo, bring my cost, per dwelling unit, too high," wrote Cretella, whose Landmark Developers firm is based in Jersey City. "In addition, the project, as designed now, in accordance with the redevelopment plan, calls for a seven-story structure.
"The cost of constructing a seven-story-versus-a five-story structure is about $50 per square foot higher," Cretella said. "We had analyzed redesigning the project to five stories, as well as decreasing the average unit from 1,150 square feet to 950 square feet, but I still feel our cost basis remains too high.
"I also have not had any success in attracting other investors or developers in today's market," Cretella said.
Should the city of Orange find a replacement developer to undertake the market-rate housing venture, all architectural plans, tests and appraisals will be provided to them and to the city, Cretella promised.
That is not the only Orange redevelopment project that has been sidelined.
The multimillion-dollar clustered-brownstone residential community in the East Main Street redevelopment area, a 2 1/2-square-block area near the East Orange border, has been sidelined since September 2005.
The two property owners -- Nicholas Del Spina Jr., of Dell Spina LLC, operator of Truck Body East, and Allied Health Care Systems, a 6,400-square-foot medical equipment rental and supply business at 64 Main St., filed a lawsuit as part of an eminent domain fight with the city.
The owner of each property complained they operated viable businesses and should not be forced to give up their livelihoods for the proposed 283-unit residential brownstone community.
That case remains in litigation, officials said.
The three Orange developers whose housing developments are about to finally see the light of day -- partially because of 20-year-long payment in lieu of tax deals the city council approved -- are:
Metrovest -- the $100 million Avenue at Orange
Following a projected year-long asbestos removal effort that is expected to get under way soon, every building on the 8.8-acre, long-closed hospital site will be demolished.
That will pave the way for the construction of a midrise building complex called the Avenue at Orange, which will consist of 375 luxury one- and two-bedroom condominiums, 18,995 square feet of retail space, and a 12,000-square-foot community center with a pool and gymnasium.
F. Berg Hat Factory -- the $10 million Valley Renaissance Center
Berg Development Urban Renewal Associates -- a consortium consisting of the nonprofit Housing and Neighborhood Development Services agency in Orange, the Alpert Group of Fort Lee, and Ironstate Holdings LLC, a division of the Applied Development Co. of Hoboken -- is behind the plan to convert the building into a residential and commercial locale.
The new structure off Nassau and Jefferson streets will feature 29 condominiums on the upper floors and artist's studios and artist-related retail spaces on the ground level.
No Name Hat Factory -- a $1.4 million artist's loft residence
Harvard Development Associates LLC, a co-developer with the Housing and Neighborhood Development Services Inc. agency in Orange, plan to convert the three-story, century-old building at Mitchell and Jefferson streets into 16 lofts where artists will both live and work.
Kevin C. Dilworth may be reached at kdilworth@starledger.com or (973) 392-4143.
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Published in the Asbury Park Press, Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A blip in beachfront boom
Esperanza halts condo construction
By Nancy Shields • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • December 11, 2007
ASBURY PARK — The Hoboken developer building the 224-unit Esperanza high-rise on the city's beachfront says it is temporarily closing down the construction site and sales office.
Dean Geibel, president of Metro Homes, said the company recently informed the city that it was halting construction and sales "until such time market conditions allow us to move forward and successfully complete this important luxury beachfront development.
"We are convinced that the national mortgage crisis now impacting real estate markets around the country represents a temporary setback, and we remain fully committed to Asbury Park and its rebirth," Geibel said in a telephone interview Monday.
Geibel said there are sales contracts on about 70 of the condominium units in the two-tower building, which is three stories out of the ground and is being constructed on the site of the failed C-8 condominium project that dogged the city for 17 years until Metro Homes imploded the unfinished steel skeleton in the spring of 2006.
Geibel said the money people put down on their units is being held in escrow. "It's too early to decide how they'll be impacted," he said.
The Esperanza promised buyers beachfront homes with hotel amenities in an architectural design that evokes images of waves and ships.
"I understand what they're going through, and I do not blame them," said City Councilman John Loffredo, who said that Metro Homes had told the city a couple of months ago that it might have to alter the design.
Loffredo, who wants the Esperanza built as is, said redesigning it would mean starting over with the city's technical review committee and Planning Board to get a new project approved.
Metro Homes' decision comes as Madison Marquette, the national retail developer, has formed a joint venture with master developer Asbury Partners and is restoring and renovating the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall, the Casino, the Power Plant and boardwalk pavilions.
Upbeat outlook
City Manager Terence Reidy said he talked to about 50 investors at a luncheon Monday at the Market In The Middle restaurant downtown.
"I feel badly about this hiccup with Metro Homes. Dean has come to us and said he's regrouping. This is a good time to do it, in light of winter and the market. I think it's a positive strategic move for Dean. . . . We'll be there and work with him every step of the way."
"I think what is so significant about Asbury Park is a solid stream of people coming in to fix up homes, starting businesses," Reidy added. "The foundation is so strong in this city now that it's not built on one person, one developer, one project. . . . It's literally built on thousands of people who are coming in saying, "This is where I want to live.' "
Bob Davis, president of the Rumson-Fair Haven Bank, which plans to open a fourth branch to be known as the Asbury Park Community Bank in the city's downtown next April, said he did not think the news about Metro temporarily closing down affected his bank's project.
Local businessman Steve Troy, who is on the city's Planning Board and a leader in the Chamber of Commerce, did not like the news that Metro is shutting down, saying it is happening at a time when the city's revival seems to be particularly successful.
"This (Metro Homes) really is more a statement about the turmoil in the real estate market than the future of Asbury Park," Troy said.
Deputy Mayor Jim Bruno said he found out about Metro Homes' decision on Friday.
"They have to regroup, may have to downsize it, refinance it," Bruno said. "I guess they're not going to have enough money to finish this project. It won't be as high-end as they thought it would be."
South end slowdown
With the site between Third and Fourth avenues closing down, it will mean that only Paramount Homes is still building on the waterfront north of the newly reopened and renamed Berkeley Hotel.
Earlier this year, Kushner Cos. made significant changes in its housing investments, and its affiliated company, Westminster Communities, halted going forward on its second block at the south end of Asbury Park next to Wesley Lake. Westminster opened a new sales office at its existing site of townhomes and condominium flats to sell those units already built.
Larry Fishman, chief operating officer of Asbury Partners, the master developer that bought up the waterfront and sold off parcels to individual developers, said Monday that a number of companies, including Madison Marquette, are interested in buying out Westminster's real estate interests.
Gary Mottola, Madison Marquette's president of investments, could not be reached for comment.
"Asbury Partners is very sad that the current financing and real estate market has caused Metro to suspend construction on the Esperanza," Fishman said.
"It's a great building in a fabulous location," he added. "Reported sales were going well in terms of pre-sales and prices despite an overall negative market. We are hopeful Metro will be able to start construction soon or sell to another developer."
Fishman said the building was designed three years ago and Metro may require certain modifications that affect both the marketability and profitability.
Fishman said he could not comment if his company could decrease the amount of money it is slated to make as the master developer on the Esperanza.
Geibel said Metro Homes is not stopping construction or sales or any of its other projects, including the huge Trump Plaza Jersey City condominium project. Metro and partner Donald Trump are the builders.
"There are some adjustments that have to be made," Reidy, the city manager, said. "We don't live in a static environment; we live in a world that is in flux. I think Metro Homes is a solid organization and I think they have a very positive vision. We'll work together."
