Category Archives: Applied Development

Developers Unveil Third Phase of Pier Village to Public

Posted on April 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Developer says project could begin in January, 2013

By Christopher Sheldon/Long Branch-Eatontown Patch

PIER VILLAGE (Photo - Shannon Booth)

After years of talks between the developer and the city, the third phase of Pier Village is on the verge of becoming a reality.

Applied Development, the developer of Pier Village, presented the revamped project to the Long Branch Council on Tuesday night, including pictures and details of the final phase of the oceanfront residential and retail property.

Applied Development originally showed the plans to the council in 2010, but after recommendations from the city, the group altered the design. The Long Branch Planning Board approved it the same year, but will need to approve the revised plan for the project to move forward.

Applied Development architect Tom Bauer said the third phase of Pier Village will be located south of the existing area.

That space, which is bordered by Melrose Terrace and Morris Avenue, is currently a partially-paved parking area that is used primarily in the summer for overflow parking from Pier Village.

The third phase of Pier Village, if approved, would include an expanded boardwalk, a new hotel, parking, an acre of public space, and retail and residential space.

The public space would include a small stage, a small play area for children, canopy-style umbrellas and a carousel.

Bauer said the existing bathhouse at the end of Morris Avenue would be demolished and be replaced by two structures that would house restrooms and concessions and another where beach badges will be sold.

The project will be broken into two phases, Bauer explained.

He said the first phase will include the expansion of the boardwalk, and construction of the hotel, along with most of the residential and retail space. It will also include reconfiguring Ocean Avenue so that it will have one northbound lane and one southbound lane that will wrap around the public space. Morris Avenue would also see some changes, including a circle that would help ease traffic onto the street from Ocean Avenue.

The second phase will include the remainder of the residential and retail space along with the construction of a large, underground parking garage that will be accessible from Morris Avenue.

Bauer said the new structures will look similar to those used in the first and second phases of Pier Village, and will contain boardwalk areas throughout the space. He said every housing unit will have some type of outdoor space as well.

He said he believes the project will be a “tremendous draw” for the area.

Councilman John Pallone asked about the timing of the project.

Bauer said if the council and planning board gives Applied Development the OK to move forward with the project, that construction of the first phase could begin in January, 2013. The second phase of the project would begin 15-18 months later, around Labor Day in 2014.

The planning board is expected to review the site plan next month and the council will review the plans in more detail and hold a public presentation at the May 8 council meeting.

Check back later today to see plans of the third phase of Pier Village.

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The joy of renting: more of us are renting by choice

Posted on January 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

VIA JENNIFER V. HUGHES/SPECIAL TO THE RECORD

Jeff Rossi, 25, says he chooses to rent because it suits his lifestyle and he can take advantage of financial incentives. He rents this apartment at Harrison Station.

Jeff Rossi is only 25, but when he was leaving his parents’ home recently, he contemplated buying.

“My mother is a Realtor and she fought me on renting,” he said. “She told me to get an investment. I’m very hands-on, but I don’t have time and patience to do it now.”

Rossi is a renter at Harrison Station, a 275-unit building in Harrison.

He loves the pool, amenities room, business center and retail offerings. Although those choices are available in the condo market, Rossi said he likes the flexibility of rentals.

“The other great thing is that with a lot of new buildings, there are incentives to move in, you get two free months here, two free months there,” he said. “I’m a single guy, I can move around a lot. You can get a great deal.”

Rossi is one of legions of renters in North Jersey who are in no hurry to buy. Some are waiting for economic stability or for the market to settle. Many also just enjoy the renter’s lifestyle.

The rise of the renter can be seen in how home-ownership rates have dropped in recent years. In 2005 and 2006 in New Jersey, between 69 and 70 percent of people owned their own home, according to census data. In the third quarter of 2011, that number dipped to 65 percent.

Marnie Raimondo is well aware that this is an excellent time to buy a home.

She knows interest rates and prices are at record lows, and her sister — her younger sister, she points out with a laugh — has been looking at homes for months.

