Hoboken / Manhattan Real Estate Blog

Sunday, November 18, 2007

By KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITER

Palisades Park’s Long Swamp is a sliver of land tucked away behind stores and offices on busy Bergen Boulevard. For almost two decades, the town resisted development on the property — but ultimately was forced to allow it, under the state’s Mount Laurel doctrine.

Now, two 10-story luxury condo buildings — part of a complex called Trio — are almost complete on the site. Built by Tarragon Corp. of New York, the buildings feature floor-to-ceiling windows that, depending on the location, offer views of the New York skyline, the top of the George Washington Bridge and the Hackensack River meadowlands (and beyond).

Prices at the buildings start at $350,000 for a one-bedroom unit and $500,000 for a two-bedroom. So far, about 65 percent of the first building’s 70 units have been sold — many to young singles or couples who commute into New York. The second building is expected to be finished in April.

The two buildings are on Long Swamp’s western slope, overlooking the marshy wetlands surrounding Wolf Creek. A third building is planned for the other side of the creek, closer to the Fort Lee border. But Tarragon President William J. Rosato said the company is holding off on the third building for now, because of thehousing market slowdown.

Se Pak and his wife, Chaerry Kim, moved into a two-bedroom unit in the first Trio building a few weeks ago. Pak, a clothing importer, likes the 10-minute commute to his job in Ridgefield Park. He also enjoys living in new construction.

“I like it because it’s clean,” Pak said. It’s also quieter than the couple’s previous condo, near a fire station in Edgewater. There, sirens sometimes woke their 20-month-old daughter, Grace.

The units, which are full of light, feature hardwood floors, granite kitchen countertops, cherry cabinets, and marble in the bathrooms as standard. Rosato said the luxury finishes are necessary in a competitive market.

“Buyers have become much more sophisticated and have higher expectations, even from two or three years ago,” he said.

Development of the 14-acre Palisades Park site has a 20-year history. A Westchester developer, Bernard Rosenshein, bought the land for more than $9 million in the 1980s, planning at first to build a regional shopping mall. But town officials and residents fought the proposal, saying development would generate too much traffic.

In the mid-1990s, Rosenshein got permission to build residential buildings on the site, under the so-called Mount Laurel builder’s remedy, in exchange for a $230,000 payment to the town to support affordable housing.

Rosenshein sold the property in 2003 to a group of Bergen County development professionals, including architect Conrad Roncati of Architectura in Edgewater. Roncati brought the project to Tarragon, which bought the land in 2006, according to property records.

“Fourteen acres in Bergen County — that’s not easy to come by,” Rosato said. “We were very impressed with it because it was a good location where there weren’t a lot of competing projects.”

As the housing market has slowed since 2005, Tarragon has faced financial challenges, especially in Florida, one of the nation’s hardest-hit housing markets. Over the summer, the company announced that it was in default on several large loan agreements. In an effort to reduce its debt and increase liquidity, the company has sold millions of dollars’ worth of property in Florida and Tennessee. It is now current with all its lenders and in good financial standing, Rosato said.

As demand for condos has declined, the company has changed its plans for some buildings — making them rentals instead of condos.

The company has recent projects in Hoboken and Edgewater. Overall in North Jersey and the rest of the New York metropolitan area, Rosato said, demand for housing remains relatively healthy compared to other parts of the nation.

“Our Northeast projects are very profitable, and we’ve got a great pipeline of work to do here,” he said.

The big political battle in Secaucus may pit the newly installed Joe Doria, who is now commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, against Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell over prospects for affordable housing.

Under state mandates, any new development must include on affordable housing unit for every eight-market rate residential units constructed.

In Secaucus and the entire Meadowlands region, where numerous new developments are under construction, there are debates over where affordable housing can go, and how much. But state law is very specific about how much has to be constructed as a result of each approved projects.

Affordable housing means different things to different people.

Some residents mistakenly equate affordable with subsidized or poverty housing, thus making the assumption that affordable units will turn their neighborhoods into housing projects.

In truth, some “affordable” housing is designed to keep the units that are sold within a community affordable to residents who already live and work in the region, so that the children of a local tradesman can find housing that’s not priced solely for Wall Street stockbrokers.

Since many of the new units being developed in Hudson County are luxury housing, developers hate the idea of providing affordable housing since it lessens the potential profits.

While public officials in Secaucus gear up for a fight to keep down the number of affordable housing units, they may soon also find that they are forcing out many of the same residents they seek to protect. They may soon find the children of older residents leaving Secaucus simply because they can’t afford to purchase homes there.

For example…

Hoboken Mayor Dave Roberts might well testify to the impact of luxury development in his community. He recently went on the offensive against the police for supposedly not cracking down on homeless people in his city, after a report came out about rising crime in the city. But how did they become homeless?

