Developers of Park Square are in “serious discussions” with a tea and coffehouse, as well as an optometrist for half the commercial space, according to Eric Harvitt of Landmark Companies.
The first major residential redevelopment project to break ground downtown, Park Square is expected be ready for occupancy by August. It is comprised of 159 luxury rental one- and two-bedroom apartments and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space along Irving Street between Elm and Elizabeth avenues. Since the retail space can be subdivided, the number of tenants will depend on their size.
Construction has begun on the Main Street side of the project, which will mirror the Irving Street side. Formerly home to Cliff Hardware and other properties, including a boarding house on Elm, Park Square broke ground in October 2006.
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Well Mark you finally may be able to get a good cup of java downtown soon, that’s great to hear! With a vision shop I’ll be able to see what I’m drinking too. Lets hope that’s a good thing!!
I’m curious what the rental prices will be here. The owners of River Place don’t seem to mind the competition much as they have been steadly raising rent prices and have a long waiting list to get in. Will be interesting to see what happens when Park is completed.
Scott, Park Square posted prices on their website. They’re pricing starts at about $1600 and have pretty good layouts. I live in River Place and the I found out that the project manager for the River Place construction is the same one who’s manager the Park Square construction. Also, River Place doesn’t seem too concerned since the site will be a construction site for at least a year or so.
I understand not wanting to live in an apartment complex while there is construction going on outside your window so until the entire project is complete, I don’t see River Place being competitive on price, especially while they are 99%+ occupied (as someone reported on this blog I think.)However, unless RiverPlace is exempt from the general rules of supply and demand, it can’t continue to raise its prices aggressively unless:(1) demand for Rahway apartments increases by the exact number of newly available apt’s in Park Square plus all the Skyview condos that are being rented outand/or(2) River Place owners are content to be 90% occupied at market leading rents.There are 4BR homes on .3 acre lots in the neighboring town of Clark that you can rent for $2300. Unless you are willing to pay quite a premium for living in downtown Rahway and its promised coffee shops, there are more opportunities for suburban living at low cost popping up every day.
Realist I agree but at the same time with your logic it seems that Park Square is getting off to the wrong foot since they are starting off more expensive than River Place. In regards to living in the suburbs, I’d say it would have to depend on your situation. Currently I work in Hoboken and my wife is a grad student in Manhattan. We only have one car and I have to drive to work since my office isn’t convenient to the train station. We’ve considered areas outside of downtown but realized we would be forced to purchase a second car, pay for additional insurance and pay for a parking spot near a train station. Also, we lived in a two family before coming to rahway and although our rent was cheaper our utilities were 4 times the amount we currently pay at River Place. So that would be a consideration as well. So although we can get a 4 br house in clark, which seems enticing, we’re better off paying the steeper rents at River Place. Not to say this logic should be applied for everyone. I do believe there are those better who’ll benefit more from the house rental than the downtown rentals. The great thing is both are offered and I believe as changes continue to occur, demand will go up and supply will start to level out.
Alexis,I ran the numbers on the psf costs for the Park Square places and they are on average 3.4% higher than River Place. There are so many individual decisions that go into deciding where to live but given the option of seeing “tree-lined streets” outside my apt. or The Backporch Grill/Nile or Golden Age Towers, I choose trees. (OK, I know it depends which apt you live in at River Place but many of the units in the building closer to the train station don’t have views of anything very appealing.) So, given the brand new construction (vs. the very new construction of RP), they can ask for 3-4% more in rent I think.Personally, I wish they had priced at the same rates or lower than RP so that rents in general around the area would come down, but I am a renter so of course I will feel that way.I also hear you on the suburbs vs. downtown option. I know lots of people with a baby who live in a cramped 1BR apt. in Manhattan because its convenient. They pay crazy prices for this convenience and I wish I could afford it but I need more space so I live in Rahway and take the train. Eventually will demand catch up to supply? I think so. But how long is the million dollar question… 5 years, 10 years…. 20?