“She’s always telling me, ‘You should really be out there looking,’ ” said Raimondo, who has a one-bedroom apartment at 140 Mayhill, a luxury rental building in Saddle Brook.

“I do make a good living and, technically speaking, I could afford it, but I don’t feel like I have enough to put down on a house and still have money in my back pocket in the event that something happens.”

“I like renting,” Raimondo said. “It’s easy, it’s convenient. I don’t have any maintenance to worry about. They take care of everything for me. There’s a parking garage, and when it snows my car is covered. There’s no shoveling.”

Raimondo said her rent is similar to a mortgage, but she knows there are hidden costs associated with homeownership.

“If anything goes wrong, you have to foot the bill, you can’t just call the super,” she said.

Another sign of renting’s popularity is how vacancy rates are low — about 3.7 percent in Bergen County for the third quarter of 2011, according to the real estate investment-services firm Marcus & Millichap.

Those numbers are a far cry from the U.S. average, which was 9.8 percent in third quarter of 2011, but lower than the first quarter of 2010 when Bergen County’s vacancy rate hit 5.7 percent.

The recent low vacancy rates are similar to what they were in 2005 when the economy was stronger, said Michael Fasano, Marcus & Millichap vice president and regional manager.

‘A better lifestyle’

“The vacancy rates were low in 2005 because the stronger economy was driving companies to hire people out of college who needed to rent apartments,” Fasano said. “Today what’s driving it is that people now see apartment renting as part of a better lifestyle.”

Low vacancy rates mean that rents also are on the rise. In Bergen County, effective monthly rent in 2005 was $1,348. In 2011 it nudged up to $1,484, according to Fasano.

Another way to gauge the popularity of renting is to look at the buildings. The developer BNE Real Estate Group recently switched two projects from condo to rental to respond to marketplace demands.

The first originally was conceived as an active-adult condo development, then switched to a free-market for-sale product. Last month, they broke ground on a 194-unit rental project in Fort Lee called Twenty50 that should be done by September 2013. The second project, in Jersey City, also was originally slated to be condos; it’s now planned as a 139-unit rental development.

“In general what we’re really seeing is a lot of people are renting by choice now,” said Jonathan Schwartz, senior vice president for BNE. “It’s about greater mobility and flexibility and not having to worry about maintaining a home, and still living within 10 minutes of Manhattan.”

Sally Robertson and her husband, Oscar Burgos, would seem to be prime candidates for home ownership, thanks to their three children. But Robertson said they have no plans to move from their Hoboken duplex at The Shipyard, where they have lived for nine years.

“For us, it’s about lifestyle,” said Robertson, whose family loves the building’s pool, the proximity to New York City and the conveniences of rental living.

“We don’t spend any of our free time doing maintenance or mowing lawns or fixing things,” said Robertson, who is originally from London; her husband is from Colombia. “Any free time we have we spend enjoying where we live, not maintaining it.”

In the early years at the Shipyard, Robertson watched many of their friends buy homes in the suburbs. Recently, they’ve seen more staying, and some people who left have returned.

“I think in all honesty, if we did buy a place it would be in Europe or somewhere else, a place that we would live part of the year,” she said.

Robertson said her family can’t believe how much they spend on rent, knowing that none of it is building equity.

“If you stop at the end of the year and think about how much money you’ve paid in rent, that can be a little shocking,” she said. But she always comes back to the luxury features of the Shipyard — the waterfront park, the health club, the on-site retail shopping.

“Honestly, we could not afford to live in such a beautiful place if we bought,” she said.

Luxury rentals are a major driving force, said Jacqueline Urgo, president of The Marketing Directors, which does in-house sales and marketing for both condo and rental projects. In the three decades Urgo has been with the company, she has seen major changes.

“Let’s say that in 1995, if you had a lounge in a rental building, it was considered an unbelievable luxury,” she said. “Now you have buildings with a doorman, a spa, an upscale lounge, a state-of-the-art fitness center. You have an amenities package similar to a luxury condo.”

