Jones Lang LaSalle
A Way to Beat Swords Into Plowshares
March 12, 2006
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
WOOD-RIDGE
THE planning for redevelopment on the site of an old World War II airplane factory here has moved slowly and taken a long time — four years. But it is a most ambitious plan, encompassing housing, stores, a town center, a school and a new train station. And it is huge, covering 144 acres, or one-third of the whole borough.
Last month, developers started to put the plan in motion with the demolition of an old Grand Union store at the edge of the property. The two-million-square-foot former factory building that dominates the site will remain as a new neighborhood rises on the sprawling slope above it.
"We've got a highly complex, exquisitely detailed plan," said Raphael Zucker, president of Somerset Development, the Lakewood-based firm that is the driving force behind the project, "and we are ready to go." He said construction of the first mixed-use buildings would begin within a few months.
The sprawling $500 million development, which is to be called Wesmont Station, will take at least seven years to complete, according to Mr. Zucker. It will be built in phases on about 70 acres of the site.
The old factory, where the Curtiss-Wright Corporation manufactured engines for B-29 bombers, takes up another 32 acres under one roof. Heavy manufacturing ceased there more than 20 years ago, but Somerset Development has managed to fully lease the space for warehouse and office use.
State officials have approved an environmental cleanup plan for the entire site and have approved a $1 million loan, part of which will be used to help to finance the removal of traces of petroleum and chemical products that were once stored there.
Borough officials in Wood-Ridge have approved zoning changes to permit construction of 737 residential units, 130,000 square feet of retail and other commercial space and a public plaza, which will prominently display a tall bronze sculpture of "Rosie the Riveter," emblematic of women who did factory work during wartime, to commemorate the 6,000 Rosies at Curtiss-Wright.
And architects have completed plans that are aimed at creating a "New Urbanist" environment that Wesmont Station residents can negotiate on foot while living near the center of a vibrant downtown in Bergen County, 11 miles from mid-Manhattan.
Hundreds of local residents participated in helping to develop the architectural plans through a five-day process called a "charrette." The process, favored by New Urbanist architects and town planners like Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company of Miami, the Wesmont Station architects, involves a series of sessions at which drawings are created and revised to suit the concerns expressed by those in the room.
Ralph Rosenberg and Susan DiGiacomo of DMR Architects, based in Hasbrouck Heights, one of five towns that border Wood-Ridge, provided the working drawings during the sessions.
"It was awesome to see how much people take pride in their town," Ms. DiGiacomo, the DMR marketing director, said. "People had really strong feelings about what is being created here."
She said the sessions led to the creation of guidelines about the design of signs, the mass of buildings, the look of exterior light fixtures, roof pitches, windows and doors, siding materials and colors, porches, decks and ornamental trim.
Mr. Zucker said he was excited about the way different styles of architecture work together in the finished plan, some elements mirroring one another and others providing interesting contrasts.
The train station and plaza will be the centerpiece of the development. Every home and building will be within walking distance of it, the developer said.
Pedestrian bridges — including a replica fieldstone Central Park bridge — light fixtures, planters, benches, bike racks and extra-wide sidewalks will help to define Wesmont Station as a pedestrian-oriented community, he said — a place in which neighbors biking and walking represent the bulk of "traffic."
Children who attend the planned middle school will be able to "commute" without ever entering a roadway, Mr. Zucker pointed out.
New Jersey Department of Transportation officials recently awarded the project a $150,000 grant for pedestrian safety improvements around an existing school.
Streets will be narrower than usual to create a "traffic-calming" effect, he said. Parking lots for commuters will be kept to less than two acres in size.
The train station will be on New Jersey Transit's Bergen Line, about 25 minutes from Manhattan. Bus service from the Wesmont Station site to the Port Authority terminal in Manhattan will continue.
The housing at Wesmont Station will consist of 217 single-family homes, 135 rental apartments, 131 condos, 77 condo apartment units for people age 55 and older, 166 town houses and 11 live-work spaces for artists and small entrepreneurs. The prices have not yet been announced.
Mr. Zucker said he expected the residences to appeal to the gamut of home buyers — and planners estimate they will attract a population that will include 200 to 250 schoolchildren. Plans call for $15 million in state bonds that the developers can use to build the middle school at Wesmont Station.
Free-standing tall, narrow concrete towers where B-29 engines were hung up and run continuously for 48 hours to test them will probably be incorporated into the school buildings, according to the developer. Also, several old bomber engines will be put on display in an aircraft museum at the site.
"The place is rich with history," Mr. Zucker said, "and it will live on."
Working with the town officials, the developers have also set aside eight acres to develop community ball fields. They are also developing a retail center with an open-air market, and shops like a hair salon, bookstore and hardware store, in addition to other shops and restaurants.
Holiday and entertainment events will be scheduled at the events plaza in cooperation with the town.