Hoboken suffered two major shifts in housing during its transformation from a working class community to a bedroom community for Manhattan professionals. The closing of single room occupancy hotels in the late 1980s put many marginal people out onto the streets.

More recently, federally subsidies for housing began to expire, putting once-affordable units back at market rates.

Rumors galore in Jersey City

Reports of Jersey City’s Eliu Rivera’s impending retirement as a freeholder are grossly exaggerated. He said he will, in fact, be running in the next June’s Democratic primary.

This may be a sore disappointment to others who wanted to move him out of his office early.

Also in the wishful thinking category are rumors that Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy will not seek re-election in 2009.

With a $1 million war chest towards his re-election, Healy will most likely run, especially when the field of candidates is likely to fracture any coalition designed to oppose him.

Opponents, however, do have some serious issues to use against him, including increasing taxes, his own conviction on charges raised in his Bradley Beach brawl, his refusal to curb problems with construction by increasing the number of inspectors, and his tendency to be disconnected from local issues such as a recent brouhaha concerning bus transportation in the Heights section.

Of course, Healy does have some good points - including his singing ability and frequent songfests at the local tavern.

Meanwhile, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega is already on the campaign trail in an expected primary challenge next June against incumbent Rep. Albio Sires. Vega recently raised $35,000 to pad his own war chest.

Race for mayor already started in Bayonne

In Bayonne, where Council President Vincent Lo Re just took over as interim mayor after Doria took on his new post with the state, the campaign for the November, 2008 mayoral election has already begun.

The City Council still needs to vote on who will serve as acting mayor - Lo Re sits as mayor until they vote. And the first of candidates for the election are emerging. Mary Jane Desmond, a former councilperson, has not yet declared her intention to run. But she did open a civic association headquarters in the Bergen Point section, and got a good crowd for her opening event.

Probably-soon-to-be state Senator/Union City Mayor Brian Stack could not attend the grand opening, but he sent his loyal aide, Libero Marotta - who is a close friend of Bayonne’s own Leonard Kantor (another possible candidate for mayor).

Sires also sent a representative. A few spies from the opposing Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) also appear to have been in the crowd, scoping out possible levels of support.

Neck and neck in Hoboken’s 4th Ward

The bitter re-done campaign for 4th Ward council seat has gone into high gear with less than a month left before Nov. 6. Voters will decide between Dawn Zimmer and Chris Campos. This will be the third election these two candidates have undergone this year.

Proponents for both sides express confidence in their candidate’s chances to win the seat.

Zimmer’s election hopes rest on two significant factors. First, she did better in the June runoff election than she did in the May municipal election, suggesting that her camp knows how to get the vote out when needed.

Zimmer is also closely aligned with the open space referendum being held on that date, so she could benefit from a positive referendum vote.

The Campos camp appears to be bolstered by the fact that Campos managed to get a special election at all after losing to Zimmer in June. His legal challenge of absentee ballots prompted Zimmer to agree to the re-do election. In addition, Campos’s people claim the referendum will backfire on Zimmer, since it is an additional tax. While this would be for open space, the referendum is being touted by the Campos team as just one more tax people must pay.

Interestingly, the full council originally voted for a version of this tax, but it is now only Zimmer’s allies who are being struck with the cries of “tax increase” from her opponents.

And by the way…

In a somewhat related matter, Matty Amato, a columnist for the Hudson Reporter, says he has been besieged by people asking if he is related to former 4th Ward Councilman Andrew Amato.

“There is no relationship,” Matty said.

By PAUL THARP

September 8, 2007 — The fire sale of the century is now under way in the real estate sector, with the prices of thousands of unsold new homes being slashed as much as $100,000 from typical $500,000 prices.

Homebuilders across the nation are scrambling to raise cash as their once-booming industry slides deeper into recession, leaving behind the ruins of scores of bankrupt firms.

One major homebuilder in the New York area, Hovnanian Homes, is fighting back the threat of ruin with a brave counterattack.

Hovnanian, the nation’s sixth-largest builder, said yesterday it’s launching its first-ever national ad campaign to promote a three-day sales blitz next weekend aimed at unloading dozens of unsold homes with as much as 17 percent markdowns.

A one-bedroom condo with a pool and spectacular Manhattan views - nestled on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River near Hoboken - will be reduced by $44,000 from its $500,000 price, enough savings to pay for a trendy Audi A6 or BMW.

A beachfront condo in North Wildwood, N.J., had its $500,000 price slashed by $106,000. And a $1.6 million estate in Morris County, N.J., got lowered by nearly $100,000.

“People are waiting for a big deal from this crisis, and we’re going to give them the deal of the century,” said Michael Skea, vice president of sales at Hovnanian, based in Red Bank, N.J.