In those early days, rental buildings never trumpeted in-unit features such as finishes and appliances. Urgo said one of their newest projects, a 108-unit rental building in Elmwood Park built by Riverfront Residential, will have granite countertops and artistically designed tiling.

“The materials will be incredible,” she said.

Urgo said she’s seeing luxury rentals go quickly. At Harrison Station, about 50 percent of the homes have been rented after only three months on the market. Urgo compares that to a project she recalled in the 1990s that took 16 months to rent out.

Real estate agents say their rental clients are rising. Scott Selleck, broker sales associate for Re/Max Villa Realtors in Edgewater, said his rental clientele has increased by 50 percent in the past six months.

“There is a mindset that people would rather rent and keep their payments reasonable, and not get caught with the market dipping again,” Selleck said.

 

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Posted in Applied Development, In the News, Ironstate Development, Millennium Homes, The Marketing Directors, Value Companies

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Bronze plaque honors Mary Todd Lincoln in Long Branch

Posted on August 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

via APP.COM

Long Branch Mayor, Adam Schneider, left, unveils a bronze plaque along Centennial Ave. in Pier Village marking the 150th anniversary of the visit in Long Branch of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, which put Long Branch on the map for the rich and famous and kicked off the city’s so-called Gilded Age. The project is a joint venture by the local historical society and the city to begin marking all the significant historical locations in the city. The bronze plaque marks the location of the Mansion House, one of the city’s long ago grand hotels. Monday, August 22, 2011. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER/MARY FRANK – LONG BRANCH – NEWS – 08/22/11. / MARY FRANK

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High marks for Pier Village

Posted on August 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

Via APP.COM

By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS

Festival Plaza along Ocean Ave. MARY FRANK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LONG BRANCH — Crack houses, a rat-infested water slide and boarded up arcades. This was the setting where the Pier Village retail and residential complex was built in a city that had endured decades of decline.

And while the complex — the first to be built in the most recent spate of oceanfront redevelopment projects — is readied for its third and final stage, the community last week observed the fifth anniversary of the first phase with nary a hiccup.

Nonetheless, the impact on the city has been substantial, and officials foresee Phase 3 providing additional, significant benefits.

Merchants and city leaders say Pier Village has succeeded in extending the city’s tourism season, part of a long-term plan to shift the local economy to a year-round one. It is also credited with sharply increasing beach revenues, from $200,000 before Pier Village to a record-breaking $1.2 million in 2010, a figure that was surpassed this year by the end of July.

Also, the increases in tax assessments on the development property are virtually astronomical. And the jobs produced by the 13 or so restaurants, 16 boutiques, hotel and beach club has brought substantial disposable income into the city, said business leaders

“As Pier Village gets bigger, it is going to be adding assets to the city that aren’t there now,” said Mayor Adam Schneider.

“We think it has more than delivered,” said Gregory R. Russo of the Hoboken-based developer Applied Development Co.

Schneider said the final phase includes plans for adding 50 percent more retail space on the parcel that draws tourists from other parts of New Jersey and from New York and Pennsylvania. It is marketed as an upscale version of the Jersey Shore experience, complete with a luxury hotel and gourmet restaurants.

But Pier Village also contains very basic eateries like a pizza parlor and a hot dog stand; supporters say the mixture of price points allows the complex to be accessible to people with varying incomes.

“In this one little area, there was so much to do. I also felt safe because you didn’t have to go miles away” to eat or shop, said Reve Anderko. “Everything was right outside your front door.”

Anderko came from Bethlehem, Pa., two years ago to take a job in the area and thought Pier Village was about as good as it got in terms of area rentals.

She also supports the conceptual plan for Phase 3, noting her apartment often plays host to family visitors, particularly in the summer.

Pier Village Phase 3 is planned as a “family-friendly” area that will house a carousel, possibly miniature golf and some sort of arcade operation similar to the restaurants that also offer games and entertainment.

“It would make sense and it would definitely fit in an area such as this,” said Anderko, adding that she likes the city’s plan to rebuild its oceanfront pier as well.

Pier Village stands as a beacon to other potential investors, Schneider said.