CARE TO COMMENT?
angelface wrote:
dankaplan, if you reread my comment, there is no mention that my business failed. I simply stated I moved my business to a thriving, safe area. Not sure about the tillie guy but I do know a few business that left. I know many people who moved out of Asbury in the past year. My business did pretty good in Asbury. I left once again, because of the bs in Asbury and mainly because of the trash. Living there, I witnessed many a morning, prostitutes, crack addicts, etc. and many times heard gunshots. I simply thought my life was more deserving. If you must know I opened my business in Lavalette. I , once again, thought Asbury was going to be the Old Asbury we all loved. As for advice my dear, this is my third location I opened so I evidently know what I am doing. By the way I have been back to Asbury , I know quite a few of the merchants. They tell me the truth of what is going on. Not impressed . Did you hear about the family held at gunpoint on Cookman. ?
12/14/2007 7:30:34 PM
dankaplan wrote:
Angelface, I'm sorry to hear that your business failed. It seems like you and Tilliesdead had bad experiences in Asbury Park. Opening a business is a significant endeavor and can take planning, including a contingency for failure. I hope you have such a plan for your new business in the other town. What town is it? What type of business? I hope this time you sought the advice of someone who could develop a business plan with you. If you come back to Asbury Park sometime, you can see the families, singles, couples, young and old attending events along the waterfront. The rest of Asbury Park is cleaning up, and currently there is a variety of levels of "cleanliness". Currently, I'd recommend only about 3/4 of the city to families with children, and much less at night. That will change. It is a good feeling to support a place that has such a brighter future over the next few years and decades. I hope you have found something that you can support, be happy with, and be proud of.
12/14/2007 9:55:52 AM
angelface wrote:
I jumped on the boat 3 years ago!!!!! I JUST JUMPED OFF!!!. I not only lived in AP , I opened a business. I was so sick of the BS in that town, never mind the rapes, shootings, burglaries, gangs, etc. I was pro ASbury, defended it everytime someone knocked me down and told me I was crazy. They were right. Yes, Asbury has lots of good people living there but the bad is BAD, very ugly and scary. I now live in a very peaceful area where I hear the ocean in the still of the night, not gun shots. My business in thriving in another beach town where families cann not only go to the boardwalk but can walk ALL over the town. Yes, progress has been made but they should put more effort in cleaning up the streets first then the waterfront . Good Luck to all. Its so sad what is happening to what was once a beautiful beach town. They missed the boat trying to sell the upscale crap. The new Asbury will never be the old Asbury. The other reason I left.
12/13/2007 9:31:03 PM
AsburyFuture wrote:
I have a problem with building low income housing by the beach as well. It will not work. Just look at the souyth west section of town. That is the area that needs the most help. Fix up the neighborhoods there, not shift people around. People need to learn how to take care of themselves before they can take the responsibility of owning their own home in the tourist area. No one wants to see people throw garbage on the ground, or people who don't know how to rake leaves etc... I don't see the benefit of putting low income housing in the tourist area.
12/13/2007 4:05:33 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
OK what was that article. That guy died for his nice or daughter or something to that extent BUT SHE WAS IN A GANG>>>>> They weren't trying to hit him; they were going for another gang member. I'm sure he knew she was in a gang. It's sad true, but think about it this way 2 gang members of the street. And maybe that girl will rethink about being in a gang and start to convince others. Unfortunately the world need martyrs. Stopping gangs starts at home.
12/13/2007 3:39:58 PM
Emile wrote:
>>>So people get shot every now and again. They probably deserve it<<< Yeah, Silver, they probably deserved it: http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/?p=1668 I guess you subscribe to the Sharpe James school of sociology - "They ain't shootin' at me!"
12/13/2007 2:53:33 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
IT DOES NOT STOP AT THE BEACH FRONT. THE BEACH IS FOR THE UPPER CLASSES which is fine . It gives me something to aspire to. If they put AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON THE BEACH I WOULD BE PISSED OFF because i would not qualify. Why give the poor the best location????? That�s Madness.
12/13/2007 2:19:24 PM
SilverSurfer wrote:
Ok I've been reading posts on all the stories. I find it pretty funny how people just go after any thing about AP. They say its a ghetto, everyone that bought there got ripped the school systems suck yada yada... I moved to AP 3 years ago I almost bought a house on the "bad side" I really did not care because its really not that bad. Secondly all the people that criticizes AP where do you live? I have A side walk a house with a nice size yard and 9 blocks from the beach. We have some of the best restaurants on the shore, an art community that can rival any jersey town. So people get shot every now and again. They probably deserve it gangs are a problem everywhere. Here people get shot Manalapan Egg harbor kids die too usually OD under their parents nose. No i don�t have kids and guess what if i did i would send them to private school anyway. One more thing there are at least 6 houses that have been redone or built on my block and 2 more in the process of being redone.
12/13/2007 2:18:19 PM
dankaplan wrote:
Emile,�thanks for pointing me to that Esperanza web site.� I never looked there before.� Yes, the advertiser could have done better with the boardwalk picture.� Asbury Park's boardwalk looks similar, but the diagonal boards give it more character.� Also, the benches in Asbury Park are a bit newer and cleaner looking.� I've never seen that particular girl in the surf and the bowling balls look newer than the ones at Asbury Lanes.� I guess they used artistic license.� On the nightlife page,�the bar picture looks similar to the Harrison, the microphone looks like something I'd see at Georgie's on Karaoke night and the mixing board scene is something I'd see at Paradise or the Circuit.� On the dining page, the latte looks like one I've gotten at Wish You Were Here, the red chairs at the long table look like one of the coffee shops, maybe�America's Cup.� The food looks like something I've seen on my dinner plate at Moonstruck, Isabella's, or Laila's.
12/13/2007 12:46:28 PM
Emile wrote:
P.S. If you go to esperanzanj.com and click on community, the site tells you "However you choose to entertain yourself in Asbury Park, you're promised something new, something fresh and something never seen before." Then you click on recreation, and they show a picture of AVON's boardwalk. If that doesn't speak volumes about where the developer's heads were, I don't know what would.
12/13/2007 11:18:16 AM
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, December 02, 2007
[See Hughes, Kaplan quotes]
Real estate slump has developers stymied
Perth Amboy, Carteret, East Brunswick slowed
BY SUE EPSTEIN
Star-Ledger Staff
More than $2 billion in redevelopment projects were planned in Perth Amboy, East Brunswick and Carteret, where officials hoped declining business districts and abandoned industrial spots would be replaced by luxury condominiums, townhouses and homes.
But with the real estate boom a fading memory and some housing developers declaring bankruptcy, the grand plans for redevelopment linked to housing have been shelved, scaled down and put in jeopardy. Some underestimated how quickly the housing slump would set in.
"I thought we'd just be going downhill, but we went off a cliff," said Jason Kaplan, president of Kaplan Cos., a developer with multimillion-dollar projects planned in Carteret and Perth Amboy.
In East Brunswick, where Toll Brothers has a contract to redevelop the "Golden Triangle," the formal application for the $35 million project was expected to have been submitted to the planning board already, but the plans have been delayed.
The project would replace a shopping center off Tices Lane, Old Bridge Turnpike and Route 18 with a mix of retail, office and residential units. The site currently includes the Route 18 Flea Market, Jason's Furniture, Sam's Club and the East Brunswick Transportation Center, all of which have leases running through 2008. Toll Brothers now wants to extend the leases until late 2009.