Analysts said the 72-hour sale, which takes place Sept. 14-16 and can be conducted and financed online through Hovnanian’s lending arm, is a last-ditch effort to improve cash flows after the fourth-straight quarter of losses.

Other struggling homebuilders are also setting up desperate fire sales later this fall. One of the latest companies in crisis is Atlanta-based Beazer Homes, which yesterday got a formal notice of default on $1.38 billion in loans. Beazer said the notice is invalid.

Meanwhile, auctioneers are staging sales almost every weekend in major cities to unload vacant homes that have been foreclosed by banks.

One of the nation’s biggest home auctioneers, Hudson & Marshall, is putting 700 homes on the block for a mega-auction next weekend in Detroit. Properties range from $5,000 for small bungalows and fixer-uppers to $600,000 four-bedroom custom homes.

“Banks are very anxious to find buyers, so the properties are going to auction below their list prices,” said auctioneer Dave Webb.

“It’s good news for buyers who got priced out of the home market in the past few years,” said Webb, who’s auctioned 40,000 foreclosed homes this year. “Now they have a chance to grab great deals.”

Morning Rush: Wednesday, Aug. 15
by Craig
Wednesday August 15, 2007, 8:02 AM

The saga of trying to get a public entrance created at a public park takes another twist; and, in other park news, the “turf war” at Church Square Park continues; and local experts weigh in on how the subprime loan mess will affect the real estate market.

The strange story of the public park at Maxwell Place keeps getting stranger. Hoboken411 has video of workers delivering cinderblocks to the site, presumably to seal up the public entrance that was created just a couple weeks ago.

If you haven’t been keeping up, here’s the story in a nutshell. Mayor David Roberts says when Toll Brothers built this development, they promised to include a public park. And they did — only without a street-side public entrance. Most people walking by probably assume that the triangular-shaped lawn next to Maxwell Place (and surrounded by a low concrete wall and topped with an iron fence) is for the pleasure of the well-heeled residents of the development, not the hoi polloi. At the end of July, workers removed a big section of the concrete wall and fence for a street-side entrance, and then a few days later Roberts and Toll Brothers held a press conference to announce it. The very next day, Construction Code Official Al Arezzo ordered Toll Brothers to put up massive concrete blocks at the new entrance, saying they didn’t have a permit to do the work. Then, Toll Brothers replaced the blocks with trees in planters. Earlier this week, Roberts says, Arezzo threatened Toll Brothers again, saying he would issue a stop work order for the entire Maxwell Place project unless they sealed up the entrance. Yesterday, workers brought a big stack of cinderblocks and left them at the entrance.

Hoboken Now and The Jersey Journal have repeatedly tried to get Arezzo’s side of the story, but he’s always either “out of the office” or “on vacation.” We’ll try again today, as usual.

Some questions you may be asking: Why is a construction code official more powerful than the mayor? Why is Arezzo so concerned with keeping a public park away from the public? What is the City Council doing about this? We’ll keep trying to get the answers, but in the meantime, remember — that is a public park. If you feel like using it, go ahead!

Meanwhile, at Church Square Park, residents continue to complain about the synthetic lawn installed in the northeast corner of the park. In today’s Jersey Journal, residents again said they’re unhappy that the artificial turf was installed without consulting the community first.

“In the future, we will not touch a public park without a forum or putting a bulletin board up,” Mayor Roberts told the newspaper. “There will be no changes made to any public park inHoboken without public involvement.”

Finally, Jarrett Renshaw has a column today about how the subprime lending market collapse will affect the real estate market. Renshaw reports as many as 1 in 5 people who were given adjustable-rate mortgages with low introductory rates will eventually wind up in foreclosure as the rates go up. That will not only put more properties on themarket, but there also will be less buyers — since mortgage brokers are now being a lot more cautious about loaning money.

So what does this mean for Hoboken? Maybe not much. Renshaw reports there weren’t many subprime loans issued to Hoboken buyers over the last few years, relative to what was happening elsewhere in the state. Of course, Hoboken residents looking to one day move out to a three-bedroom in the ‘burbs will certainly want to keep an eye on the state’s overallhousing market.

By KEVIN G. DeMARRAIS
STAFF WRITER

The public auction ended as abruptly as the final episode of “The Sopranos.”

But it seemed to solidify opinions that the North Jersey condominium market remains alive — if the price is right.

The developer’s principal admitted the auction was a marketing gimmick, created to kick off a sales campaign for the luxury condo complex on Hoboken’s quickly changing west side.

As of a week ago, Remi Cos. planned to put 40 of the 128 units on the auction block Sunday to see what the market would bear. Thirty units of what is being called Velocity/Hoboken had previously been sold, the company said.