“It sends a message that even in a tough economy, Long Branch is still a place where work is going on,” said Schneider.

While officials proceed with redevelopment plans, they acknowledge they are not likely to see developers coming in to do major projects any longer. In the wake of the eminent domain backlash, developers would have more difficulty and likely more expense assembling large pieces of property for redevelopment.

Brendan Ward, 27, has lived at Pier Village for about a year. A runner, he works part-time at The Sneaker Factory as he works toward a graduate degree in social work.

Ward said that even though it is often seen as a haven for upscale boutiques, he finds a sense of community there, among the residents and those who work in the shops.

But it is not perfect.

“There is that sense of community, but sometimes it feels like a bubble,” said Ward. “If there was one thing I would wish for, it would be to alleviate that bubble” and find a way to spread a Pier Village combination of community and retail success into the city’s downtown and along Broadway, he said.

In 2006, Pier Village received the project of the year award from the Urban Land Institute. In 2007, it was named one of 20 great American beaches by Travel & Leisure Magazine and in 2009, it received the governor’s tourism award.

Melanie Rowbotham, 21, a Monmouth University senior who hails from Sussex County, won the on-campus lottery that helps decide which students will be eligible to live in some of the 30 or so units the school reserves at Pier Village.

The English/elementary education major stayed there with three roommates her junior year as well and took advantage of her 11-month lease to spend the summer at the beach. Not a bad arrangement, she said, laughing.

She is thinking of staying at Pier Village if she gets a job in the region. Right now, she doesn’t even mind paying the extra money for the nearly-year round access to the beach, the ocean and the complex pool.

“It’s summer on the beach. It is definitely worth it,” she said.

Pier Village is not without its detractors. There have been objections to the use of eminent domain for the project and complaints of more traffic.

Monmouth University Professor John Buzza, a business instructor who monitors the local hospitality industry, said the development still is too costly for locals to embrace, although it has helped the city recover.

“I think Pier Village is a godsend and people are looking to emulate it in all these urban areas,” Buzza added.

“Before Pier Village came in, I thought it was a great idea,” said Dennis Sherman, who heads Save Ocean Avenue, a group whose goal is to ensure that other areas of the oceanfront and boardwalk are not ignored. “It would go a long way toward improving conditions in the area, and it did.”

However, as an economic engine, it has been a disappointment, he said.

“The tax-abatement program, we thought it would help taxes go down, and taxes went up,” said Sherman.

Esther Cohen, president of the Greater Long Branch Chamber of Commerce, believes Pier Village has produced an eight-month tourism season.

“Look at Deal, Allenhurst, Loch Arbor or Long Beach Island in October: The (traffic) lights are blinking yellow,” she said.

Not so in Long Branch, where if visitors didn’t know about Pier Village when they arrived, they discover it before they leave.

“It is a destination within a destination and in creating that destination … They also recreated the destination of Long Branch,” Cohen said.

PIER VILLAGE PHASE 3

 The project, which already has received site-plan approval from the city Planning Board and approval from the City Council, acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, includes space for a second, larger hotel, condominiums and 40,000 square feet of retail space, said developer Gregory R. Russo. 

Infrastructure improvements, roadwork and utilities, for example, should begin this fall, continue until the start of the 2012 summer season, and resume the following fall for partial occupancy by Memorial Day 2013.

Phase 3 is intended to be “family-friendly,” with a carousel, possible miniature golf course and some form of arcade.

Developers also proposed an enlargement and expansion of the boardwalk in certain areas to give shoppers the sense that they are actually on the boards, when they make their purchases, recalling more traditional boardwalk set-ups.

Tax assessments on the Pier Village property totaled $6.67 million in 2005, before construction started.

In 2007, the land and the improvements were assessed at $84.4 million. That same year, Pier Village paid $485,818 in taxes, an abated figure. By 2011, the project was subject to full taxes, except for the Sirena and Avenue restaurants, which become eligible in 2012. Officials are considering whether Phase 3 will receive a tax abatement.

Phase 1: 320 rental apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail space; occupancy complete in August 2006.

