Three years to the month after breaking ground, Park Square has 33 units occupied.
Rental manager Nilyne Fields confirmed the number in an email this week. The four-story luxury rental
s began taking applications this past spring and the Irving Street portion of the complex (photo above) has about 63 one- and two-bedroom apartments. That makes for a slightly more than 50-percent occupancy rate, a little better than what was reported last month at Sky View. The entire complex will have 159 units in all, once construction is completed on the Main Street side (photo below).
The retail/residential project was among the first major redevelopment projects to break ground downtown, in October 2006 after several years of property acquisitions around Main and Irving streets and Elm and Elizabeth avenues. The block used to be home to, among other things, Cliff Hardware, a boarding house, and Junior League thrift shop.
Park Square rents had been starting at $1,600 a month fo
r one-bedrooms but now they’re offering a “grand opening special” of $1,495 a month. That’s a shade more than Sky View‘s starting rents of $1,350 for a one-bedroom and $1,600 for two-bedrooms. River Place also has a promotion going, offering one month free on 13-month leases, with one-bedrooms starting at $1,495 and two-bedrooms at $1,750.
Perhaps this is fodder for a debate or poll question about the pros/cons of the different apartment choices (old and new) in Rahway? Feel free to begin discussiiinnnng — now!
Seems like for Skyview you get an option to buy with a portion of your rent going towards the cost. Why would someone want to pay more rent and have no buy option at Park Square or River Place? Seems like a no brainer to me but maybe I'm missing something.
I've been in the Skyview 1BR unit and if I remember right (correct me if I'm wrong) there is better closet space in the other two buildings. Not everyone is looking to "rent to own". Most that rent, aren't sure of where they will be in the next year or two – hence the reason for renting. Personally, while Skyview is pleasing to look at overall – I was quite put off by the lack of storage in the units considering they were originally built to be purchased. Who in their right mind could make a life with that little space to put their things? Not I, most certainly. I wouldn't consider "buy to own" in that building, no way, no how unless an additional closet somehow magically appeared :p
My point is, if you are going to rent, at least at Skyview there is that option to buy and apply a portion of your rent payments toward your purchase..and it is cheaper. Even if your chances of ever buying are slim to none, that option does exist which makes it more attractive than the other buildings. Hence, if you don't want to buy you have still paid lower rent and if you do want to buy than you have a reduced price. Sorry to hear about your storage dilema. I can say that I've been in Skyview and River Place and the storage is identical. If storage space is so important to you than renting a downtown apartment where sq footage is at a higher premium is probably not ideal for you.
All this new rental properties available downtown seem to be the catalyst the downtown might need. However, I am still waiting to see what personality DT Rahway will take on. DT Rahway lacks an identity. Will it be upscale gay, mid to upscale duel income minority, upscale Hispanic or a mix of all? Whatever the case, I embrace it all… but it needs to surface.
I think the identity/personality reveals itself every time there's a biker gathering on Cherry St. Seems to be the only thing that brings people out, even if it's not the locals.
Why can't it just be a cool town to hang out in with nice restaurants and friendly bars open to all? Why does it need to have a minority adjective attached to it? That seems very unwelcoming to those who do not fit that adjective. Let's try not to use the labelmaker on everything.
I lived in River Place apartments for a while. I thought the closet space and living space were very adequate. Enjoyed living there very much. I would have stayed, except a terrific buying opportunity came up.
River Place is great. I've lived there for the last 15 months, and absolutely love it. I've been to Skyview, and the complaint with limited closet space is very valid. There is no walk-in closet, and no-storage closer (as opposed to RiverPlace's laundary room/storage closet). Also, no balcony and windows that don't open 🙁
i am waiting for the prices to drop. the prices are too high for rahway, that is why they are not fully occupied.
Of the 6 floorplans for Skyview, only one fits your description. All the others meet or exceed the storage space in River Place (including walk in closets!). And although there is no balcony, the windows do open. I don't represent any building, but I am very familiar with both and they are both very nice places to live but want to make sure people have accurate info. Windows don't open, haha.
Out of the 6 floorplans, only 2 seem to have walk-in closets. http://www.skyviewliving.com/hd_a.htmlUnluckily, that was the one that was shown to me :(According to the data on their website, they show 20 units on a typical floor, out of which 10 don't have enough closet space (i.e. no walk-in closet or storage closet).
there is absolutely nothing in this downtown, YET, to support all the units being built. No supermarket, no liquor store, not enough bars to attract a younger upscale crowd, no place to hang (RIP Eat to the Beat), no clubs, no people, scary lighting..need I go on? oh and no clear direction of what the towns niche will be..the RCP has failed to accomplish what it was created for. Leave it to the Redevelopment agency, and get rid of RCP. While the Waiting Room offers more than any other place to get a younger crowd (face it, the aging population of Rahway, those of us who haven't given up aren't Rahways future). I believe in the town, it's never made sense to me, it's been a blank slate for years. The reputation of the school system of not being a good one, is horrible, and off base. The fear factor of being downtown is a myth. What Rahway needs is a good PR firm, something the RCP was supposed to be, but became a self indulgent monster.