Mayor William Neary said he believes the housing market could have been the reason Toll Brothers has taken longer to file its formal project application.
In Perth Amboy, officials said Kushner Cos., developers of the $600 million Landings at HarborSide project, have delayed the start of the next phase of the project until spring because of the market.
"The question looking back historically is -- were the success stories based on regular market pressures or the housing bubble?" said James Hughes, the dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. "We won't know that for several years because this downturn will last several years."
Hughes said he expects the uncertain housing market to continue to decline through 2008 and maybe longer.
"The market is almost paralyzed right now," he said.
Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman and Perth Amboy Mayor Joseph Vas said they are willing to work with developers to tweak projects and make them more marketable in today's climate.
"We have to work to accommodate the needs of the market," Reiman said. "We're fortunate that we have so much going on, not only residential but commercial. We have 13 independent projects. While some have slowed, others have not."
Reiman said the borough worked with Kaplan Cos. to redesign the Gateway at Carteret, the largest redevelopment project in the borough, to reduce the number of the townhouses offered, and their price. The borough also has seen the amount collected from building permits drop $300,000 this year, Reiman said.
Vas acknowledged that effects of the national housing slump have been felt in his city, but he said the impact has been minimal.
"It's difficult to be isolated from a national trend," Vas said. "But I'm confident about what Perth Amboy has to offer."
The next phase in the Landings project has been put off until the spring, and Vas said that the project's developer, Charles Kushner, is taking advantage of the lull in the market to fine-tune the project's specifics.
He said Kushner was examining ways to make the housing units more cost-effective than the first three buildings, so that the development can offer more for less.
Still, Vas maintained that he is not worried by the lagging sales in the national housing market. The first three buildings in the Landings at HarborSide project sold out, and he expects similar success with the additional buildings planned.
Staff writer Allison Steele contributed to this report. Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@starledger.com or (732) 404-8085.
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Published in the New York Times, Sunday, September 2, 2007
How Eminent Should Domain Be?
By JOSEPH BERGER
YORKTOWN
NICHOLAS J. BIANCO has a strong sense of place, having sampled many local landscapes and ending up comfortably in a town where he can often breathe country air. The son of Italian immigrants, he grew up in the 1950s in the jostling streets of the Bronx, and, after marrying, warily walked a cop’s beat in his next home, Yonkers.
For the past 35 years, he has watched Yorktown peel off its lingering pretensions of butter churns and blacksmiths and slip on the trappings of a standard-issue suburb — shopping centers and subdivisions included.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a government could use eminent domain to seize private property for economic development, including commercial uses like malls. (Some of the property for the new headquarters of The New York Times was acquired through eminent domain.) Mr. Bianco felt the ruling was wrong, even un-American, violating the near-sanctity of a place of one’s own. So did fellow townsfolk who asked him, as a member of the Town Council: “Will you ever do that?”
“Not on my watch,” he promised.
Last January, he went further and engineered passage of a law barring the town from condemning private property for commercial purposes, while allowing it for traditional public uses, like the building of roads, sewers and schools. A vague declaration that a neighborhood is blighted or dangling a promise of jobs and taxes could not be used to expropriate a home or shop for a developer’s benefit.
“It’s not the government’s right to say that you’ve got to move, you, a person who lived here and paid taxes here,” Mr. Bianco, 63, said in a Panera Bread store. “My belief is the individual is just as important as the mass. That’s our Constitution. Every citizen is important.”
He compares limits on property expropriation to the limits he faced as a police officer (he rose to detective sergeant, and now works as an investigator for Westchester’s Legal Aid Society.) “You can’t just go up and search somebody,” he said. “We protect the individual’s rights.”
“Let’s face it,” he went on. “It’s usually done to the lower socioeconomic parts of the population — the people who can’t fight it, don’t have the means. It’s not happening on one-acre homes in Scarsdale. And that’s distasteful. You’re picking off the weak.”
No other Westchester municipality has followed Yorktown’s example, according to Valerie O’Keeffe, president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, even though there remains tension in Port Chester years after a developer, armed with the village’s power of condemnation, cleared away 400 businesses along Main Street for a waterfront mall containing a Costco and Loew’s multiplex.
New Rochelle’s mayor, Noam Bramson, says that eminent domain should be used for development, though “judiciously and only when the broad public interest demands it.” Forswearing it entirely, he said, would make it difficult to assemble land to revitalize downtowns, forcing cities and towns to build on their outskirts. The new law in Yorktown, which used eminent domain more than three decades ago to spruce up Commerce Street with new businesses, passed without much of the fury that has sometimes characterized the nationwide debate. Linda Cooper, the town supervisor, said that while she supported the law to calm anxieties, she thinks it is superfluous. The town’s business district, she said, has been thoroughly developed, with residential and commercial zones marked and no room for growth. Besides, she said, the Town Board could revoke the law in the future.
But for many of Yorktown’s 37,000 residents, the idea that their part-time representatives — people who roll out their garbage on pickup days just like they do — could take away a fellow citizen’s home chafed. “We have a small-town mentality,” Tony Romano, an architect who has lived here since 1969, said as he ran into Mr. Bianco outside Panera’s. “We don’t want the government giving the store away.”
Mr. Bianco took a visitor to Front Street, where among a UPS. warehouse, a school bus lot, a car wash and other industrial-grade properties, Bruno Cusentino’s modest ranch house stood out as if it had been attired for the wrong party. He fears that the house and its land could be candidates for condemnation.
Mr. Cusentino’s son, Bruno Jr., a barber, said the family would be willing to listen if some company wanted to negotiate a fair price. But having the government take it on behalf of a business seemed unfair to him. “It’s common sense,” he told Mr. Bianco.
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, July 29, 2007
High-rise project: Hotel Suburban becomes Vista
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff
East Orange's former Hotel Suburban, the once ritzy lodging establishment that used to draw celebrities, politicians and socialites, is getting ready to undergo a $10 million face-lift.
The long-closed hotel-turned office tower became an eyesore that has marred the city's landscape ever since it closed in the mid-1980s.
It's a dream ready to come true, according to Arij Hasan, a developer-investor who successfully bid $1.4 million to purchase the building at an East Orange municipal property auction last summer.
Hasan expects to transform the high-rise into upscale residences and lofts next year, and the idea now bears the name: Vista Towers.
"We're looking to deliver this project by the summer of 2008," said Hasan, referring to creating 100 planned condo residences, mostly one- and two-bedroom units that might sell anywhere from $150,000 to $300,000 each. "We're selling a trend, in terms of a modern, urban lifestyle building. It's all about vision. It requires a lot of ingenuity."
There also will be nine elaborately decorated bi-level penthouses, ranging from 1,200 square feet to 1,800 square feet, created between the existing top 11th floor, and a soon-to-be-added 12th floor, Hasan said.
Four of the penthouses -- two in Vista Towers' front corners, facing the Manhattan skyline, and two in the rear, facing the South Mountain Reservation -- also will feature 5-by-12 balconies.
The construction of the one- and two-bedroom condominiums and barrier-free lofts there could begin as early as late next month. The East Orange Planning Board is expected to vote on whether to give a go-ahead to Hasan's proposal at its 7 p.m. Wednesday meeting in city hall.