Phase 2: 216 apartments, 1,800 square feet of retail and a 24-unit hotel; construction completed in 12 months with the hotel called The Bungalow opening in 2009.

Phase 3: 70-room hotel, 320 condominiums and 40,000-square feet of retail; to be ready by Memorial Day 2013. No construction planned for summer 2012 season.

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Livingetc: American Idol

Posted on July 11, 2011 | Leave a comment


For hotels that effortlessly team laid-back with luxe, head Stateside

words NEIL McLEENAN and ROZ ERSKINE

Summer holidays are all about getting your fill of wide, open spaces, big, blue skies and glamorous beach living. And nowhere in the world does that quite as well as the US of A. The weak pound may mean a shopping spree doesn’t offer the draw it once did, but a holiday across the pond still means you can look forward to copious quantities of good food, a familiar culture, quality accommodation and great
service (with a nothing-expected-in-return smile). For urban fun, an historic LA grande dame has recently been given a complete style overhaul, while in Miami, Soho House is putting on the glitz with a newly opened contemporary beach house. On the east coast,The Hamptons usually gets all the press, but we head south from New York to check out the only boutique hotel on the more approachable Jersey Shore. God bless America.

Sun-bleached white is teamed with hits of colour and original art.

BUNGALOW HOTEL
Long Branch, New Jersey

The Jersey Shore has long been popular with Manhattanites and ‘Noo Joisey” locals, who flock to the diverse beach towns in search of rest ‘n’ rec. The Bungalow Hotel, in smart Long Branch, is the area’s only true boutique hotel, offering an intimate, informal experience with interiors by Livingetc favourites Sixx Design (see April 2010). The sun-washed vacation vibe is expressed through extensive white surfaces relaxed with textured woods, and made modern with poppy contemporary art, surfboards and evocatively named suites. Chill at the local beach or head to Atlantic City to recreate your own 21st century Boardwalk Empire, Doubles from £173 (bungalowhotel. net).

All rooms are large, with kitchen facilities and comfy seating.


See the full clip: Livingetc – American Idols

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Summer Travel: Pier Village

Posted on June 30, 2011 | Leave a comment


And at 8:35am, our look at vacations was just a drive away continues when Lisa Mateo checks out Pier Village in Long Branch, New Jersey. For more information, on Pier Village, visit http://www.piervillage.com.

Click here to see the full clip of Pier Village from Pix 11.

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DC Magazine: Small Goes Big Time

Posted on June 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

Design stars Cortney and Robert Novogratz bring Long Branch N.J. its first boutique hotel.

Posh properties with an eye toward chic and unique amenities are popping up from Maine to Miami. Here, the inn crowd.

by Perri Haynes, Sarai Johnson, JC McCray and Lauren Pritchard
DC Magazine

New Jersey
Bungalow

The only situation this Jersey Shore hideaway presents is the question of which of the fabulous 24 oversized rooms, all designed by Bravolebrities Robert and Cortnev Novogratz, to choose. The husband and wife principles of Sixx Design, known for tongue-in-cheek chic, put the final touches on exclusive Long Branch’s only boutique hotel, just as their hit show 9 by Design hit the airwaves. The same mod-bohemian style seen on the series
pervades this beachfront outpost, which evokes St. Tropez
far better than anything GTL. Treating the hot spot as they would their homes, the couple picked up Technicolor dream finds from flea markets in Paris, Moss in Manhattan and midcentury Modern showrooms throughout the world. The famed Obama desk designer John Houshmand crafted the bar and lobby, while art from Slim Aarons’ photography to Brit wit Ann Carrington’s collages hang throughout the stunning expanse. The couple’s already working on the space’s nearby sister hotel, Cabana, set to open in 2012. $249-$979 nightly. bungalowhotel.net

See the full clip here: DC Magazine: Small Goes Big Time

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Builders Association Announces New Affiliate to Lobby for Multifamily Development

Posted on June 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

Members of the Mixed-Use Developers Association announce the group's formation in a meeting with NJBIZ editors. Clockwise from top left, Carol Ann Short, chief operating officer of NJBA; Timothy Touhey, NJBA CEO and executive vice president; Steve Santola, executive vice president and general counsel of Woodmont Properties; Applied Cos. President Michael Barry; George Vallone, founder of the Hoboken Brownstone Co.; and Ronald Ladell, vice president of AvalonBay Communities. (Photo courtesy of Christina Mazza)

by Evelyn Lee
NJ Biz

The New Jersey Builders Association and a group of the state’s multifamily developers announced to NJBIZ this afternoon the formation of a new affiliate, the Mixed-Use Developers Association.

