Condos offer a life of luxury in the swamp
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.