More than half of the 209 condominium units at Sky View at Carriage City Plaza are under contract with the first 30 expected to close this month and the rest by the end of August, according to representatives of Silcon Group.
Representatives also said they have an agreement in principal with a national steakhouse brand that’s well known in New Jersey to occupy the restaurant at Carriage City, and expect to make an announcement in the next 30 days.
Silcon paid water connection fees to the city of $331,194 on June 30 and asked the Redevelopment Agency to defer half of the $10,000 development fee, owed at the closing of each unit. The Redevelopment Agency last week agreed to defer the fee on each unit until the amount of water fee payment is reached (roughly 66 units), at which time the redeveloper will repay the deferred amount.
Redevelopment Agency officials said initial closings are anticipated in early July, with approximately 80 units under contract and expected to close over the next 90 days. Silcon representatives, however, reported about 110 units under contract.
I wonder if any of the penthouses were sold. It’s not a very attractive building. I’m sure it will look better when they are all done and there are businesses on the 1st level, but the exterior materials and color scheme used look pretty bad. Is it just me, b/c it looks like they need to powerwash the building already? But regardless, I guess it’s good they sold half the units already. Anyone reading this move in yet? How do you like it?
Considering how long these units have been on the market, selling half is nothing to brag about. Makes you wonder if these units were over-priced to begin with.Can they reduce prices without destroying the investment of those who already purchased? How does the condo association operate without half of their income?
Took Rahway Station Cab to EWR two weeks ago. Driver starts talking about Rahway and its great turnaround but says one of his regular pickups bought a PH in Skyview when it was still just plans on paper for $860k and wants to “sell the damn thing”. Best offer he got so far was $300k and the guy is supposedly in a panic and wants to jump off a bridge. I am sure the guy was just talking smack.Anecdotes shmanicdotes.
geeze, realist, who’s the idiot that would pay 860k for an APARTMENT in NJ and not expect to loose money? (With that money why wouldn’t they buy an apartment in the city, anyway?)That story doesn’t make much sense to me.
luis – I am not sure when the first sales went through on Skyview but if it was more than two years ago at the height of the RE boom, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did pay $800+ for a top floor view of Manhattan. Especially if they thought RE only ever goes up in value. They figured it would be worth over $1 mil by the time the doors opened. (People have certainly pulled this off successfully if they bought in ’03-’04 and sold by beg. of ’06).This is a quote from a July 27, 2007 article in the Star Ledger about Skyview: “Its two-bedroom units are being marketed for around $350,000, while the tower’s 13 penthouses will be priced at $800,000 and up, Silva said.”They asked for $800+, why would you think someone wouldn’t pay it?As for why someone wouldn’t just buy in the city with that much money, I assume you mean NYC and 860 in NYC doesn’t get you much. A decent 1BR maybe. Not a 1600+sf penthouse with views of Manhattan.
Penthouse apartment aren’t even being offered yet so not sure where you are getting your information.
I said “anecdote shmanicdote”. C’mon folks. Do you not speak yiddish? It means take it with a grain of salt, pish posh… the greasy taxi cab dude’s thoughts on the Rahway RE market are not worth more than the spit he emitted while he spoke.Don’t worry all you Skyview investors and owners. You all made a great investment and will be rewarded with either a beautiful and convenient place to live where coffee and smoothies are abundant, or a solid return on your RE investment with terrific rental income and phenomenal gains. You should all be celebrating.So anonymous, where are you getting YOUR information? At least I added a disclaimer to my taxi cab comment and a bona fide source (Star Ledger) for the price point info I shared. What-you-got? Did you call Silcon and ask for info on the penthouses? Do share.
Yes I did call Silcon actually. You can call them if you’d like.732.340.0404
I also know for a fact that the penthouses have not been offered for sale yet so whatever was mentioned about them isn’t true. He was definitely talking smack!!
(pdf link to article)http://tinyurl.com/55d46y
we are a young couple thinking of purchasing a home in the downtown section of rahway (the current crummy state of the neighborhood does not bother us greatly). How soon do you guys think the downtown area will be completed? and when it is do you feel the property value for homes in rahway will increase?
RAHWAY IS A NICE TOWN I HAVE LIVED HERE OVER THREE YEARS HAVEN’T HAD ONE PROBLEM. ONLY THING THE TOWN NEEDS IS MORE FOOD CHOICES THAT ARE FAMILY FOCUSED AND ALITTLE MORE MODERN
I agree. Besides upgrading some of the stores in downtown, I’ve lived in downtown for 4 years and never had one problem.
