Jones Lang LaSalle
There Is No Wrong Side of the Tracks
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
THE seemingly jet-fueled pace at which homes have sold and values have appreciated has slowed, market experts say. But there has been no easing off in demand for housing with good access to mass transit, they add.
Statewide, buying activity is running 14 percent behind last year, while the inventory of unsold homes on the market is 61 percent higher than a year ago, according to a market report recently issued to brokers.
In Randolph, Morris County, according to the report from the Otteau Appraisal Group, based in East Brunswick, the market cooled to the point where a six-month supply of available houses has built up. Randolph is an attractive and well-to-do community, noted Jeffrey Otteau, president of the company that analyzes market statistics for brokers, but it lacks a train station.
Meanwhile, in towns with direct train service to Manhattan like Montclair, Summit and Westfield, the inventory of homes on the market remains tight. Montclair has a two-month supply or less, according to the report. That level is the same as was reported two years ago.
Anecdotal evidence from brokers also indicates that housing near train stations in redeveloped urban centers is among the hottest type of property available right now. That would include developments at sites designated under the New Jersey Transit Village initiative — downtown South Orange, for example — and others where developers are simply offering proximity to mass transit as an amenity. Hoboken is a prime instance of the latter.
"People want that short commute," said Ronnie Laiken, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker in New Jersey and Rockland County, N.Y. "It's a point of value," she said, "highly desired by many, many people.
"So many families have both spouses working," she continued, "and they want to cut down on their time away from home, getting to and from work. A lot of the buildings in Jersey City, Weehawken, the Union area, people are looking at the homes, and saying 'Wow! This is really close to the train!' — and places are selling out right away."
The average commute in the state is 30 minutes long, according to New Jersey Future, an environmental group that keeps a watch on congestion and auto pollution. That is longer than in every state but New York and Maryland.
Commuter frustrations have fueled a turnaround in public attitudes, Mr. Otteau said. Living near a train station, which used to be considered a drawback, is now considered a very attractive feature.
Over the past five years, the state has established 16 sites within a mile radius of local train stations as Transit Villages in connection with its "smart growth" initiative. The most recent announcement added Jersey City and New Brunswick to the program.
Aimed at helping to curb sprawl, and at encouraging growth in core cities where infrastructure already exists, the Transit Village program provides grants and planning assistance to projects that show promise of creating walkable self-contained neighborhoods.
The projects are required to be "pedestrian friendly" and to employ features like extra-wide sidewalks, off-street parking and small "pocket" parks to foster foot traffic, according to the state's guidelines.
Brokers and sales agents say that condominiums situated where people can walk from home to shops and the train — including those in the Transit Village in downtown Morristown, now under construction, and on Hoboken's west side in the vicinity of the light rail station — are extremely popular, with people putting their names on waiting lists to buy and paying the asking price without the kind of haggling that has resurfaced recently in suburban negotiations.
Developers leapt on the trend early, and transit-oriented development continues to proliferate all over the state.
Right now, opposite the station at Pine and Bay Streets in Montclair, which has eight train stations, a developer, the Lincoln Property Company, is proposing to build a 165-unit building with two courtyards, a swimming pool, a day-care center, covered parking and a commuter waiting area.
The Montclair project was designed by DMR Architects of Hasbrouck Heights, which also recently worked on plans for the ambitious redevelopment of a 31-acre former airplane factory site in Wood-Ridge into a new neighborhood centered around a new train station.
In New Brunswick, the developer Edgewood Properties recently began construction of Fulton Square, a gated community of 209 town homes and single-floor apartments on a 13-acre site about a mile from the downtown train station. A "trolley jitney" will transport commuters back and forth from the station, which offers both Amtrak service and New Jersey Transit service to Newark with PATH train connections to Manhattan. The plan is that the trolley would ultimately be run by the homeowners association.
"We're attracting a lot of commuters who work in the city," said a sales representative, Madeleine Jabloner. "They want to take advantage of the trolley. They know what a headache it is to park." She said Fulton Square units are nearly half sold, although construction just began last month, and the first homes will not be available until late fall.
The same developer is working on a new town center development with 265 housing units that will go up next to the train station in Somerville, and it is a partner on a condominium development in Cherry Hill that will offer trolley service to the local station.
In addition, Edgewood is pursuing a plan to develop a Transit Village in Piscataway, where the company is based.
Jack Morris, president of Edgewood, said he has become a big believer in such projects. "If a project is planned with 700 residents, and 50 percent of them use mass transit, that's 350 cars off the road," he said. "That improves traffic congestion and air quality. It contributes to the quality of life."
A nonprofit developer, Hands Inc., based in Orange, is at work on revitalizing the area around the Highland Avenue train station on Orange's border with West Orange into an arts district.
Hundreds of condos are under construction in former hat factory buildings near the station, and Hands recently introduced a plan to develop arts studio space, shopping and artists' live-work space in what is known as the Valley neighborhood around the station.