"We're currently in the construction document phase of the project, getting ready to secure work permits," Hasan said of the building at 141 S. Harrison St.
The building has been environmentally cleaned up and all asbestos removed from the building, said Hasan, a Newark-based developer who heads both Insight Properties and the Blackstone Group LLC.
Mayor Robert Bowser, a city planning board member, said he likes what Hasan's plans show so far, including a goal to transform a two-story, 12,000-square-foot rear portion of the former hotel into a leased day care facility, with half the roof being turned into a playground area for up to 100 youngsters, and the other half, a sitting area for others.
Plus "there will be adequate parking for residents, visitors and employees," said Bowser, referring to Hasan's plans to create 133 on-site parking spaces alongside the high-rise, and in a rear portion of the site. The underground parking lot of the former hotel has been eliminated.
The building has a rich history in East Orange, beginning as a 250-room high-class lodging facility that became renowned as the Hotel Suburban.
It opened for business on Feb. 28, 1926, when business and social references initially were required to even stay there. The hotel finally went out of business in the late 1970s.
After undergoing a dramatic facade transformation in 1978, it reopened as the Suburban Essex Tower office building. It later became known as the Essex Towers office building.
Since going into foreclosure and getting boarded up in the late 1980s, it has stood in sharp and negative contrast to the otherwise aristocratic and upscale looking charm of the other residential buildings in that same neighborhood.
"We've kept in mind the historic nature of this building," said Hasan, explaining his plans to restore the high-rise and to ensure the new facade blends in with the street's other brick and limestone-facade residences on that once-fashionable thoroughfare. "Now we're bringing it into the 21st century.
Goldie Burbage, president of the Historical Society of East Orange, said her single hope is that Vista Towers mirrors the look of the immediate area.
The pending transformation plans "will definitely upgrade the area," Burbage said. "I just pray that everything will complement the architectural features of the existing buildings."
Hasan reiterated that it will, saying, "It's going to have a modern look, but yet it will pick up some of the historical architecture."
The Hotel Suburban featured a rear first-floor ballroom that could seat up to 500 people, and later, dining facilities known as the Crystal Room, the Mimosa Room and the Rose Room.
Beginning about Dec. 31, 1960, the ultra fancy Paris in the Sky supper club opened up on a then-newly created 11th floor.
That is where club owner Dick Kollmar, a popular radio personality, along with Dorothy Kilgallen, his newspaper columnist and "What's My Line" television program panelist wife -- offered patrons, including Hollywood and Broadway stars, some of the area's best food, entertainment and views of the Manhattan skyline.
Kevin C. Dilworth may be reached at kdilworth@starledger.com or (973) 392-4143.
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Published in the New York Times, Sunday, July 29, 2007
In New Jersey, the ‘Backyard’ Up on the Roof
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
EVEN in a thoroughly urban setting — maybe especially there — people want a patch of the outdoors to call their own, according to Dean Geibel, a New Jersey developer whose company, Metro Homes, is based in thoroughly urban Hoboken.
“Everybody wants a place to have a cup of coffee in the morning,” he said. “They need a spot where they can see the sky, and breathe the air.
“Or maybe,” he added, with a less embracing fervor, “somebody wants to be able to smoke a cigar from time to time.”
Increasingly, New Jersey developers are going above, if not beyond, to satisfy that buyer demand. They’re looking to rooftops — above a building’s parking garage or its penthouses — to create shared, or even private, garden spots, in locales as diverse as the Hudson riverfront and the East Orange inner city.
A short list of rooftop projects now under construction includes the seventh-floor space with pool and “great lawn” at the 55-story Trump Plaza in Jersey City, a landscaped deck at One Hudson Park in Edgewater (where most units have balconies as well), elevated terraces at two different condo developments on the beach in Asbury Park — one a huge open garden and the other offering individual penthouse rooftop spaces — and five small condo structures in East Orange that will have overhead lawns and patios.
“Rooftops are hot in Jersey,” crowed Tom Bauer, a landscape architect with Melillo & Bauer in Manasquan. “Finally.”
Mr. Bauer was a pioneer in rooftop development in 1979, when he had black pines helicoptered to the top of the Caesars Boardwalk Regency Hotel Casino in Atlantic City to meet a local “green space” requirement.
More than a quarter century after that Atlantic City job — when high winds and inexperience literally blew an electrician off the rooftop and down two floors, resulting in a broken arm and leg — Mr. Bauer says he is constantly busy putting green icing atop the cake, as it were.
“It is the right thing to do, for so many reasons,” he said. He cited “aesthetic improvement,” meaning that people living and working up high get to look down on garden greenery as opposed to black tar and gravel, and “environmental improvement” — the natural cooling effect of “green” roofs and their efficient use of rainwater.
In Asbury Park, where several new beachfront complexes are under construction, Mr. Bauer’s firm recently hoisted loads of soil up to the roof of Paramount North Beach and then planted ornamental grasses and ground cover around the pool deck and private garden patios.
At the other end of the beach, town homes at the Wesley Grove development are being given individual rooftop terraces.
On the central beach, the two-tower Esperanza is rising. The project, being developed by Metro Homes, will have a lavish — and lush — plaza on the roof of the parking garage between its towers, similar to the planned configuration at Trump Plaza, where a second tower is in the works, Mr. Geibel said.
The Esperanza’s fourth-floor plaza will feature a pool, a children’s water park and jungle gym, a lawn large enough for soccer and pet walking, and a “tiki hut” offering food and beverages.
“People love to eat outside,” Mr. Geibel said, “and a lot of them have jobs where they don’t even get outside for lunch. I worked on Wall Street for 16 years and could never leave my desk.
“So we make that a provision in our buildings,” he said. “Outdoor eating is allowed, and even encouraged.”
Of course, that brings up the related subject of seagulls, or pigeons, depending on the local habitat. “You just have to make sure to clean up after people eat,” Mr. Geibel said. “It’s worth the effort to have that amenity.”
Besides, Mr. Bauer pointed out, one pleasure of urban rooftop gardens is that it is possible to experience “wildlife” in the city. Mr. Bauer said he had done some “beautiful bird-watching” from that vantage point, although he conceded he had never spotted a rabbit or deer on a rooftop.
Michael Barry, a principal of Applied Properties, which has installed rooftop gardens and two pools and a children’s playground atop various roofs in its Shipyard complex of condo and rental towers in Hoboken, spoke of such space as being “neighborhood parkland.”
“We put green anywhere we can physically put green,” Mr. Barry said. “It’s simply good urban planning.” Also, he said, it is a way to help keep tenants from leaving cities for suburbs once they have children.
“During the summer, the pool area is a great place for moms and young children to gather during the day," Mr. Barry said. In wintertime, some parents take their children up to the roof to build snowmen, he said.
Snow removal from rooftops can be very challenging, developers say. Mr. Barry spoke of having to scare up a fleet of snow blowers and send out a team of maintenance workers for several days after one big storm last year.
Mr. Bauer said the reason he can’t sell every developer on the idea of a roof garden is that it costs about 10 to 20 percent more to engineer a green rooftop that is structurally sound, completely waterproof and can handle a load of snow.
In East Orange, where the start-up developers Keith Miles and Marlon Haniff are putting up 12 units in 5 buildings on neighborhood lots, Mr. Miles said he has been dragging a hand mower up and down two flights of stairs to maintain the green oasis he created atop a two-family structure on Tremont Avenue. “I think I’m going to have to build a little shed up here to hold that thing — and the snow blower,” he said.