On a more important note: When does the rooftop bar OPENNNNNNN?????
How many people will jump or get push off the rooftop bar? cheeeeeeeeers,bam!
Young gal — In my mind, it’s going to be a few more years before the whole cycle of development really takes off in Rahway. But the terrific train access will always mean that downtown real estate has value, especially if gas prices stay the way they are.It’s a great town. Very diverse and full of potential.
Young gal – Don’t buy in Rahway (or anywhere else) unless you’re planning on a 5-10 year stay. You don’t want to risk having to sell in a tough economic climate that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Relative to other towns, Rahway is not a good value unless you need the train access for a city commute, only 30 minutes through the Skyview NJT Wormhole. Otherwise you will be paying a hefty premium in order to walk to a smoothie joint. Other towns offer much bigger units for substantially less than the price of a 1-BR at Skyview or the lofts next to the station. If you have your heart set on Rahway consider single family homes in the nicer sections – they’re a better value than the condos at this point, and you’ll hedge yourself against having to move in a few years to accomodate a growing family if that’s something you want.
@realistWhy are you taking a cab to EWR, when the train is right there????
@ James TK>>Why are you taking a cab to EWR,>>when the train is right there????Its more convenient.When I have to travel for business I use car service from the airport to home and a cab from Rahway to the airport. When I get off a flight at 11pm after a long business trip, the last thing I want to do is wait for the Airtran and pray that a NJT train is going to roll through the EWR station within a few minutes. Late nights the train sometimes won’t come for half hour stretches. I use car service to avoid the taxi dispatch at EWR which can add 15 min to the trip even if there is an abundance of cabs waiting.I take a cab to the airport because its faster to take 1&9 than the train. Typically I leave on either a 6:30am flight or a 3pm flight so traffic is never very bad. Its about a 20 minute trip from door to check-in kiosk. Also, I frequently have a lot of documents I need to travel with in addition to my carry-on luggage and its heavy so I try to avoid having to lug it from place to place.When I see travelers on the NJT trains during rush hour, it always looks like a miserable experience. The overhead racks aren’t big enough to hold most luggage, the trains are crowded and they have to fight to get off the trains before the doors close and the conductors admonish them to get their luggage out of the aisles.Its a great resource to have if you need to save money and can travel during off hours.
young gal,My guess is that we will see another 3 years of home value declines in Rahway followed by another 3-4 years of flat prices (negative if you include inflation) before values begin to rise again. There may be a few hiccups of slight increases followed by further declines as happened during the last RE cycle but overall, I would rent vs. buy if you are going to need to move within a 5-7 year time period. If you are in it for the long haul, there are lots of places for sale downtown. Some of the things that I have found troubling about homes I have looked at might not bother you (e.g. boarded-up homes next door, back seat of a car being used as front porch seating, etc.)If these things don’t bother you, you should have no issues finding a decent place downtown. I admit that I just can’t get comfortable moving my family into these homes.I have also seen some very beautiful Victorians as well as new construction homes but with taxes in excess of $10k a year or locations on a busy street, I can’t justify the $400k+ asking prices.I keep looking though.
not trying to knock you realist. but i do have a question, do you live in rahway? and if so how long? why do you knock the town i actually lived in bergen county for 7 years before i moved here, and for all the money ispent up there this town has alot to offer as far as children are concerned ie.. rec center state of the art library, my daughters played basketball in the p/a/l for 40.00 dollars included uniform, soccer for 40.00 they had fun. so tell me whats your angle
I’m suspicious of realist’s comments as well. I wonder why he seems to knock Rahway. I’ve lived here most of my life and love the town and it’s only getting better! As we all know, the economy isn’t very good right now and that will hurt a bit as the town keeps trying to redevelop but check with the realtors and see if they have had a problem selling houses. You’ll be surprised by the answers …even in this market!! The way he described the cab driver as “greasy” may give an indication of his motives and the type of person he/she might be.