However, by the time proceedings began in a Jersey City hotel ballroom, the list had been cut to 16, and without notice, it was cut to nine after about a half-hour of spirited bidding.

The apartments that were sold brought in $3.6 million, about two-thirds of what developers said was their last asking price, but a third higher than minimum prices they had set.

Prices ranged from $369,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $502,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.

“The people were willing to bid on one-bedrooms, but not two,” Erik Kaiser, principal of Hoboken-based Remi Cos., said in explaining why he halted the auction.

Many people interested in two-bedroom units said they felt uncomfortable with the auction process, preferring to negotiate in more traditional ways, Kaiser said.

He said he was pleased with the results and the amount of interest in the complex, and predicted that at least 20 people who attended the auction, but did not bid, would purchase two-bedroom units within a week.

About 200 people showed up, and some viewed the sudden end to proceedings as a sign that the condo market is hurting.

“It’s bad P.R.,” said Sean Munroe of Ridgewood, who predicted that Sunday’s results would push prices down. “There’s a glut of condos here.”

Also, despite the fact that the complex is within a block of the NJ Transit Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stop, its location across town from Hoboken’s main commercial district and next to a public housing project works against it.

“I’m not sure how far west people are willing to go,” he said. “It will be interesting to see what happens.”

Standing outside the four-story brick-faced condo several hours before the bidding started, Kaiser expressed confidence that with demand high in Hoboken and the amenities included in Velocity, the units would sell, even though the condo market is “calm.”

“This town has four walls; it’s as big as it’s going to get,” he said.

He said the auction would give potential buyers the opportunity to create a market.

“There is a question mark on every building as to its value,” he said. He said having an auction was a risk, but it was worth it because it created a buzz about the complex as his company begins to actively market the property that was completed on June 1.

“We had more traffic in one month than we could have gotten in two years,” he said.

Even before the auction was halted, Deedre Miranda, who rents an apartment in Hoboken, had left.

Like many of the attendees, she was looking for a bargain, but the bidding was “a little past” her price range.

But to Bruce Snyder, who is renting an apartment in New York City, the price was fair.

He won the bidding at $502,000 for one of two two-bedroom units sold, and was willing to pay about 10 percent more after his due diligence convinced him that concern about the location was not warranted.

“I feel we got a decent deal, but it was not a steal,” he said.

Residents rejoice as Hoboken Housing Authority receives over $8 million in renovations

Michael D. Mullins
Reporter staff writer

Broken windows, deteriorating community rooms, and urine-stained hallways have been a few of the many complaints made by residents at the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA), who for years have largely been neglected by their federally-funded overseers, until now.

After over a year of construction, the HHA is nearing completion on an approximately $8.4 million renovation project made possible through a federal leveraging fund program that allowed the Authority to acquire a $10 million loan in one year by borrowing against the capital funds it receive annually.

In return, the HHA must now pay the federal government back 30 percent of its annual $2.3 million capital for the next 20 years, according to HHA Interim Executive Director Robert DiVincent, who also oversees the housing authorities of West New York and Weehawken.

The $10 million influx allowed the HHA to complete an array of projects, installing new equipment while making large-scale repairs and improvements.

“By investing in these buildings for the long run, something we couldn’t have done with the traditional capital works, residents can appreciate the effort we’re making and see the changes in a relatively short amount of time,” said DiVincent, who took over in February of 2004 from former Executive Director Troy Washington who left a deficit of $3.62 million. “It’s important that the people of the Housing Authority realize that everyone has an investment here, it’s their home and they have to take care of it. You see that when you walk through here now. There’s a new, fresh feeling, a different atmosphere.”

Housing Authority residents will also be receiving a newly lit baseball diamond, courtesy of the URSA Tarragon Development Group, one of Hoboken’s most established development firms, which donated $130,000 worth of stadium lights to the “Mamma Johnson’s Ball Field” located between Fourth and Fifth streets on Jackson Street. The field was lit for the first time this past weekend, allowing local kids and adults to play into the night.

Hope for future despite some graffiti

Although a small amount of graffiti persists in some areas, the general consensus amongst custodians Wednesday was that the majority of residents were taking more responsibility for their surroundings, cleaning up their particular areas and making sure others did the same.

“I love the windows, the halls, they’re all very clean, there’s a lot of good improvement. I’m very impressed,” said resident Linda Walker, a former HHA commissioner for five years. “Trust me, if I didn’t like what I saw, [the Authority] would have heard it. But I’ve got no complaints, the process is moving faster than I expected.” Resident Lorraine Dapron agreed with Walker, saying, “I think it’s great,” in regards to the recent improvements. “Everything was dirty, you didn’t want to walk through the hallways. Now it’s beautiful. I love the colors [of the freshly painted walls], I love everything.”