Mr. Miles and his partner, whose company, South Atlantic Assets Holdings, is among a small group of entrepreneurs aiming to lure middle-class home buyers back to old neighborhoods in Orange and East Orange, said providing green space was crucial to that cause — but extremely difficult on small urban lots.
“So we decided to put the backyard up top,” he said. The third-floor “backyard” at 555 Tremont Avenue, which has a velvety carpet of grass, a small paver-stone patio and a gas barbecue, is only 35 by 55 feet. On the other hand, the entire lot is only 50 by 125 feet.
“Size is not the important part,” Mr. Miles said emphatically, and then he started to sound like Mr. Geibel, the builder of the 862-unit Trump Plaza in Jersey City. “You just need a little place to drink your beverage in the morning or at night, and to take a breath outside, and get a feel for the day.”
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, August 5, 2007
In Newark, a question of blight or wrong
Some see a section beyond help, while others like it
BY KATIE WANG
Star-Ledger Staff
For Michael Saltzman, the abandoned dirt lot across the street from his Scott Street home in Newark is an eyesore, a symbol of wasted opportunity in the downtown area.
The neighborhood, says Saltzman, who uprooted from Manhattan and moved to Newark five years ago, is definitely ripe for redevelopment.
Three blocks over on Elm Street, Augusto Mariano says the neighborhood is a thriving one that he and other Portuguese residents helped rebuild in the 1980s when no one else was willing to move into Newark. As far as he is concerned, the area is fine as it is.
The two divergent views strike at the heart of a protracted four-year legal scuffle involving the city, a redeveloper and the Mulberry Street Association, a group of 22 property owners who fought to protect their land against eminent domain. The case hinged on this question: Are the 14 acres of land, which are covered with houses, small businesses, parking lots and a handful of desolate tracts, considered blighted?
The developers and city said yes and declared the area in need of redevelopment in 2004, clearing the way for a 2,000-unit condominium complex just blocks from the new Prudential Center and City Hall.
The Mulberry Street Association disagreed and sued, challenging the designation in order to protect its land.
A week ago, Superior Court Judge Marie P. Simonelli in Essex County sided with the property owners.
"There is no substantial evidence that the Mulberry Street area has reached a state of deterioration or stagnation that negatively affects surrounding areas," Simonelli wrote in her decision.
Alluding to views laid out earlier this year in the precedent-setting state Supreme Court decision Gallenthin Realty Development Inc. vs. Borough of Paulsboro, Simonelli said the city cannot seize property just because it does not feel the land is "fully productive."
Both the city and developer, Newark Redevelopment Corporation, have not decided whether they will appeal the decision, but the City Council last week passed a resolution "strongly urging" the administration not to appeal.
The tract in question is squeezed between the federal courthouse and McCarter Highway, which carries rivers of traffic in and out of Newark. It also sits near the train tracks, where PATH trains lurch through every few minutes. Visitors to the new Prudential Center, scheduled to open in October, will pass the neighborhood on the way to Route 78, making the property one of the most attractive and valuable parcels in the city.
Too valuable, said the city and developers, to be used for parking lots and small businesses -- an argument they made in court. In addition to those businesses, there are churches and homes in the area.
"(The project) would provide a new mix of retail and entertainment services not currently available in the downtown," said Bruce Wishnia, a principal of Newark Redevelopment Corporation, the company behind the condominium project.
Saltzman, the owner of a real estate services company, said he was disappointed by the judge's ruling. Saltzman's house sits on the rim of the disputed area. He bought a house, banking on the promise of a bustling downtown in the future.
Over the years, he has stared out at an empty lot filled with stray cats, homeless people and prostitutes, waiting for the redevelopment wave to arrive in Newark.
"If an area is filled with vacant lots and vacant parking lots and barely any retail in the area, then to me that's not a thriving neighborhood," said Saltzman. "It's not maximizing the value of the area."
At the same time, Saltzman said he empathizes with the residents who have lived there for years. The problem in this case, he said, might have been the way the city and developer proceeded with their project.
Latasia Elliott, 16, a neighbor who has lived on Scott Street for a year, also said the area could use some sprucing up. Still, she said it is better than her former home on Seventh Avenue in Newark.
"Besides the hookers and transvestites, everything is all right," she said.
But longtime residents such as Mariano, 56, have a radically different opinion. Mariano bought a three-bedroom, pale yellow house on Elm Street in 1987 for $7,000. When he moved in, the neighborhood was unsafe to wander around at night.
Years later, he said, it is "awesome" compared to what it used to be. His block is lined with narrow homes, occupied by Portuguese, Brazilian and Spanish immigrants. At the end of his block, abutting Mulberry Street, is the club QXT, which he says does not cause any problems at night.
"It's clean, it's honest," he said.
Even so, if a developer gave him a fair offer for his house and to move, he would consider it. The judge's ruling, he said, pleased him, but it was far from vindication.
"There's still a lot of bad blood with us because of the way they treated us," said Mariano.
George Mytrowitz, the owner of Market Body Works and leader of the Mulberry Street Association, said he does not think his organization would have prevailed in court five years ago. The members of the association have spent $250,000 on legal bills and attended countless council meetings over the years.
Mytrowitz said the tide started turning in their favor at the federal level, with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against private property owners in Kelo vs. City of New London. In that case, the court ruled in favor of eminent domain for economic development -- a decision that did not sit well in the court of public opinion. Kelo, said Mytrowitz, opened people's eyes to what he calls eminent domain abuse.
Separately in New Jersey, the state's highest court offered a different opinion on the issue in the Gallenthin case in Gloucester County. In that case, the court ruled municipalities cannot declare "underused properties" as blighted ones for the sake of redevelopment.
Contrary to what the developers and city say, Mytrowitz said the Mulberry area is still a viable one.
"Surface parking plays its part here," he said. "Those lots are completely full. There's nothing wrong with the neighborhood. It's safe. We're not afraid to walk around here."
Mytrowitz said he does not think the city has much grounds for an appeal.
And if they do, he said they will continue to fight.
"This thing has consumed the last 4 1/2 years of my life that I can't get back," he said. "I've been put through the wringer."
Katie Wang covers Newark City Hall. She can be reached at kwang@starledger.com or (973) 392-1504.
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, July 13, 2007
Developer looking to rezone his townhomes
Wants age restrictions cut in Flemington
BY JOHN HOLL
Star-Ledger Staff
Citing a downturn in the real estate market, the owner of a Flemington property zoned for senior living is asking the borough for a change.
Dennis Gabinelli hopes the planning board will rezone the 2.7-acre Allen Street properties so he can make the units available to the general public.
"There is interest," he said, "just not by people who are eligible."
Approved for the project in 2005, Gabinelli completed 16 of 22 planned units and so far all of them are empty.
People age 55 and older are eligible to purchase the properties, according to the zoning rules.
The plan calls for 14 two-bedroom townhouse units priced starting at $350,000. There are also four one-bedroom units that start at $220,000. Four units are to be designated as affordable housing, with a price around $80,000.
The board was scheduled to hear Gabinelli plea on Wednesday night but continued the matter to their next meeting on July 24.
Should the board side with Ga binelli, they would need to find new places in town to meet the state's affordable housing standards.
"If the units were no longer affordable units, however, then Flemington would have to provide alternative units," said Chris Donnelly, a spokesman for the state department of community affairs.