anonymous asks:>> i do have a question,>> do you live in rahway?>> and if so how long?I do live in Rahway and have lived here since August of 2007.>> why do you knock the townI offer my opinions on Rahway’s state of being as I see it. It may not be sugar-coated to suit your tastes but I call ’em like I see ’em. Some people take my comments as “knocks” to the town but I have said in previous posts that there are some things I like very much about Rahway. How long have you been posting anonymously on this blog? If you go back more than a few months, you will remember that I posted a “things I like about Rahway” list a while back. Look for it and if you don’t like my opinions on Rahway, you can always switch the channel and read some other postings or blogs.I agree that this town does have a lot to offer children and my family particularly enjoys the toddler programs they have at the library.>> so tell me whats your angleI have always been a big fan of the obtuse angle although a nice right angle suits me from time to time.OK, geometric literalism aside, if by “angle” you mean do I have some ulterior motive for my posts, the answer is, no I don’t. I could understand you asking this question if I was saying things like “Rahway sucks but Linden is awesome.” Perhaps I would be a RE agent in Linden looking to drum up business. Or maybe if I said things like “Rahway will never succeed until it has more restaurants like Cubanu”. Maybe I could be the owner of Cubanu trying to drum up business. But I have never said those things because I am not a RE agent or a restaurant owner. I’m just a person who lives in Rahway and doesn’t see things through rose-colored glasses.Thanks for your interest.Now, Lola writes:>> I’m suspicious of realist’s>> comments as well.As well you should be Lola! Never believe anything you see written on the internet and certainly not something written by a blog poster. Question all of it. On that note:>> check with the realtors and>> see if they have had a problem>> selling houses. You’ll be>> surprised by the answersWould you ask a car salesman if the car you are about to buy is selling well? Is s/he really going to tell you that very few qualified buyers are even looking to buy a car right now and that the particular model you are looking at is one with terrible resale value?Lola, show me some facts and figures that indicate that the Rahway market is doing better than other Northern/Central Jersey RE markets but please don’t tell me you are going to take the word of a used house salesperson. You are smarter than that.http://tinyurl.com/5cxy8oLook at the number of pre-foreclosures, bank-owned and homes up for auction on this map. It does not indicate a healthy market.>> The way he described the cab>> driver as “greasy” may give an>> indication of his motives and>> the type of person he/she might>> be.Really? What are my motives? What type of person am I? The cab driver had more pomade in his hair than Kenickie and all the dudes at Rydell High put together.Stop the paranoia folks. I live here but I doubt anything I could say would prove it to you. What do you want me to do, post a copy of my library card? No wait, you would just say I borrowed someone else’s.I bought some crappy bread at the Farmer’s market this Thursday just to encourage the sellers to keep coming back. $4 for some tasteless organic bread. I even tipped the woman! I asked for some pumpkin ravioli from the guy selling ravioli. He said they didn’t bring their full stock of 40 flavors even though pumpkin is one of the flavors they had posted as being for sale. He checked his truck for my second favorite, butternut squash. Also didn’t bring that. Plenty of cheese ravioli though. I passed up Schieferstein’s overpriced corn, walked past the 6 PSEG trucks in front of Skyview putting up the new street lamps and headed to Taste of Portugal for some lunch. The owner was trying to get the kids attending the Rahway School of Dance to stop walking in and out of his shop so much… wasting the A/C he yelled to them. I got myself a nice sandwich on a very fresh Portuguese roll and went back home to finish my work for the day. Go quiz the farmers market folks and the ToP guy if you don’t believe me.And now let me ask a question. The store near the corner of Cherry and Main that used to have a “Southern Food” etching on the window recently had its windows replaced. Anyone know who rented out this space and what its going to be?
listen partner wasn’t trying to offend you and if i did i apologize . I was just trying to understand where you are coming from with your post. I just happen to guage the town also and i see progress maybe not fast enough for some folks. But just hoping for the greater good for this town i plan on being here along time.
No offense taken. I do feel from time to time that my authenticity as a Rahway resident comes into question so I try to provide some detail on my day-to-day life that will give people more faith in my commentary as someone who lives here and isn’t just passing through or purposefully baiting the readers of this fine blog.I admit I am not as patient as some and would like to see more ‘improvements’ faster but I also understand from those who have lived here for years that the state of downtown is light years ahead of what it used to be just 5 years ago so I will give credit where credit is due. I post from the perspective of someone who will have to decide over the next year or two if I am going to plant roots in downtown Rahway or move someplace that is further along in its development. It is frustrating because from block to block, house to house, you see the beauty and you see the beast. If I had the money, I would buy up all the dilapidated properties on the blocks where I would like to move and fix them up but I don’t have that kind of bankroll.I only wish Rahway well.