One of the most outspoken resident advocates HHA Commissioner Perry Belfiore said, “I would liked to have seen it done quicker, but I don’t think it could have been done better.” Belfiore added, “Residents should not have to feel like they’re second and third class citizens. Those buildings should be as good as anywhere else in Hoboken. The residents have] been overlooked for years and they deserve everything that’s coming to them.” In regards to the limited graffiti, DiVincent said that whenever it is found it is removed as soon as possible, plus the Authority is working with police to find those responsible.

During a walk through Andrew Jackson Gardens in the area of Third and Jackson streets, DiVincent stumbled upon a spray painted sign on a Housing Authority wall that read, “Don’t piss in area,” in response to the location being used by some in the past to urinate in. The sign caused the director to laugh and retort, “That’s positive graffiti.”

DiVincent has, in the past six months, created a central work-order station to ensure that apartments throughout the Authority receive the repairs they require in a timely fashion, from within 48 hours for safety issues to two weeks for quality of life issues.

DiVincent has also set up a number for residents to call, which is (201) 239-2157, to place work orders for repairs. In the past it was a common practice to reach out directly to a maintenance worker for assistance rather than going through the main office.

The Authority and its improvements

Consisting of 1,353 residential units, primarily in the southwest area of town, the HHA is a federally funded entity that oversees Hoboken’s subsidized public housing “projects” for low-income residents, and is comprised of three family complexes of 903 units and three senior buildings of 450 units.

The HHA, which is funded through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is managed by a paid executive director and seven unpaid volunteers that make up the Board of Commissioners. To date, 85 percent of HHA buildings have had their interior public areas repainted, plus retiled hallways and completely renovated entryways that included the installation of fire doors, security entry systems, and canopies costing slightly under $2.5 million.

In addition, all 35 HHA buildings have had new heating systems and new piping installed as well. The family complexes, which spread from Second to Sixth streets on Jackson Street back to Hoboken’s border with Jersey City along Marshall Drive, have seen some of the most substantial structural improvements over the past year, with recreational additions of seven new barbeque areas with approximately 15 grills and picnic tables, plus six new playground areas.

All damaged sidewalks around the family buildings have been repaired, according to DiVincent, while the retaining walls, which previously surrounded patches of grass in front of buildings and became a place for youths to congregate at, have been removed.

Also, new windows have been installed at the Harrison Gardens complex and repaired throughout the Authority. The HHA also had approximately $120,000 worth of landscaping work done. Trees were trimmed or removed, in cases of decay or if they had prevented authorities from viewing certain areas in which illegal activity was going on. To balance the removal of some trees, over 60 new trees will soon be replanted throughout the Authority, particularly in the areas that surround the new playgrounds to provide shade for children and their parents.

Before the end of the summer new mechanical gates will be installed to restrict access to the currently open parking lots scattered throughout the Authority. For years the facility had been used illegally by non-residents in which to park their cars and dump them, until recently when the Hoboken Parking Utility offered to remove the cars at no cost to the HHA and take them to scrap yards in the area so to free up the space.

To prevent future violations, residents will receive cards to gain access to the gated areas.

In the senior complexes all windows have been either replaced or repaired, balconies have been restored, and new heaters were installed. Also, the senior’s community rooms have been either renovated or will be renovated within the coming months. Community rooms are one of the most appreciated amenities amongst seniors, who not only use the facilities for resident parties and Bingo nights, but also as a place of worship and a meeting area throughout the week, as some residents are unable to travel from their buildings for social visits. The total price tag of the renovations to the community room is approximately $380,000.

If you light it, they will play

One of the most celebrated new features is the stadium lighting funded by the URSA Tarragon giveback, which was installed around the Mama Johnson Ball Field. The new six bright lights supply local kids and adults with an area at which to play into the night.

“This was a long time coming,” said 4th ward Councilman and HHA Commissioner Christopher Campos, who co- sponsored the first night softball game and barbeque this past weekend along with city Director Carmelo Garcia. “The girls on the softball team are superb athletes. This is a great opportunity not only for them, but for the entire community.”

Although the local youth softball team will use the field, it will be made available for athletes of all ages, including adult sports teams, added Garcia.

HHA Commission Chairman Angel Alicea, who was also excited about the possibilities awaiting HHA residents, expressed his gratitude to URSA Tarragon for making such a large donation.

“I’ve been on the board since 1989 and this is the first time big business has given this much for the kids of the Housing Authority. I’m thrilled by the benevolence of the developer,” said Alicea.

Next Saturday June 9, the ball field will host the second annual community health fair, providing health screenings for the entire family and information on social services for residents of the HHA, as well as food, entertainment, and various family activities.