Gabinelli's attorney, Julie Goldstein, dismissed questions that opening the units up to the general public could potentially bring new families to town who would use the borough's already overcrowded school system.
"By design, by price, these are not the types of properties that would appeal to people with school-aged children," said Goldstein.
Sue Bennett, an Allen Street neighbor, said she would just like to see the units filled.
"It's too bad seniors are not staying to be close to their children," she said. "But, we don't want to see them empty."
Following the meeting on Wednesday night, Gabinelli walked through the model unit at the complex, a town house appointed with hardwood floors, stainless steel ap pliances and cherry wood kitchen cabinets. He would like to sell to seniors, he said, but no one is buy ing. "I don't want to give this to the bank," he said. "I need help."
John Holl may be reached at jholl@starledger.com or (908) 782-8326.
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Published in the Courier News, Friday, July 13, 2007
Somerville revises deal with developer
By MARTIN C. BRICKETTO
Staff Writer
SOMERVILLE -- Municipal revenue from a redevelopment project at the Downtown Somerville Shopping Center -- touted as a way to ease the tax burden on residents -- will be tied to its financial success, under a new agreement between the borough and its developer.
During a special meeting Thursday, the Borough Council unanimously approved a "memorandum of understanding" with developer JSM spelling out several points as the two parties prepare to redraft a 2-year-old redevelopment agreement over the project to reflect what officials called a changed economic climate.
Among the revisions:
- Instead of the borough collecting regular property taxes, JSM -- owned by real estate developer Jack Morris -- will pay the borough 15 percent of its annual gross revenues for the residential component of the project for 10 years, and 15 percent of its annual gross revenues for office and retail elements of the project for five years. Borough officials had said previously the project would generate $2.1 million in annual property tax revenues. At Thursday's meeting, officials did not announce the anticipated revenue from the new agreement.
- JSM will be able to construct more residential units, retail space and office space.
- JSM will construct a planned extension of Davenport Street at no cost to the borough and dedicate it to the municipality when finished. The borough was originally going to pay for the extension.
- The borough will build, own and manage a South Street parking deck with a minimum of 440 spaces. Originally, JSM was going to build the structure, but the borough was going to pay for it upon its completion.
Meanwhile, a supermarket chain fighting the redevelopment plans is appealing a Superior Court ruling in June denying it millions of additional dollars in compensation if the borough condemns its lease.
But the challenge lodged by Pathmark in the state's appellate court division won't stop the borough from seizing the lease and, if it chooses, evicting the supermarket from the center.
Pathmark Spokesman Rich Savner said the supermarket isn't asking the court to block the borough from exercising its powers of eminent domain, adding that he's not sure if it can legally make that request.
"They've had that option to invoke that declaration of taking all along," Savner said. "We're as concerned as we always have been, and there's nothing we can do about it. If that's what the town decides, that's their discretion."
The redevelopment plans are under a court injunction pending the use of eminent domain by the borough.
The appeal seeks to reverse a decision by Assignment Judge Yolanda Ciccone that, if Pathmark's lease is seized by the borough, the supermarket is only entitled to the cost of store fixtures and relocating, not the value of the unexpired term of the lease.
"We believe our position has merit, so we're taking it to a higher authority," Savner said.
A borough appraisal based on that formula valued the lease at $1.6 million. Pathmark argued in Superior Court that the appraisal should have included the cost of a new, market-rate lease versus the cheaper rate the supermarket is now paying, bringing the appraisal to $5 million.
How the lease should be valued was a key question in the case. To file a "declaration of taking" and actually seize the lease, the borough is required to place its appraised value in an escrow account.
Ciccone ruled earlier this year that the borough has the right to take the lease through eminent domain.
Under the agreement Thursday, JSM -- named as the site's redeveloper in 2003 -- is still responsible for the borough's professional and legal costs, Mayor Brian Gallagher said.
Borough Director of Economic Development Colin Driver said the reconfigured system under which the borough will collect revenue from the project is typically used to help developers kickstart their projects and recover costs in a shorter period of time.
"Time takes its toll on any agreement," Gallagher said. "Obviously, the market has softened a little bit in regard to residential and at the same time construction costs have skyrocketed. There needs to be a little bit of a give and take."
Driver said that the borough will take in less money in the short run, but long-term revenue projections remain largely the same.
The planned payments in lieu of taxes will go directly to the borough, but Driver said the municipality could choose to allocate a portion to local schools -- the prime recipient of real estate taxes in most municipalities. The site will be taxed regularly once the five-year and 10-year periods are over, Driver added.
Driver also said the borough will maintain at least the current "dollar volume" generated by the site now throughout the life of the project for normal distribution to public entities.
"The schools will never be in a worse situation than what they are now," Driver said.
While the borough council vote on the 13-page document was unanimous, Councilman Thompson Mitchell expressed concerns over the changed funding formula.
"I'm sorry to see that, but it was the best deal we could get at the time," Mitchell said.
The original agreement called for 136,000 square feet of retail space, 73,000 square feet of office space and 265 luxury apartments, according to published reports.
Now, JSM can construct a maximum of 350 residential units, 150,000 square feet of retail space and 80,000 square feet of office space.
But before any shovels break ground to begin that construction, the borough and JSM still must resolve their legal troubles with Pathmark.
Asked if the borough plans to file a declaration of taking, Gallagher said talks continue with the municipality's attorneys and JSM.
"We've taken a very careful, considered approach, and we don't act hastily," Gallagher said. "We will take our time in making these decisions."
Ruling on a lawsuit brought by Pathmark against JSM, a Superior Court judge in Warren County placed an injunction on the plans in May until the borough seizes the lease.
Martin C. Bricketto can be reached at (908) 707-3176 or mbricket@gannett.com"
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, June 15, 2007
Newark rethinking redevelopment plans
Eminent domain ruling forces a new look
BY JOE MALINCONICO
Star-Ledger Staff
A state Supreme Court ruling this week has forced Newark to re-examine its plans to redevelop 182 acres of industrial property near the harbor and airport.
The court ruling limits the way that local governments may use eminent domain to acquire land for redevelopment, making it much tougher for them to take property simply because they say it's not being used to its fullest.
That is precisely the criterion on which Newark based its argument for acquiring many of the properties in its seaport and airport redevelopment plan.
"We're going to have to go back and review the parcels that may be affected by this ruling," said Lupe Todd, a city spokeswoman. "We intend to continue to pursue the redevelopment of all parcels that meet the law."
Some property owners who were resisting the city's redevelopment plan see the Supreme Court ruling as a reprieve.
"It's very clear the city is going to have to go back to the drawing board on this," said Kevin O'Connor, an attorney for a dry ice distribution center on Frelinghuysen Avenue.
Frank Giantomasi, another attorney for businesses affected by the redevelopment program, said the ruling won't prohibit the city from using eminent domain to take properties, but he said it will impose "a more objective test."
"In certain cases, I think this is going to stop the city from redeveloping, in others it won't have any impact," Giantomasi said.
Most of the 182 acres in the plan are along Frelinghuysen and Doremus avenues. In some cases, the land is occupied by decaying, abandoned buildings. In others, businesses continue to operate on the property.
The city's planning board is holding a hearing on the redevelopment plan next Thursday. That meeting will go on as scheduled, Todd said. In the meantime, city officials have been meeting with the property owners since June 7, when a previous hearing on the issue was cut short.
