Jones Lang LaSalle
A work in progress
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
By CAROLYN FEIBELSTAFF WRITER
You won't see it on TV, but the Meadowlands is getting an extreme makeover right now.
Lumpy, leaky dumps are being smoothed and sculpted into luxury golf courses. Vacant swampland will become residential clusters full of new taxpayers.
The transformation, which you can glimpse from the New Jersey Turnpike's western spur, could be done by 2012.
But the massive operation is not without its aches and pains.
Local doubts about the EnCap project in host towns Rutherford, Lyndhurst and North Arlington continue to persist. The redeveloper, Cherokee Investment Partners, says the project is progressing well. Since this summer, the firm has signed contracts with developers to build luxury rental apartments, two private golf courses and a four-star hotel.
"We're basically on schedule," said Eric Wisler, the project attorney. "The weather has been very cooperative all year."
Town ball fields for Lyndhurst will be done first, probably by next spring, said project manager Tom Moran. The sports complex also will include a two-story building with basketball courts and a public preschool.
Originally, Lyndhurst had agreed to pay $850,000 toward the $3 million complex. But the township renegotiated that deal after the election of Mayor Richard DiLascio last spring. EnCap will now pay the entire tab.
DiLascio also has reversed other financial agreements made between EnCap and the previous administration of Mayor James M. Guida, which had agreed to drop the township's 3 percent hotel tax.
"We've stopped some of the bleeding, so to speak," DiLascio said.
"I can't do anything about 2,000 housing units," he added. But the mayor said he likes the fact that EnCap is walling off and covering the polluted dumps. "I think it's going to be a safer situation and a healthier situation."
In North Arlington, officials are still negotiating a redeveloper's agreement with Cherokee. The council has approved the preliminary plan of 1,625 housing units and 50,000 square feet of retail along Porete Avenue.
Business owners on Porete Avenue have pledged to fight the plan. Most don't want to sell to Cherokee voluntarily, raising the possibility of an ugly condemnation battle.
"The mayor's been complaining it's a blighted area, which it's not," said Salvatore DiBlasi, a North Arlington resident and co-owner of Cobra Construction. "We're thriving businesses."
DiBlasi started an association of a dozen property owners in the redevelopment area. The group has hired a lawyer and plans to endorse candidates in the council primary in June.
"We're not moving and we're going to fight this," DiBlasi said.
Councilmen Peter Massa and Steven Tanelli voted against the project at a recent council meeting, although the majority endorsed it.
"For a municipal government to invoke eminent domain for private purpose, private development, I can't support that," Massa said. He also wants Cherokee to contribute funds for a new school and build roads to funnel the increased traffic directly to Route 3.
Mayor Russ Pitman has said he would never condemn private homes for development, but said many of the properties along Porete Avenue are contaminated.
DiBlasi disputes that, and has refused to give Cherokee access to his property to do environmental tests.
"It's not something that's easy and we understand that," Cherokee spokesman Rich Ochab said. "We always work with the business owners to come to a friendly, amicable solution to purchase the properties. That's always our first approach."
Cherokee signed with Michigan-based Pulte Homes in October 2004. Pulte's first buildings, 200 units for active seniors in Rutherford, should be ready for occupation in 2008, said Moran, the project manager. Pulte also will build the 1,780 units abutting the golf courses in Lyndhurst.
Cherokee also has locked in Kennedy Associates Real Estates Counsel of Seattle to develop the hotel in Lyndhurst. Kennedy Associates will bring in Troon Golf of Scottsdale, Ariz., to manage the two private courses.
A public golf course in North Arlington will be managed jointly by Hudson and Bergen counties.
Four months ago, Cherokee signed with Criterion Development Partners of Dallas to develop 300 luxury rental apartments in EnCap's Rutherford portion. Pulte Homes will develop the 200 senior units in Rutherford, and 300 other units do not yet have a developer.