By Evelyn Lee - 5/7/2007

HOBOKEN - With the highest per-capita income and population density in the nation, New Jersey has become a magnet for retailers and retail brokers seeking to expand their presence in the state. But both retailers and brokerage firms have been beset with challenges as the state’s retail market becomes increasingly competitive.

“There is certainly a desire among the leading retailers in the nation to either establish or expand their presence in New Jersey,” says Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate for Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group, which has 300 branch locations in New Jersey. PNC opened 20 new branches in the state last year and expects to open more branches at the same pace in 2007 and 2008.

New Jersey had an overall retail vacancy rate last year of 3.95 percent for more than 72 million square feet of retail space, according to The Goldstein Group, a Glen Rock-based retail real estate brokerage firm. This rate, which has remained about level during the past three years, shows a tighter retail market for New Jersey when compared with other states, says Chuck Lanyard, principal and director of brokerage services at the firm. “Other regions in the country have considerably higher retail vacancy rates—in the 7 to 9 percent range,” he says.

“For every store that goes out of business, there’s stores that are just waiting to get into the marketplace to fill them,” says Ronald Fotiu, vice president of NAI James E. Hanson, a commercial real estate brokerage firm in Hackensack. The retail absorption rate, which is the length of time it takes for a vacated property to be leased, can be as quickly as 30 to 60 days in the state, according to Fotiu. He says that in the mid-1990s, the absorption rate for retail was about six months. The office market, meanwhile, has a double-digit vacancy rate and an absorption rate of at least three to nine months, he says.

New Jersey’s wealthy communities make the state a highly sought-after location for retailers. “There’s a lot of money for retailers to be made in the suburbs,” says James Aug, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) in Hoboken, where the commercial real estate firm opened its first retail office in the state in March. Retailers can earn higher profit margins in New Jersey than in Manhattan, Aug says, because they can pay lower rents here and New Jersey locations often generate higher sales volumes.

A shortage of supply has resulted in retailers vying for the same sites. “It’s been a very competitive environment,” says Saulson. “Not only are we competing with other financial institutions for sites, but we’re competing against a number of other retailers.” Such competition has driven up real estate prices, which include construction costs and building rents, by as much as 40 to 50 percent in the past two years.

“I would definitely say that New Jersey is one of the tougher spots for availability,” concurs Ron Hornbaker, senior vice president of sales and operations at Golf Galaxy, a Minneapolis-based golf equipment retailer that opened two stores in New Jersey last year, with plans for three or four additional locations in the state. Golf Galaxy has 75 locations nationwide and plans to add 250 more stores at a rate of 18 to 20 openings per year.

Hornbaker says the timing for store openings largely depends on finding a site with high visibility and 15,000 to 16,000 square feet of space. But many retailers are looking for the same type of real estate. “It’s kind of a horse race as to who can get to those sites first,” he says. “Many times, you find out about a site before it goes up for lease.”

The competition among real estate companies has also heated up in the state, as brokerages expand to accommodate the needs of growing retailers. “Not only has the market become more competitive for retailers, it’s become more competitive for brokers as well,” says Aug.

The brokerage has hired eight new retail executives in the past nine months, three of whom will be based in the new Hoboken retail office, says Alison Lewis, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis’ New York Tri-State Retail Services Group in New York City. Lewis expects to add more mid-level retail brokers, associates and researchers to the firm’s five New Jersey offices by the end of the year; the retail office alone is expected to be staffed with a dozen retail brokers within 12 months.

“For the last two years, people have said that we really need to expand into the suburbs,” says Lewis. “We were really missing an opportunity here.” With the expansion, she notes, the firm will now have retail brokers covering the entire state. “We anticipate to get even more business because of our reach,” she says.

At the same time, she says, the retail market is more difficult to navigate than the office market. “There’s so many different forms of retail,” from strip centers to malls to mixed-use developments, she says. Office buildings, by contrast, are easier to track because they are listed on databases such as Costar and have a more uniform payment structure, whereas retail rents can be paid on a per-square-foot basis, on a percentage basis or as a flat fee, Lewis says.

Other firms are building up their retail teams and services to stay competitive. “There are brokerage firms that were not in our marketplace that have recently come aboard,” says Fotiu, naming The Staubach Co., whose New Jersey operations are based in Murray Hill, and Grubb & Ellis, which has offices in Fairfield and Edison, as new rivals for retail clients in the northern New Jersey market.

NAI James E. Hanson has hired a number of new retail brokers in the state, as well as five or six more retail support staffers to compile consumer-trend reports, aerial photos of sites, demographic studies and maps that indicate where competitors are located within a certain area. Fotiu says his firm and its rivals are also attending more shopping-center conventions to better reach retailers.

