Jones Lang LaSalle
Competing Plans to Transform a Town
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
A DEVELOPER proposing to create what amounts to a new waterfront town within Sayreville on 400 acres of polluted land claimed last week that the project could eliminate the need for current residents to pay taxes.
At a public hearing on four proposals by "finalists" in the quest to redevelop the former site of the National Lead Company, an area surrounded on three sides by water, Beacon Pointe, a development group, told assembled residents that if it ushers in this project, they can usher out their annual town tax bills.
Which made them laugh.
Incredulous titters filled the air, according to Randy Corman, the chief of Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency, after Beacon Pointe executives made the claim. Their massive project combines a towering commercial building, an elaborate waterfront entertainment zone with an aquarium and performing arts center, and harborside housing along an esplanade.
Shortly after that, the sound of booing exploded at a rival developer's mention that its project would include 1,700 housing units. The Beacon Pointe group did not specify in its public presentation how many housing units it proposes — probably a good thing for eardrum preservation. In fact, its plans call for up to 20,000 studio and one-bedroom condos, to be built over 20 years.
"I guess our residents are just very skeptical or, you might say, sophisticated," Mr. Corman said. His agency, known as SERA, sponsored the session. "They've come to understand that an urban kind of growth always comes with a cost."
Mr. Corman said residents are especially skeptical of residential development because it can bring school-related costs that outstrip property tax benefits. "But people are also concerned about the lifestyle impact of growth, like traffic," he added. "The common kind of complaint you hear already is, 'I just can't get out of my driveway anymore.' "
Sayreville is a borough with about 40,000 residents, living on 17.1 square miles along the Raritan River where it opens onto Raritan Bay. Its property taxes have been kept relatively low because of the presence of heavy industry, like National Lead and the paint manufacturing concerns that succeeded it on the waterfront site; the ammunitions supplier Hercules; and other types of now-defunct operations like Sunshine Biscuits.
But manufacturing in New Jersey has declined precipitously over the last two decades, Mr. Corman observed, affecting Sayreville like other former factory towns.
The town is looking to the National Lead property, the largest brownfield in the state, to determine its economic future, he acknowledged. The redevelopment agency was able to take control of the property, after National Lead failed to initiate a cleanup, by virtue of a $39 million loan from Middlesex County. Payment on the short-term loan comes due in March.
The agency will make a recommendation on the best course of action, and municipal officeholders will be responsible for the final decision.
Borough officials will be studying the critical matter of the different developers' ability to pay off the loan and to pay for an estimated $40 million to $50 million pollution cleanup.
They must also weigh the more ephemeral matter of which plan suits the community's vision of itself, Mr. Corman said.
Beacon Pointe, proposed by a consortium including the Spector Group and Tishman Construction, both of Manhattan, is by far the biggest and densest of the four proposals. But all proposals are big and dense. Three include a minor league baseball field, an amenity favored by town officials, as part of multiuse projects.
One proposal, by V. Paulius & Associates of Allendale, N.J., eschews both housing and baseball. Saying a "practical" approach is needed, V. Paulius envisions shop and restaurant space, a 300-room hotel, a recreation center, a public pavilion and a 300-boat marina. An industrial park would be built on the site's periphery and a jogging path along the waterfront.
The LNR Property Corporation of Quincy, Mass., by contrast, plans to create a regional office center at the heart of the site. A section devoted to retailing would include shopping, nightlife and restaurant districts, two hotels, two marinas with 500 slips and 2,000 units of housing.
A company from Cleveland, Forest City Enterprises, proposes a new "town center" with several office buildings, lots of big-box stores, entertainment venues, restaurants, three marinas and 1,700 units of apartment-style housing.
At Beacon Pointe, a 38-story commercial tower would be the "beacon," a landmark visible from the various roadways approaching the site: the Garden State Parkway, Interstate 287 (the Outer Bridge Crossing) and Routes 9 and 37. A commuter bus and light rail system is also under consideration, developers said, to link the development to nearby train and ferry terminals.
"We know Sayreville is fairly averse to housing," said Marc B. Spector, a principal with the Spector Group, "but we believe with such a propitious traffic pattern, the growth could easily be absorbed over a 20-year period." Furthermore, the Beacon Pointe group has pledged to "subsidize" construction of new schools if they become necessary.
Mr. Spector said a large corporation has already shown interest in settling its headquarters in the Beacon Pointe tower. "The company is interested because of what they could offer employees in terms of housing and amenities if such a beautiful piece of property were restored with a location only 30 minutes from New York," he said.
Spector, an architectural firm, planned the community with residential and mixed-use buildings that will step down to the waterfront in increments, from 15 stories to 3, ending at the esplanade, which will have cafes, boutiques, restaurants and specialty shops. The residential buildings would be set in rows along the edge of the esplanade and a "Grand Canal" to be cut from the Beacon tower to the waterfront.
The tower and esplanade would be part of a "town center," which would also include a 400-room hotel-convention center, a high-end shopping mall, multiplex movie theater and municipal service buildings.
A second hotel and a 600-slip marina would be built on the waterfront.
The eastern side of the property would be a "public zone" with the stadium, arts center, aquarium and a children's park, another hotel complex, retail center, parking and municipal service buildings.
Meanwhile, the Beacon Pointe group is in the midst of negotiating to get several hundred acres of open space and wetlands in the center of Sayreville through a foreclosure sale — and is holding out the property as a bonus to the town if its plan is chosen.
"It's another giveback we can promise," Mr. Spector said. "Our goal is to turn over that property to the borough and create parkland and a K-through-12 megacampus for its children."
The next meeting of SERA is Thursday, Mr. Corman said, adding dryly, "There will be a lot to discuss."