E-mail: feibel@northjersey.com
A work in progress
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
By CAROLYN FEIBELSTAFF WRITER
You won't see it on TV, but the Meadowlands is getting an extreme makeover right now.
Lumpy, leaky dumps are being smoothed and sculpted into luxury golf courses. Vacant swampland will become residential clusters full of new taxpayers.
The transformation, which you can glimpse from the New Jersey Turnpike's western spur, could be done by 2012.
But the massive operation is not without its aches and pains.
Local doubts about the EnCap project in host towns Rutherford, Lyndhurst and North Arlington continue to persist. The redeveloper, Cherokee Investment Partners, says the project is progressing well. Since this summer, the firm has signed contracts with developers to build luxury rental apartments, two private golf courses and a four-star hotel.
"We're basically on schedule," said Eric Wisler, the project attorney. "The weather has been very cooperative all year."
Town ball fields for Lyndhurst will be done first, probably by next spring, said project manager Tom Moran. The sports complex also will include a two-story building with basketball courts and a public preschool.
Originally, Lyndhurst had agreed to pay $850,000 toward the $3 million complex. But the township renegotiated that deal after the election of Mayor Richard DiLascio last spring. EnCap will now pay the entire tab.
DiLascio also has reversed other financial agreements made between EnCap and the previous administration of Mayor James M. Guida, which had agreed to drop the township's 3 percent hotel tax.
"We've stopped some of the bleeding, so to speak," DiLascio said.
"I can't do anything about 2,000 housing units," he added. But the mayor said he likes the fact that EnCap is walling off and covering the polluted dumps. "I think it's going to be a safer situation and a healthier situation."
In North Arlington, officials are still negotiating a redeveloper's agreement with Cherokee. The council has approved the preliminary plan of 1,625 housing units and 50,000 square feet of retail along Porete Avenue.
Business owners on Porete Avenue have pledged to fight the plan. Most don't want to sell to Cherokee voluntarily, raising the possibility of an ugly condemnation battle.
"The mayor's been complaining it's a blighted area, which it's not," said Salvatore DiBlasi, a North Arlington resident and co-owner of Cobra Construction. "We're thriving businesses."
DiBlasi started an association of a dozen property owners in the redevelopment area. The group has hired a lawyer and plans to endorse candidates in the council primary in June.
"We're not moving and we're going to fight this," DiBlasi said.
Councilmen Peter Massa and Steven Tanelli voted against the project at a recent council meeting, although the majority endorsed it.
"For a municipal government to invoke eminent domain for private purpose, private development, I can't support that," Massa said. He also wants Cherokee to contribute funds for a new school and build roads to funnel the increased traffic directly to Route 3.
Mayor Russ Pitman has said he would never condemn private homes for development, but said many of the properties along Porete Avenue are contaminated.
DiBlasi disputes that, and has refused to give Cherokee access to his property to do environmental tests.
"It's not something that's easy and we understand that," Cherokee spokesman Rich Ochab said. "We always work with the business owners to come to a friendly, amicable solution to purchase the properties. That's always our first approach."
Cherokee signed with Michigan-based Pulte Homes in October 2004. Pulte's first buildings, 200 units for active seniors in Rutherford, should be ready for occupation in 2008, said Moran, the project manager. Pulte also will build the 1,780 units abutting the golf courses in Lyndhurst.
Cherokee also has locked in Kennedy Associates Real Estates Counsel of Seattle to develop the hotel in Lyndhurst. Kennedy Associates will bring in Troon Golf of Scottsdale, Ariz., to manage the two private courses.
A public golf course in North Arlington will be managed jointly by Hudson and Bergen counties.
Four months ago, Cherokee signed with Criterion Development Partners of Dallas to develop 300 luxury rental apartments in EnCap's Rutherford portion. Pulte Homes will develop the 200 senior units in Rutherford, and 300 other units do not yet have a developer.
E-mail: feibel@northjersey.com
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:06 AM
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