Aug says New Jersey’s highly competitive retail market offers numerous opportunities for brokerage firms. “Retail leasing is a growth vehicle for pretty much any big company these days,” he says. Large real estate services firms like CB Richard Ellis “have always specialized in office leasing … [but] they have not tapped the retail brokerage market to its fullest.”

Manhattan emigres altering once-gritty birthplace of Sinatra
By Terrence Dopp
Bloomberg News

April 29 2007

Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando helped make Hoboken famous. Now designer Michael Graves and builder Robert Toll are making the waterfront town across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan a haven for the rich and famous.

Hoboken, N.J., a city with working-class roots, long served as a refuge of junior Wall Street analysts. Its newer residents include Gov. Jon Corzine and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, as builders convert apartments into luxury condominiums with fitness clubs, doormen and shuttles to New York City-bound trains and ferries.

Demand for condos in the square-mile city of 40,000 residents is a lifeline for builders such as Toll Brothers Inc. that are weathering a yearlong decline in the U.S. housing market. Horsham, Pa.-based Toll has three condo projects under way in Hoboken. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. already has sold 33 of the 37 condo units in the W Hoboken, a luxury hotel that it plans to open next year.

“We’re killing ‘em in Hoboken,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Toll said at a March conference in Las Vegas.

Nancy Chin, who was born and raised in New York, said she recently purchased a one-bedroom waterfront condo with an oversized terrace at Toll Brothers’ Hudson Tea development in Hoboken. Those units start at $600,000.

“We always loved the city, but we wanted to be on this side,” said Chin, 57, a real estate agent and empty-nester. “Over there, you would have a view of a wall.”

Corzine, a former chief executive of Goldman, Sachs & Co., moved to a rental in Hudson Tea when he was divorcing in 2002. He may run state affairs from the condo or from the governor’s mansion in Princeton when he is released from the hospital following his April 12 automobile crash, said Tom Shea, his chief of staff.

At Hudson Tea, where Manning also lives, a 1,300-square-foot, two-bedroom condo with cherry hardwood floors, gourmet kitchen with six-burner stove, marble bath, and 13-foot ceilings goes for $1.5 million. That’s about $1,154 a square foot. Manhattan condos sold for an average of $1,142 a square foot last year, according to appraiser Miller Samuel Inc.

Hudson Tea has a residents’ club with a theater, fireplace and business center; a fitness center; and an indoor children’s play area. Chin said the amenities and location won her and her husband over.

Hoboken, birthplace of Frank Sinatra, was a thriving industrial hub of shipping and commerce in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, home to products including Lipton Tea, Maxwell House coffee and Hostess cakes. The city was portrayed as a blue-collar shipping port in the Oscar-winning 1954 film “On the Waterfront,” starring Brando.

The maritime industry crumbled in the 1970s as companies moved to bigger ports with deeper waters. A decade later, students began flocking to Hoboken for its affordable, renovated brownstones and townhouses and easy access to New York.

Junior Wall Streeters moved in as the number of housing units in Hoboken jumped 14 percent from 1990 to 2000. The 2000 U.S. Census showed that 98 percent of the city’s housing units were occupied, 77 percent by renters.

In 2004, Toll Brothers began converting apartments to condos in what were once Lipton Tea buildings. The company is renovating an adjacent warehouse into residences called Harborside Lofts, and it has cleared away nearby Maxwell House structures to make way for the four-building Maxwell Place, which will have more than 800 units.

Architect Graves designed the lobbies, elevators and hallways for Maxwell Place, as well as the condo interiors. The development has a heated rooftop pool and garden.

“We’ve taken the best-in-show of what we find in Manhattan and we’ve brought it over here,” said Henry Waller, project manager for City Living, the urban development division of Toll Brothers.

Toll Brothers is targeting Manhattan emigres seeking more space and features, empty nesters from the suburbs, and families who don’t want to give up urban life, he said.

“Some people feel it’s a bit nicer living outside of Manhattan and looking at it than it is living in it,” said Brian D. Meunch, of BrianDavid Realtors, a Hoboken real estate agency.

Not everyone agrees. Hoboken is a nice place to visit but not somewhere he would want to live, said Oliver Ryan of New York housing blog www.apartmenttherapy.com.

“Hoboken seems very 1990s,” Ryan said. Even so, he said, it’s a smart real estate investment.

Michael Barry, whose Hoboken-based Applied Development Company LLC is building the W Hotel, said residences there will range from $1.8 million to $2.7 million. Monthly fees of about $1,200 will pay for services including maids and valets, he said. Spa treatments, pet walkers and in-home botanical services are extra.

A similar, upper-floor apartment on the water would cost a minimum of $4 million on the New York side of the Hudson.