There Is No Wrong Side of the Tracks
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
THE seemingly jet-fueled pace at which homes have sold and values have appreciated has slowed, market experts say. But there has been no easing off in demand for housing with good access to mass transit, they add.
Statewide, buying activity is running 14 percent behind last year, while the inventory of unsold homes on the market is 61 percent higher than a year ago, according to a market report recently issued to brokers.
In Randolph, Morris County, according to the report from the Otteau Appraisal Group, based in East Brunswick, the market cooled to the point where a six-month supply of available houses has built up. Randolph is an attractive and well-to-do community, noted Jeffrey Otteau, president of the company that analyzes market statistics for brokers, but it lacks a train station.
Meanwhile, in towns with direct train service to Manhattan like Montclair, Summit and Westfield, the inventory of homes on the market remains tight. Montclair has a two-month supply or less, according to the report. That level is the same as was reported two years ago.
Anecdotal evidence from brokers also indicates that housing near train stations in redeveloped urban centers is among the hottest type of property available right now. That would include developments at sites designated under the New Jersey Transit Village initiative — downtown South Orange, for example — and others where developers are simply offering proximity to mass transit as an amenity. Hoboken is a prime instance of the latter.
"People want that short commute," said Ronnie Laiken, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker in New Jersey and Rockland County, N.Y. "It's a point of value," she said, "highly desired by many, many people.
"So many families have both spouses working," she continued, "and they want to cut down on their time away from home, getting to and from work. A lot of the buildings in Jersey City, Weehawken, the Union area, people are looking at the homes, and saying 'Wow! This is really close to the train!' — and places are selling out right away."
The average commute in the state is 30 minutes long, according to New Jersey Future, an environmental group that keeps a watch on congestion and auto pollution. That is longer than in every state but New York and Maryland.
Commuter frustrations have fueled a turnaround in public attitudes, Mr. Otteau said. Living near a train station, which used to be considered a drawback, is now considered a very attractive feature.
Over the past five years, the state has established 16 sites within a mile radius of local train stations as Transit Villages in connection with its "smart growth" initiative. The most recent announcement added Jersey City and New Brunswick to the program.
Aimed at helping to curb sprawl, and at encouraging growth in core cities where infrastructure already exists, the Transit Village program provides grants and planning assistance to projects that show promise of creating walkable self-contained neighborhoods.
The projects are required to be "pedestrian friendly" and to employ features like extra-wide sidewalks, off-street parking and small "pocket" parks to foster foot traffic, according to the state's guidelines.
Brokers and sales agents say that condominiums situated where people can walk from home to shops and the train — including those in the Transit Village in downtown Morristown, now under construction, and on Hoboken's west side in the vicinity of the light rail station — are extremely popular, with people putting their names on waiting lists to buy and paying the asking price without the kind of haggling that has resurfaced recently in suburban negotiations.
Developers leapt on the trend early, and transit-oriented development continues to proliferate all over the state.
Right now, opposite the station at Pine and Bay Streets in Montclair, which has eight train stations, a developer, the Lincoln Property Company, is proposing to build a 165-unit building with two courtyards, a swimming pool, a day-care center, covered parking and a commuter waiting area.
The Montclair project was designed by DMR Architects of Hasbrouck Heights, which also recently worked on plans for the ambitious redevelopment of a 31-acre former airplane factory site in Wood-Ridge into a new neighborhood centered around a new train station.
In New Brunswick, the developer Edgewood Properties recently began construction of Fulton Square, a gated community of 209 town homes and single-floor apartments on a 13-acre site about a mile from the downtown train station. A "trolley jitney" will transport commuters back and forth from the station, which offers both Amtrak service and New Jersey Transit service to Newark with PATH train connections to Manhattan. The plan is that the trolley would ultimately be run by the homeowners association.
"We're attracting a lot of commuters who work in the city," said a sales representative, Madeleine Jabloner. "They want to take advantage of the trolley. They know what a headache it is to park." She said Fulton Square units are nearly half sold, although construction just began last month, and the first homes will not be available until late fall.
The same developer is working on a new town center development with 265 housing units that will go up next to the train station in Somerville, and it is a partner on a condominium development in Cherry Hill that will offer trolley service to the local station.
In addition, Edgewood is pursuing a plan to develop a Transit Village in Piscataway, where the company is based.
Jack Morris, president of Edgewood, said he has become a big believer in such projects. "If a project is planned with 700 residents, and 50 percent of them use mass transit, that's 350 cars off the road," he said. "That improves traffic congestion and air quality. It contributes to the quality of life."
A nonprofit developer, Hands Inc., based in Orange, is at work on revitalizing the area around the Highland Avenue train station on Orange's border with West Orange into an arts district.
Hundreds of condos are under construction in former hat factory buildings near the station, and Hands recently introduced a plan to develop arts studio space, shopping and artists' live-work space in what is known as the Valley neighborhood around the station.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 3:45 PM
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