The association will initially consist of executives from nine New Jersey multifamily developers, including AvalonBay Communities Inc., Hoboken Brownstone Co., Ironstate Development Co., D.L. Paragano Homes, Roseland Property Co. and Woodmont Properties — many of which are also members of the NJBA.

Future members will come from the real estate industry, including other developers, attorneys and architects, the group said. Existing NJBA members will pay an additional fee to be part of the affiliate.

George Vallone, president of Hoboken Brownstone, will chair the association, while Timothy Touhey, CEO of the NJBA, also will serve as CEO of the group.

Most of the building permits issued in the state are for multifamily development, Vallone said: “There’s a need for our sector to be heard.”

The group, which will advocate for legislative and regulatory issues on behalf of multifamily developers, aims to promote the production of more rental units, particularly in New Jersey’s suburban areas.

The affiliate will focus on five priorities in the coming year: code issues, the need for another permit extension bill, water quality management issues, Council on Affordable Housing regulations and the state plan.

The Mixed-Use Developers Association officially will be announced at the groundbreaking of AvalonBay’s new Avalon North Bergen apartment community in the Hudson County township Wednesday morning.

Read more for more info and read the in-depth story appearing in the June 20 edition of NJBIZ.

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NJ Biz: New Jersey’s Cities are on the Rebound

Posted on June 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

Manhattan’s proximity drives Hoboken, Jersey City, demand while some markets lag

By EVELYN LEE

The nascent housing rebound is playing out differently in New Jersey’s cities: While established urban residential real estate markets are seeing an uptick in occupancies and rental rates, more unproven markets will have a longer road to
recovery, experts said.

“New Jersey’s urban areas are very disparate areas,” said John McIlwain, senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute, in Washington. While some cities are doing well, “there’s places like Trenton and Camden, which are challenged and have been for a long time.”

Among the strongest-performing urban housing markets are those located close to Manhattan. “We’re seeing a tremendous amount of resurgence in the urban housing markets along the Hudson River waterfront,” said Carl Goldberg, managing partner at Roseland Property Co., based in the Short Hills section of Millburn. Roseland recently opened the Monaco, a 524-unit residential tower in Jersey City, which rented more than 40 apartments in its first 15 days, and is now renting more than 20 apartments per week, Goldberg said. “That kind of absorption is almost unprecedented,” he said. Because residential construction dropped off sharply during the recession, demand now outweighs supply, he said.

“In general, the primary markets accelerate first, then they start pulling the properties a little bit further afield,” said David Barry, president of Ironstate Development Co., a Hoboken-based real estate developer.

“Certainly, in Hoboken, Jersey City, we’re already seeing strengthening,” Barry said. The rental recovery in those cities is already occurring, with occupancies in those cities running at 98 percent, compared to levels “in the low 90s” in 2009, he said. Concessions also have largely disappeared, he said.

The for-sale condominium market in those cities, however, will lag rentals, since greater job growth and rental rate appreciation will need to occur for condominium demand to increase, Barry said, predicting “a modest year, because there’s some inventory that needs to be absorbed.”

Urban housing demand is largely being driven by a younger demographic — people who are in their 20s and 30s and working in more entry-level jobs, Barry said. In many cases, they also grew up in a town in the general vicinity of that city, people who move to Hoboken or Jersey City, for example, often are from northern New Jersey. “People go to places they’re comfortable with,” he said.