Competing Plans to Transform a Town
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
A DEVELOPER proposing to create what amounts to a new waterfront town within Sayreville on 400 acres of polluted land claimed last week that the project could eliminate the need for current residents to pay taxes.
At a public hearing on four proposals by "finalists" in the quest to redevelop the former site of the National Lead Company, an area surrounded on three sides by water, Beacon Pointe, a development group, told assembled residents that if it ushers in this project, they can usher out their annual town tax bills.
Which made them laugh.
Incredulous titters filled the air, according to Randy Corman, the chief of Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency, after Beacon Pointe executives made the claim. Their massive project combines a towering commercial building, an elaborate waterfront entertainment zone with an aquarium and performing arts center, and harborside housing along an esplanade.
Shortly after that, the sound of booing exploded at a rival developer's mention that its project would include 1,700 housing units. The Beacon Pointe group did not specify in its public presentation how many housing units it proposes — probably a good thing for eardrum preservation. In fact, its plans call for up to 20,000 studio and one-bedroom condos, to be built over 20 years.
"I guess our residents are just very skeptical or, you might say, sophisticated," Mr. Corman said. His agency, known as SERA, sponsored the session. "They've come to understand that an urban kind of growth always comes with a cost."
Mr. Corman said residents are especially skeptical of residential development because it can bring school-related costs that outstrip property tax benefits. "But people are also concerned about the lifestyle impact of growth, like traffic," he added. "The common kind of complaint you hear already is, 'I just can't get out of my driveway anymore.' "
Sayreville is a borough with about 40,000 residents, living on 17.1 square miles along the Raritan River where it opens onto Raritan Bay. Its property taxes have been kept relatively low because of the presence of heavy industry, like National Lead and the paint manufacturing concerns that succeeded it on the waterfront site; the ammunitions supplier Hercules; and other types of now-defunct operations like Sunshine Biscuits.
But manufacturing in New Jersey has declined precipitously over the last two decades, Mr. Corman observed, affecting Sayreville like other former factory towns.
The town is looking to the National Lead property, the largest brownfield in the state, to determine its economic future, he acknowledged. The redevelopment agency was able to take control of the property, after National Lead failed to initiate a cleanup, by virtue of a $39 million loan from Middlesex County. Payment on the short-term loan comes due in March.
The agency will make a recommendation on the best course of action, and municipal officeholders will be responsible for the final decision.
Borough officials will be studying the critical matter of the different developers' ability to pay off the loan and to pay for an estimated $40 million to $50 million pollution cleanup.
They must also weigh the more ephemeral matter of which plan suits the community's vision of itself, Mr. Corman said.
Beacon Pointe, proposed by a consortium including the Spector Group and Tishman Construction, both of Manhattan, is by far the biggest and densest of the four proposals. But all proposals are big and dense. Three include a minor league baseball field, an amenity favored by town officials, as part of multiuse projects.
One proposal, by V. Paulius & Associates of Allendale, N.J., eschews both housing and baseball. Saying a "practical" approach is needed, V. Paulius envisions shop and restaurant space, a 300-room hotel, a recreation center, a public pavilion and a 300-boat marina. An industrial park would be built on the site's periphery and a jogging path along the waterfront.
The LNR Property Corporation of Quincy, Mass., by contrast, plans to create a regional office center at the heart of the site. A section devoted to retailing would include shopping, nightlife and restaurant districts, two hotels, two marinas with 500 slips and 2,000 units of housing.
A company from Cleveland, Forest City Enterprises, proposes a new "town center" with several office buildings, lots of big-box stores, entertainment venues, restaurants, three marinas and 1,700 units of apartment-style housing.
At Beacon Pointe, a 38-story commercial tower would be the "beacon," a landmark visible from the various roadways approaching the site: the Garden State Parkway, Interstate 287 (the Outer Bridge Crossing) and Routes 9 and 37. A commuter bus and light rail system is also under consideration, developers said, to link the development to nearby train and ferry terminals.
"We know Sayreville is fairly averse to housing," said Marc B. Spector, a principal with the Spector Group, "but we believe with such a propitious traffic pattern, the growth could easily be absorbed over a 20-year period." Furthermore, the Beacon Pointe group has pledged to "subsidize" construction of new schools if they become necessary.
Mr. Spector said a large corporation has already shown interest in settling its headquarters in the Beacon Pointe tower. "The company is interested because of what they could offer employees in terms of housing and amenities if such a beautiful piece of property were restored with a location only 30 minutes from New York," he said.
Spector, an architectural firm, planned the community with residential and mixed-use buildings that will step down to the waterfront in increments, from 15 stories to 3, ending at the esplanade, which will have cafes, boutiques, restaurants and specialty shops. The residential buildings would be set in rows along the edge of the esplanade and a "Grand Canal" to be cut from the Beacon tower to the waterfront.
The tower and esplanade would be part of a "town center," which would also include a 400-room hotel-convention center, a high-end shopping mall, multiplex movie theater and municipal service buildings.
A second hotel and a 600-slip marina would be built on the waterfront.
The eastern side of the property would be a "public zone" with the stadium, arts center, aquarium and a children's park, another hotel complex, retail center, parking and municipal service buildings.
Meanwhile, the Beacon Pointe group is in the midst of negotiating to get several hundred acres of open space and wetlands in the center of Sayreville through a foreclosure sale — and is holding out the property as a bonus to the town if its plan is chosen.
"It's another giveback we can promise," Mr. Spector said. "Our goal is to turn over that property to the borough and create parkland and a K-through-12 megacampus for its children."
The next meeting of SERA is Thursday, Mr. Corman said, adding dryly, "There will be a lot to discuss."
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 10:15 AM
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