Copyright 2006The New York Times
A Way to Beat Swords Into Plowshares
March 12, 2006
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
WOOD-RIDGE
THE planning for redevelopment on the site of an old World War II airplane factory here has moved slowly and taken a long time — four years. But it is a most ambitious plan, encompassing housing, stores, a town center, a school and a new train station. And it is huge, covering 144 acres, or one-third of the whole borough.
Last month, developers started to put the plan in motion with the demolition of an old Grand Union store at the edge of the property. The two-million-square-foot former factory building that dominates the site will remain as a new neighborhood rises on the sprawling slope above it.
"We've got a highly complex, exquisitely detailed plan," said Raphael Zucker, president of Somerset Development, the Lakewood-based firm that is the driving force behind the project, "and we are ready to go." He said construction of the first mixed-use buildings would begin within a few months.
The sprawling $500 million development, which is to be called Wesmont Station, will take at least seven years to complete, according to Mr. Zucker. It will be built in phases on about 70 acres of the site.
The old factory, where the Curtiss-Wright Corporation manufactured engines for B-29 bombers, takes up another 32 acres under one roof. Heavy manufacturing ceased there more than 20 years ago, but Somerset Development has managed to fully lease the space for warehouse and office use.
State officials have approved an environmental cleanup plan for the entire site and have approved a $1 million loan, part of which will be used to help to finance the removal of traces of petroleum and chemical products that were once stored there.
Borough officials in Wood-Ridge have approved zoning changes to permit construction of 737 residential units, 130,000 square feet of retail and other commercial space and a public plaza, which will prominently display a tall bronze sculpture of "Rosie the Riveter," emblematic of women who did factory work during wartime, to commemorate the 6,000 Rosies at Curtiss-Wright.
And architects have completed plans that are aimed at creating a "New Urbanist" environment that Wesmont Station residents can negotiate on foot while living near the center of a vibrant downtown in Bergen County, 11 miles from mid-Manhattan.
Hundreds of local residents participated in helping to develop the architectural plans through a five-day process called a "charrette." The process, favored by New Urbanist architects and town planners like Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company of Miami, the Wesmont Station architects, involves a series of sessions at which drawings are created and revised to suit the concerns expressed by those in the room.
Ralph Rosenberg and Susan DiGiacomo of DMR Architects, based in Hasbrouck Heights, one of five towns that border Wood-Ridge, provided the working drawings during the sessions.
"It was awesome to see how much people take pride in their town," Ms. DiGiacomo, the DMR marketing director, said. "People had really strong feelings about what is being created here."
She said the sessions led to the creation of guidelines about the design of signs, the mass of buildings, the look of exterior light fixtures, roof pitches, windows and doors, siding materials and colors, porches, decks and ornamental trim.
Mr. Zucker said he was excited about the way different styles of architecture work together in the finished plan, some elements mirroring one another and others providing interesting contrasts.
The train station and plaza will be the centerpiece of the development. Every home and building will be within walking distance of it, the developer said.
Pedestrian bridges — including a replica fieldstone Central Park bridge — light fixtures, planters, benches, bike racks and extra-wide sidewalks will help to define Wesmont Station as a pedestrian-oriented community, he said — a place in which neighbors biking and walking represent the bulk of "traffic."
Children who attend the planned middle school will be able to "commute" without ever entering a roadway, Mr. Zucker pointed out.
New Jersey Department of Transportation officials recently awarded the project a $150,000 grant for pedestrian safety improvements around an existing school.
Streets will be narrower than usual to create a "traffic-calming" effect, he said. Parking lots for commuters will be kept to less than two acres in size.
The train station will be on New Jersey Transit's Bergen Line, about 25 minutes from Manhattan. Bus service from the Wesmont Station site to the Port Authority terminal in Manhattan will continue.
The housing at Wesmont Station will consist of 217 single-family homes, 135 rental apartments, 131 condos, 77 condo apartment units for people age 55 and older, 166 town houses and 11 live-work spaces for artists and small entrepreneurs. The prices have not yet been announced.
Mr. Zucker said he expected the residences to appeal to the gamut of home buyers — and planners estimate they will attract a population that will include 200 to 250 schoolchildren. Plans call for $15 million in state bonds that the developers can use to build the middle school at Wesmont Station.
Free-standing tall, narrow concrete towers where B-29 engines were hung up and run continuously for 48 hours to test them will probably be incorporated into the school buildings, according to the developer. Also, several old bomber engines will be put on display in an aircraft museum at the site.
"The place is rich with history," Mr. Zucker said, "and it will live on."
Working with the town officials, the developers have also set aside eight acres to develop community ball fields. They are also developing a retail center with an open-air market, and shops like a hair salon, bookstore and hardware store, in addition to other shops and restaurants.
Holiday and entertainment events will be scheduled at the events plaza in cooperation with the town.
Copyright 2006The New York Times
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 2:16 PM
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