Friday, April 13, 2007
By COTTON DELO
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Though McGinley Square is removed from the more established niches of development and gentrification in Downtown Jersey City, lifelong resident Stephen Cunniff senses his neighborhood is ready to pop.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be the first kid on the block,” said Cunniff, 43, whose second Imago Beauty Group - a high-end salon stocked exclusively with chic Aveda hair care products - will open for business on Monday at 673 Bergen Ave, near Fairview Avenue. A grand opening celebration will be held on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m.

Having opened his flagship salon in Hoboken 10 years ago, Cunniff was contemplating flashy locations like Jersey City’s upcoming Trump Plaza near the waterfront for his second shop.

In September, his friend Billy Santomauro persuaded him to open a salon in The Basilico - a 100-year-old brick building Santomauro had renovated and outfitted with 19 condos and two street-level commercial spaces.

Cunniff was swayed by the prospect of contributing to a renaissance in his own neighborhood - which had experienced the ravages of the local drug trade.

“‘If you want to attract young, cool, hip people to live here, we’ve got to do something big,’” he recalled Santomauro - who also lives a short walk from The Basilico - saying.

Cunniff expects the salon to become a destination for out-of-towners in the mold of its Hoboken forerunner. He’s also purchased the studio apartment above the salon and plans to eventually convert it into a space for massages.

“If you put the name ‘Aveda’ on the door, people will come,” he said.

While Cunniff’s love for the neighborhood reinforced his sense that a business would flourish there, newcomers are also seeing its potential.

Helen O’Brien-Parker, 30, moved to her Basilico condo in December and subsequently convinced her business partner, Kristin Reisinger, that the area would support the coffee shop they’d been scouting locations for Downtown. Pura Vida - a health conscious café serving salads, wraps and smoothies - opened on Tuesday.

Though some advisors warned her against setting up shop in an area that’s experienced little gentrification to date, she believes the neighborhood is poised for an infusion of new people and businesses.

“Downtown was like this when my brother and sister opened up The Merchant five years ago,” she said - referring to her siblings’ wildly successful bar and restaurant on Grove Street. “I guess we’re the pioneers.”

Montgomery Gardens residents’ fear: There goes the neighborhood
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Residents’ concerns that Montgomery Gardens will not survive the massive conversion of the old Jersey City Medical Center into a high-end residential development seem to have some merit - though perhaps not for the reasons they suspect.

City sources tell me that talks on demolishing Montgomery Gardens have nothing to do with the millions of dollars being pumped into the neighboring Beacon. True or not, very few in the city will buy it, including this columnist.

Instead, city officials say that public housing budgets across the county are under siege, making it financially impossible to operate the 1960s version of public housing under anybody’s definition of acceptable living standards.

At some point, federal support may reach such low levels - given the needs of an aging building - that the quality of life in Montgomery Gardens may reach a breaking point, opening the door for the eventual demolition.

Meanwhile, watch as city officials embrace more inclusionary affordable housing developments, a political philosophy that has long been lacking in the city’s swanky Downtown developments.

City officials will start tinkering with the definition of affordable housing, challenging the conventional theory that only the city’s middle-to low-income residents should qualify, focusing on city police and firefighters.

So, perhaps the residents of Montgomery Gardens will finally get their wish - more police officers. They just didn’t think it meant them living in their apartments.

The Jersey City Medical Center will conduct health screenings next week to help determine whether or not the controversial Reliable Wood Products facility is causing any respiratory damage to neighborhood residents.

The long-delayed tests come on the heels of a column here that highlighted the lack of city oversight of the mulch-making facility, which has neighboring Bergen-Lafayette residents suffering from poor air quality and screaming for help.

I called on city officials to investigate possible zoning violations, since the company expanded its facility to include mulch-making, despite the fact that the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan bars outdoor recycling.

Previously, city officials repeatedly told me I was wrong, and that they have no jurisdiction over recycling centers. But yesterday, they must have changed their minds - or perhaps finally did some work - and issued long-standing zoning violations.

I am proud to announce that Hoboken resident Traci Kuther is finally getting some much needed attention from city officials. It’s just sad that it took a newspaper column to shame well-paid public officials to spring into action.

My column last week chronicling Kuther’s troubles with neighboring Garden Street landlord and property owner Esmat Zaklama - and the city’s apparent lack of support - sparked a nearly hourlong debate at last week’s City Council meeting.

The day after the City Council meeting, fire inspectors visited her neighbor’s home and prepared a report. Today, a city health inspector is expected to visit the home.

Meanwhile, Mayor David Roberts held a meeting Monday with all department heads to “get to the bottom of the story.” This wasn’t the first meeting where Roberts demanded action, but perhaps this time he means business.

City attorney Joe Sherman, who was one of the players in this saga, was asked to resign at the meeting. Sherman refused, but he was a no-show at work yesterday.