Proximity to New York is a high driver of demand, but so is access to mass transit, Goldberg said- “If people move into urban communities, they want to greatly diminish the use of their car.”

While “places like Jersey City and Hoboken are coming back” because of their location advantage, a strong rebound in those areas isn’t likely until next year” McIlwain said. The housing market remains very weak nationally, though Manhattan is faring better than the rest of the country, he said.

“When prices start to rise again in Manhattan, that pushes people out,” he said. “People will be looking for more attractive and more affordable alternatives.”

As better-known residential markets like Hoboken and Jersey City begin to strengthen — and get more expensive — “people will start to look at less-established markets to get more space for less money,” Barry said.

According to Goldberg, secondary urban housing markets in New Jersey are priced at about 60 to 70 percent of what Hudson riverfront properties command.

One such market is Harrison, where Roseland and Millennium Homes built River Park at Harrison in 2008, and where Ironstate is currently constructing its first project in the town, the 280-apartment Harrison Station, with completion expected in September.

“Harrison is where Jersey City was 15 years ago,” said Barry, noting that in the mid-’90s, when Ironstate built its first project in the latter municipality— Portside at Paulus Hook — the new development was surrounded by industrial buildings. Today, Harrison Station is going up in the same predominantly industrial area as River Park, the only other major residential project to be built in the town in recent years, he said.

“I’m very confident Harrison has all the characteristics of an area that is going to be immensely successful,” he said. “It’s unbelievably connected to all these employment areas,” in Newark, Jersey City and Manhattan, that can be accessed in a 15-minute PATH ride. But if Ironstate’s project is considered a first step,
“Harrison needs to take six or eight or 10 more steps to get to where it needs to be,” he added. That’s “going to play out over the next 10 or 15 years.”

While Manhattan is seen as a strong driver of urban housing markets in northern New Jersey, it has less of an impact on New Jersey cities farther south. Long Branch, where Ironstate is building the master-planned community Pier Village, “is a slightly different equation, because there are subpockets of employment” in Middlesex and Monmouth counties, Barry said.

In New Brunswick, meanwhile, the residential market “has sustained itself over the last recession,” partly because of its more localized drivers of demand, said Christopher J. Paladino, president of New Brunswick Development Corp.

New Brunswick has “a bit of an artificial market” because of Rutgers University’s location in the city, he said. “The student housing market is not dramatically impacted by economic cycles.”

The city also didn’t see significant layoffs from the university and its other major employers. Johnson &Johnson and the Robert Wood Johnson University and St. Peter’s University hospitals- Still, the local housing market did weaken somewhat in the downturn: although occupancy rates have largely held steady, for-sale condominiums are now priced at about $150,000 below their peak, and rental rates also have declined, he said.

Devco is constructing 200 rental and for-sale units at its Gateway project, adjacent to the New Brunswick train station. “We’re looking to try to facilitate a longer-term living commitment to the city than your average renter,” Paladino said. The strategy is to price condos at levels that are attractive to a younger couple, where “she may be a young physician at the hospital, and he
may be an administrator at the university,” he said.

While cities like Newark may have a geographic advantage over New Brunswick in being closer to Manhattan, “we’ve had a 10-year headstart” on non-Gold Coast cities, building more than 1,000 new rental and for-sale units in the past eight years, Paladino said.

In does such as Newark, Elizabeth, Rahway, Trenton and Camden, “residential development is still in the pioneering stages.”

In Newark, “it’s going to take some years and hard work” for a recovery to take hold, McIlwain said. There’s a lot of issues it’s still working through.” And Camden as a whole “is still financially struggling and has a long way to go.”

Overall, growth in New Jersey’s urban areas has been occurring at a slower rate than it did in the 1990s, he said. “The future of urban areas in New Jersey is mixed,” McIlwain said. “There will continue to be empty nesters and young professionals moving into urban areas,” he said. “There will also continue to be families with kids moving out to the suburbs.” That will likely create a net loss in the state’s urban populations, since the new households living in the cities will be much smaller, and some urban housing markets could have more units built than people moving in, he said: “That will be a trend that will continue.”