"The city is taking a real let's-work-together attitude," Giantomasi said. "They're trying to achieve a middle ground."
In conducting its review of the court ruling, the city may opt to cut some of the properties from the redevelopment program. Or officials may simply use different criteria to make their case for taking the land.
The targeted properties include:
- 13.9 acres on the east side of Frelinghuysen Avenue, between McClellan Street and the Elizabeth border.
- 11 acres on the east side of Frelinghuysen Avenue just south of Route 22.
- 36.5 acres around Olympia Drive, near New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 14.
- 34.7 acres between Doremus Avenue and the Passaic River, just south of Routes 1&9.
- 27.2 acres on Doremus Avenue, just north of Delancey Street.
- 58.6 acres on Doremus Avenue, just south of Delancey Street.
Joe Malinconico may be reached at jmalinconico@starledger.com or (973) 392-4230.
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, July 27, 2007
With high-rise, Rahway is now moving on up
At 16 stories, with Manhattan views, it'll be tallest residential in county
BY JONATHAN CASIANO
Star-Ledger Staff
From a barren concrete shell high above the Rahway train station, city officials and builders marked the "topping off" of the Skyview at Carriage City Plaza tower yesterday, the signature building of Rahway's extensive downtown redevelopment.
At 16 stories, it's the tallest residential structure in the county, dwarfing the rest of Rahway's modest Main Street. Its 178 feet are second only to the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth and its upper floors offer something most folks in Rahway never knew they had -- a clear view of the Manhattan skyline 22 miles away.
But at yesterday's event, Mayor James Kennedy said it's the building's symbolism, more than its height, that makes it important to the city. After years of redevelopment talk, the towering downtown hotel provides a concrete example of what Rahway might look like a decade from now. Kennedy said the city has already received proposals for a 15-story apartment building across the street and another high-rise on the other side of the railroad tracks.
Coupled with several other downtown projects already underway, the new Rahway will be distinctly taller with far more people living in the town center.
"Because of this development we've been able to market the city of Rahway," he said. "This adds energy to the town."
When finished, Skyview will fea ture 222 condominium units and 102 hotel rooms under the Hotel Indigo brand, a new boutique chain launched by Intercontinental Hotels. It will also feature some 40,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, where developers hope to lure a gym, spa, upscale restaurant and small supermarket.
"We want to mirror Jersey City and Hoboken with similar lifestyle amenities," said Jason Pierson, one of the brokers marketing the ground floor.
Altogether, the project is ex pected to cost $101 million, said developer Carlos Silva of Silcon Group, including the roughly $500,000 his firm paid Rahway for the land several years ago. Its two- bedroom units are being marketed for around $350,000, while the tower's 13 penthouses will be priced at $800,000 and up, Silva said. From each condo sale, $10,000 is given to the city, he added.
The building isn't expected to open until sometime next summer, but with more than 100 condo units already under contract, Silva said his belief in Rahway is paying off.
"I've been an Elizabeth resident all my life and Rahway was always something of a missing equation," Silva said. "Now everyone's coming on board saying Rahway's the new New Brunswick, the new Hobo ken."
While the Skyview gives Rah way an encouraging start down that road, much remains to be seen. Skyview is Rahway's tallest project to date, but its most ambi tious -- a plan to replace City Hall and police headquarters with a new retail and residential village -- remains controversial, with some in town opposed to selling City Hall for development.
Jonathan Casiano may be reached at (908) 527-4012 or jcasia no@starledger.com.
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Published in the Princeton Packet, June 8, 2007
Hillier issues strong warning on redevelopment's prospects
Politics may scuttle ambitious West Windsor train station-area project, he says
By: Greg Forester , Staff Writer
[Rendering shows new Princeton Junction train station and the "Bowl" area under the tracks, looking west toward the "West Windsor Walk" promenade and the planned residential units and mixed-use construction.]
WEST WINDSOR — The Princeton Junction redevelopment project is in trouble, according to architect J. Robert Hillier, who suggested this week that his firm might resign from the planning process.
Hillier warned township officials and the public that the political atmosphere in town was harming his firm's ability to satisfy the town's desires for the project.
"We feel that what was a positive process has been derailed by a contentious election and an increasingly divisive political environment — and we think it has jeopardized the project," Hillier said at Monday's combined Planning Board and Township Council meeting. "We are deeply concerned that it may not be possible to deliver a plan that will satisfy all of the competing demands of an increasingly polarized client."
Mr. Hillier said the current project is definitely viable, but needs advocates and champions in the community.
"This project needs those, and right now I don't know if there's anybody here that wants to build a transit village," Mr. Hillier said.
Mr. Hillier suggested the possibility that his firm could resign from the project, and allow another firm to attempt to deliver what the township wanted. "It's clear we're not satisfying West Windsor, and when you have a client you're not satisfying, you are happy to step aside," Mr. Hillier said.
These warnings from Mr. Hillier come during a political climate that saw the election of Will Anklowitz, George Borek, and Charlie Morgan, who ran on a "Best 4 West Windsor" slate with a platform aligned against the inclusion of 1,000 new homes in town.
Mr. Morgan said he did not think the project was in jeopardy, and that it would be unfortunate for Hillier Architecture to withdraw from the project.
"The fact of the matter is the best answer is not for Hillier to leave, but to restart the process," said Mr. Morgan. "We need to re-engage the public the way we promised."
Mayor Shing Fu-Hsueh said he hopes Mr. Hillier and his firm would stay on with the project, warning that the project was still only in the early stages.
"Mr. Hillier has done an outstanding job up to this point, and his firm has tried to understand what the community really wanted and needed," said Mayor Hsueh. "Bob Hillier was able to bring many different ideas into one plan, and in the next phase the council and the Planning Board need to provide a more specific direction so the project can move forward."
Following Mr. Hillier's warning to the crowd gathered at the Grover Middle School for the meeting, variations on the original plan of 1,000 residential units were introduced.
They included plans for 250, 500, and 750 residential units, along with a more detailed analysis of the original 1,000-unit plan.
The presentation displayed financial analyses by Economic Research Associates that purported decreasing financial benefits for the township with decreases in the number of residential units.
"I saw so much out there that might be outright wrong," said Mr. Morgan, of the presentations. "It was based on assumptions, and we need a process where we have access to assumptions."
Some of Hillier's presentation included changes made to the original plan that seemed to satisfy the demands of resident's identified in earlier portions of the process.
These included the addition of a pedestrian walkway connecting parking decks on the west side of the tracks and the New York-bound platform on the east and the removal of a roadway connecting Alexander Road and the Sherbrook Estates neighborhood, which pleased Councilman Will Anklowitz.
"Mr. Hillier did the right thing about the realignment of Sherbrook Drive with Alexander Road," said Mr. Anklowitz. "I look forward to discussing other details and concerns with Mr. Hillier."
The audience of residents and township officials were also treated to artists' renderings of what the downtown area near the train station and along Route 571 would look like as a mixed-use town center.
There has been discussion of a second joint meeting of the Planning Board and Township Council at Grover Middle School for June 18, but that meeting date is expected to be rescheduled according to officials from Hillier.
Comment Added: Friday June 08, 2007 at 06:06 AM EST
Politics May Scuttle Transit Village
It would be unfortunate for the residents of West Windsor and surrounding communities who use the train station in Princeton Junction if the Hillier firm took their leave of the job they were given to do in planning West Windsor's future land use around our train station.