You need people downtown before you can support all the bars and stuff that you want to see. The units will fill up and downtown will thrive eventually. But it will take time.
I understand The Curse of Rahway..timing, but without good press, what RCP was created: to attract businesses with a niche (never accomplished) to promote the town (3 or 4 events a year ain't cutting it because most people see there's no reason to come back – so I give them a C- at best), to change the perception (other people's reality, not mine) that the streets are dangerous, parking is horrendous and there's maybe 5 viable businesses – not including Merck, the lifeline of the town. What business downtown besides The Waiting Room, Cubano, Dravid Drakes, Flynns and Luciano's attract more than 50 outsiders (or non downtown residents) per day? One thing in common? They all serve alcohol and pretty decent food. I forget if the Town House has booze. Dornach was given carte blanc basically and bailed (yeah yeah yeah they're going to do this and that- YEARS behind schedule)- and now with their main money man tied up–we'll see. Of course as the units fill up, and hopefully soon, things will turn around, and that's what I've been waiting for that for over 30 years now. But there's a way of doing it simultaneously of offering businesses incentives, subsidized landlords who own retail spots, so services and residents come at the same time – another RCP failure: just call it a day with that and move on. Is there still a SID tax to downtown property owners??
Yes, Nancy's Townhouse serve drinks – and great food. Overheard the other night from an out-of-towner: "This might be the best pizza I've ever had". I got a kick out of that. This town doesn't have a decent deli open on the weekends any longer that I know of. Big Belly (great food, good prices, fantastic service) shuts down, because there isn't enough foot traffic to give them the incentive to open their doors on a Saturday (I've spoken to them personally about this dilemma). Even a smaller town like Fanwood has a deli that manages to stay open on the weekends. It's rather sad that them, and other local businesses have to shut the doors on weekends or earlier than usual, because the town isn't able to help sustain them other than on weekdays.
also forgooten in this convo is the ucpac which doesn't get promoted at all with the holiday season coming up forget about that fake ice rink and get all the eating place on the same page and offer deals to attract people to this place. How can the ucpac have a show and no where open for folks to grab abite to eat. PLEASE promote the town!!!!!
So move out of Rahway and live somewhere else. Too many haters on this board.
Pointing out what is lacking isn't hating..it's giving opinion of how one feels. I've lived in the town for 30 years and haven't given up on it..so don't tell me I'm a hater. Typical response of someone who has no solutions or the capacity to understand constructive criticism.
As far as UCPAC is concerned, again, nothing to draw younger people who: rent more, eat out more often, and spend more than people going to see Bobby Vinton (just an example nothing against him as a performer but I doubt he sells out or draws anyone under 40). Compared to the Monmouth County PAC – Union County doesn't even come close in programming.
I wouldn't call Dr. J, or others, haters either. If I could disagree I would, but he (and others) makes valid points: still a weak downtown, landlords having difficulty filling stores, weekend hours, weak UCAC lineup. He and comments like Realist bring valid, reasoned perspectives to the discussion. Thanks.
Just to add my .02 cents. The down town is a bit better. The restaurants and the tea shop are an upgrade. The issue about being closed on weekends that is not uncommon in cities. I traveled to many cities last year and I have to say that downtown's are often wastelands on weekends. It happened in parts of Seattle, Cincinnati, and others. What we need to more people to live in the area and hopefully we are reaching that point. I know that my wife and I and some friends spent a Saturday night downtown 2 weeks ago. We went to the auction at the Gilded Lilly then to the Waiting Room for dinner then to Kataluma Chai for dessert. Get out there people then there will be even more to do.
I feel like you too Mark may be spending more time on the negative side of the fence. This economy has been the worst since the Great Depression and despite best efforts, it's going to affect bars, restaurants, and downtown projects in ALL cities (similiar to Joe C's point). There's not much anything can be done in that environment until the economy improves (which hopefully it sounds like its starting to do)However, when you take into consideraton the improvements over the last 5 years and the plans going forward I think things are moving in the right direction. I would expect more celebration over the things we have come to gain over the last few years and encouragement to go out and experience the good things Rahway has to offer (again to Joe C's previous point).