See the full clip here: NJ Biz – New Jersey’s Cities are on the Rebound

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Home is Where the Art Is

Posted on June 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Barry and his wife have lived in their two-floor penthouse at the Sovereign with their three children, ages 15, 13 and 11, for the past three years. Previously, the family lived in another building in Ironstate's The Shipyard, the redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel shipyard into five buildings, comprising about 1,200 residential units and ground-floor retail space along the Hoboken waterfront. (Photo courtesy of NJ Biz)


Real estate developer enjoys MANHATTAN views, modern art in his living room

by Evelyn Lee

The colorful “Free Beer” sign at the entrance to the living room in David Barry’s Hoboken penthouse is just the start of things to come in this space filled with striking visuals.

Barry, president of Ironstate Development, also based in the Mile Square City, is an avid collector of contemporary art, an interest he makes abundantly clear on the walls of the room.

“I like art a lot,” said Barry, 45. “It resonates with me emotionally. … There’s something about art that’s more engaging, and you see it in different ways, depending on what your mood is, what the light is.”

Prominently displayed above the fireplace — across from windows with sweeping, panoramic views of Manhattan — is a piece that was part of the “Pictures of Junk” series by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.

At first glance, the work appears to be a Renaissance oil painting of Apollo and Daphne, but upon closer inspection, the figures actually are composed of pieces of junk carefully arranged on a warehouse floor and photographed from above, said Barry, who has been collecting for about 10 years.

Inside a recess along the same wall is a series of images relating to “On the Waterfront,” the 1954 Marlon Brando film that was shot in and around the docks of Hoboken. “It was kind of cool to be able to have some Hoboken references” in the living room, said Barry, who purchased the work by Drew Heitzler, at Renwick Gallery, in New York.

On another wall, behind a grand piano that belonged to the grandfather of his wife, Kyra Barry, hang a pair of magenta and gray paintings Barry commissioned artist Sarah Crowner to create. “I felt like this room needed a little bit of pop,” he said. “We wanted something that was a little bit abstract, that wouldn’t compete with this,” he added, gesturing toward the views of Manhattan.

(Photo courtesy of NJ Biz)


As for the “Free Beer” painting, Barry said, that was done by a Danish art group called Superflex as part of a project that involved publishing free recipes for beer. “It was more their social viewpoint that everything should be open-sourced,” he said. “If you have a formula for technology or a recipe, it should be shared with the world, because that makes the world better.”

Barry also happens to like beer, he added with a smile, and “1 thought it was a little funny and humorous that when you walk into this nice apartment, the first thing you sec is ‘Free Beer.’”

Although his wife also is an art lover, “we don’t have exactly similar tastes — but similar enough that we can find a lot of crossover,” Barry said. “I like things that are a little bit crazier and more aggressive. She probably generally prefers things that are a little bit calmer and more abstract.”

Barry likes to work with the same galleries for art acquisitions, such as Renwick, Nicelle Beauchene and Hasted Kraeutler, in New York. “I’m not so much into random galleries,” he said. “I like to have a little bit of reference.” He also travels with Kyra and four or five other couples every year to Art Basel Miami Beach, an art show where Barry usually acquires new pieces.

Barry said he doesn’t always know where he will hang a new piece of artwork in his home. “I just buy it if I like it, and then I try to figure out where to put it.”

Barry grew up in Maplewood, and later lived in New York for several years, during and subsequent to attending Columbia University. But after his children were born, he wanted his home to be closer to the office. “I’m very busy, I work a lot,” he said. “It really is nice for me to literally be 10 blocks away, to be able to come home at a moment’s notice.”

Unlike their last home, the Barrys, current apartment was custom designed by architect David Collins, who previously worked on Avenue, a restaurant located in Ironstate’s Pier Village development in Long Branch.

“My family and I decided that we would get some more space and do an apartment that really reflected our lifestyle,” with a contemporary feel, a lot of natural materials and plenty of outdoor space, Barry said. “We transitioned into a real home.”

See the full clip here: NJ Biz – Home is Where the Art is

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