What is moving forward, showing signs that the public is being heard, is a process that isn't perfect but that should not be derailed. It is imcumbent for the Town Council members, the Mayor's office and the Planning Board to work together for the regional and local development that this unavoidable, because like it or not, this is a transit village. More commuters will be coming our way whether or not this village is ever built.
New Jersey Transit should be required to be part of the process and to pay a fair share for their increased ridership due to the expansion. Bringing forth economic transparency in the process and working together with the Town Council is a must for the township administration. And residents are responsible too for becoming involved in this process.
Civility without threats among all public officials is the most important factor in finding consensus in the community. I do hope that this is not the end of the discussion. West Windsor could be a place with a center that we all want to visit if this works.
--Beth Feehan, Princeton Jct, NJ
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18446221&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=346950&rfi=8
Editorial
West Windsor plan in need of useful formula
06/08/2007
PACKET EDITORIAL, June 8
Prolonged observation of the controversy over West Windsor's proposed redevelopment plan for Princeton Junction makes it all too clear that the 800-pound gorilla in the meeting room is housing.
Opponents, whose desires range from less than 1,000 units to no housing at all, are understandably worried about the impact of more residents on local schools, transportation and municipal services. At the same time, many of them favor the plan's other promised improvements, including a pedestrian-friendly town center around the Princeton Junction rail station, a pedestrian walkway to connect parking decks on the west side of the NJ Transit tracks and the New York-bound platform on the east, and the elimination of the roadway which now links Alexander Road and Sherbrook Estates.
But, as the project's chief architect, J. Robert Hiller, warned Wednesday night, the economic feasibility of the plan rests on achieving a mix of office, retail and residential elements that would make the finished project a fiscal boon rather than burden for West Windsor. According to Economic Research Associates' analysis, the potential boon shrinks as the number of housing units is reduced.
That assumption is met with skepticism from housing opponents, including the new council majority, prompting Mr. Hillier to complain that the "open and positive" planning process is now jeopardized by "an increasingly divisive political environment."
We sympathize with Mr. Hillier's dilemma but there is nothing wrong with an open process of the kind he has led being superceded by the open process known as an election.
Elections have consequences, not all of them intended. And a consequence of West Windsor's election may be that the broadly supported benefits of redevelopment end up getting vanquished along with the housing.
Perhaps with this in mind, the new council majority is now suggesting that the charrette process start afresh, with Mr. Hillier's firm still in the lead.
That is worth a try and we would suggest one particular exercise to address the skepticism surrounding the necessity of housing in the plan. Why not assemble a panel of commercial and residential real estate experts to participate in an open public forum — with questions from the audience — on the market forces that would ultimately determine the economic impact of redevelopment in West Windsor?
The panelists' views may or may not reinforce the assumptions presented by Mr. Hillier. But the public's understanding and sense of participation might help build a viable consensus around a feasible formula.
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18445799&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=346950&rfi=8
Link to online story.
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Friday, July 20,2007
Setback for Newark condo project
Judge rules city failed to prove that the 14-acre site
on Mulberry Street is 'blighted'
BY KATIE WANG
Star-Ledger Staff
A Superior Court judge in Essex County has dealt a major blow to a plan to build 2,000 condominiums in downtown Newark, saying the city failed to prove the area in question is deteriorating and in need of redevelopment.
The 71-page decision, issued yesterday, cites the watershed state Supreme Court decision, Gallenthin Realty Development Inc. vs. Borough of Paulsboro, handed down earlier this year that limits the government's power to seize land.
In the Newark case, Judge Marie P. Simonelli said the city cannot designate the 14-acre Mulberry Street area "blighted" simply because the property could be used for better purposes. Property owners fought the designation, saying the area was still thriving and that they did not want their land to be seized through eminent domain.
"The court finds that the city declared the entire Mulberry Street area as an area in need of redevelopment solely because it is not properly utilized and fully productive," Simonelli said in her decision. "Under the Gallenthin holding, this declaration does not meet the constitutional requirement of blight and must be invalidated and set aside."
The decision puts the future of the condo project in jeopardy, though all parties involved disagreed on whether the project is dead or viable in an amended form. The Mulberry Street condo project, which was to be developed by the Newark Redevelopment Corp., is slated for a prime tract one block from the Prudential Center arena, scheduled to open in October.
Stefan Pryor, the deputy mayor in charge of economic development, said the Booker administration is analyzing the judge's decision and refused to say whether it will appeal.
"The outcome of the case will not affect the arena project," he said.
John Buonocore, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, declared the condo project dead.
"We are delighted that the court saw through this pre-arranged land grab on behalf of politically favored developers," Buonocore said. "The ruling sends a message to politicians across the state that the courts will not sustain economic development takings under the guise of the redevelopment laws."
Bruce J. Wishnia, one of the principals of Newark Redevelopment Corp., said the decision is a sad day for the city and the state. He said he is not sure what this means for the overall project.
"If the Mulberry Street area is not in need of redevelopment, then the court needs to tell us what kind of area would be," Wishnia said. "If this decision if not reversed, it will effectively shut the door on urban redevelopment in our state."
The Mulberry decision comes at a time when land and redevelopment issues are under intense public scrutiny in a city that has struggled for decades to rebuild itself.
One week ago, Sharpe James, who served as mayor for two decades, was indicted on charges he steered lucrative land deals to companion Tamika Riley. The property owners in the Mulberry case have long alleged political contributions from the developers swayed council members to vote in favor of declaring the area in need of redevelopment.
The judge concluded her opinion with a tart reference to James' criminal charges.
"This evidence certainly provides cause to question the results and validity of the redevelopment investigation," she said. "However, the court mentions it for historical purposes only and makes no determination of the merits of plaintiff's corruption claim. It appears that such a determination may be made in the recently initiated criminal proceedings involving former Mayor James."
The Mulberry Street Redevelopment project made its debut five years ago during James' administration. In November 2002, Wishnia and his partner, Emile Farina, a former aide to then Councilwoman Bessie Walker, pitched the idea to Nathan Allen, director of the city's Department of Economic and Housing Development.
Plans called for the Newark Redevelopment Corp. to negotiate with property owners for their land. If negotiations failed, the developers planned to ask the city to use its condemnation powers to seize those properties.
According to Simonelli's ruling, there is no evidence any negotiations took place.
Instead, she said, the city pursued an investigation into declaring the area in need of redevelopment, paving the way for condemnation.
In her decision, Simonelli leveled stinging criticism at the snug relationship between developers and officials in the city. Attorneys, relatives and consultants affiliated with Wishnia and Farina donated an additional $53,325 to some council members when they were making critical decisions about the project, according to the plaintiffs.
"There is evidence in the present case that the Mulberry Street Redevelopment project and NRC's role as its developer was "a done deal," a fait accompli, before the required statutory redevelopment process began," Simonelli said.
City-hired planner David Roberts issued a report in April 2004 declaring the area in need of redevelopment because the parking lots, storage yards and businesses in the area "consumes land that could otherwise be available for much more productive uses."
But Simonelli faulted Roberts' report, saying it lacked empirical evidence to support his conclusions.
On Oct. 14, 2004, the planning board passed a resolution recommending the city declare the Mulberry Street area in need of redevelopment. The city council agreed and on Nov. 3, 2004, it passed a resolution declaring the area in need of redevelopment.
Katie Wang may be reached at kwang@starledger.com or (973) 392-1504.
Link to online story.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
