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| Corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Main Street |
The second building of Park Square, one of the first cornerstone projects of downtown redevelopment efforts, should be ready for occupation starting in June.
Joel Schwartz, principal with Keasbey-based developer Landmark Companies, appeared before the Redevelopment Agency at its meeting last week to provide an update on the 159-unit complex. He last appeared before the agency in late 2009 for an update.
Schwartz expects the second building to obtain certificates of occupancy one floor at a time — which also was done with the first building — so it should be fully occupied by about September. He said the second building boasts larger windows and more space. One-bedroom units list for starting rents of $1,600, two-bedrooms at about $2,000.
The project first broke ground nearly five years ago (October 2006) and the first building on the Irving Street side, which houses 63 of the units, was completed just about two years ago, beginning leasing in summer 2009. The Irving Street side also has 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space which is fully occupied, with five tenants, and Schwartz said the rental units are 100 percent occupied, with some turnover. The Main Street building, without any retail space, houses the remaining 96 units.
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| Corner of Elm Avenue and Main Street |
Schwartz presented renderings that were part of Planning Board hearings in 2004 and 2005, and compared them to present-day photos of the project, as well as what the 2.4-acre site looked like before construction. He said they took a two-pronged approach: first, to redevelop in the spirit of what had been downtown, and second, to incorporate the best of redevelopment efforts from around the state and country. Some of the areas that inspired Park Square include Princeton’s Palmer Square, Forest Hills in Queens and Lake Forest, Ill. As time goes by, Schwartz hopes the complex has more of a connection with Merck as well as be more actively involved in the day-to-day activity of downtown.
The entire complex has 159 units and 205 parking spaces, including ground level parking on the Irving Street side, and two levels of parking on the Main Street side. [Note: The photos above are from last fall]
Nice to see this project nearing completion. The stated rents seem high to me, that said, I think the Park Square buildings look appropriate in that location. It would be nice if the addition of more downtown residents can give a shot in the arm to the downtown businesses in Rahway. Here's hoping.
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As a River Place resident, the rents are about on par. That being said, when I checked them out last year, their 2 bedrooms were all in the 2.2-2.3k/mo range which seemed a bit much.
If those rents are realistic in this area, then the condo prices in the neighborhood are the best bargain imaginable.
That's what I was getting at. I see 2 bedroom condos in Skyview listed for sale at 99K. Even assuming you paid full asking price, and put down a minimal 3K, you're looking at a monthly nut of about $800 plus condo fees. I have no idea what the condo fees are, but I am sure they are not $1200/month which is what it would take to bring you up to the 2K/month (and up) of the stated Park Square rents.Park Square seems nice, but the stated rents seem awfully high for Rahway.
That's normal for the housing cycle, though: Condos get way overvalued on the way up and far undervalued on the way down. River Place rents have stayed stable throughout, without any big vacancy changes, which tells me $2000 a month for a 2-bedroom is about right.If you're sitting on cash, buy some condos now.
Geez. Dumping the house that's sucking me dry financially and buying a 2BR condo for only $99,000; so I don't have a mortgage to worry about is sounding very appealing at this point *sighs*
Can someone tell me where are the listing for the condos (for sale) in Skyview ?Thanks.
There are some listed here:http://new.gsmls.com/publicsite/
When you are trying to equate your mortgage calculation to the rent you are forgetting a lot of variablesMortgage + Taxes + Maintenance + House Repairs/Incidentals = True Cost of owning.I bought unfortunately at Port Liberte in Jersey City on the waterfront.Park Square is offering 1 month free, so I am going to be renting the largest 2 bedroom they have.. it will come out to 2100 or so a month.
"When you are trying to equate your mortgage calculation to the rent you are forgetting a lot of variables"Who is forgetting variables? The $800/month in my post above factors in mortgage + property taxes, and I mentioned that you'd have to add monthly condo maintenance fees, whatever they are for Skyview I'm not sure. True, if you are the owner, you will pay for whatever little home repairs you need in your condo. With new construction (Skyview is a new building, just like Park Square) I can't imagine a Skyview owner needing to spend much money on "repairs" each month, but fair enough add a little something in for that.Still, $800/month (plus monthly condo fees and any incidental repairs you need to make as an owner) is bound to be much, much cheaper than $2,000 – $2,375 that Park Square is asking for their 2 bedroom rental units.Of course, there are other reasons to rent versus buy, but usually there is a standard relationship between the cost to rent versus the cost to own, and it just seems that Park Square's stated prices are higher than would seem justified. (Of course, it's likely that that's just their asking rental prices, and that actual rents are much lower.)
Does anyone have feedback about Park Square and the area that it is in? We've seen the apartments and they look pretty nice. However, the main street area behind the new building seems a little iffy between main and grand ave, may be more industrial. Is the area safe to walk around in the evenings?Thanks!