As construction and planning for new developments continues downtown, at least one real estate investment firm is aiming to acquire and upgrade existing properties in Rahway.
Redevelopment officials have met with HudsonFive at the firm’s request. A real estate firm based in Lyndhurst, HudsonFive specializes in infill, sometimes called “land recycling,” acquiring and rehabilitating two- to five-family homes before putting them back on the market. The private investment firm focuses on the acquisition and redevelopment of “undervalued” residential and commercial real estate.
Redevelopment Director Leonard Bier, who briefed commissioners at the Redevelopment Agency’s January meeting, said there is a concern to address existing housing and smaller developments as new construction focuses on larger developments. HudsonFive isn’t necessarily looking for anything from the Redevelopment Agency, such as a redeveloper’s agreement, he said, but looking for support and making the city aware of their interest and efforts.
A review of property transactions indicates that HudsonFive already has acquired a Rahway property: a three-story mixed-use property at 1519 Main St. (Tokar Services Inc.) for $90,000 last October, according to property records. Assessed at $202,400, the site had property tax bill of about $13,267 last year. “This mix-use building will be the first of many properties we hope to purchase in the up and coming hot spot for urban development,” according to a post on their blog.
They plan a complete facade renovation to restore the original architecture, “but with a modern touch,” along with updating the infrastructure. In addition to first-floor commercial space, the property has a pair of two-bedroom, one-bathroom units on the upper floors.
UPDATE: On March 18, a fire started on the roof, where workers were doing repairs, and it appeared the cause was accidental, according to this report by MyCentralJersey.com.
In recent months, the neighboring building at 1513 Main St. was among four foreclosed properties snapped up by a developer.
This can only be a good thing.
I lived next door at 1521 Main for a couple of years, over the non defunct cell phone store. The ground level of the building next door, 1519, was used as a “catering hall” but it was more of a night club keeping us awake to all hours of the night. 1521 shares a party wall with that building, and the loud, thumping music would reverberate to badly we were constantly calling the police to intervene.
Also, tenants on the upper floors of 1519 used the roof area not only as an egress to the parking lot in back of Main Street, a prohibited use, but also would allow their dogs to use the roof as a toilet area. Talk about unlawful. We’d be woken up by dogs barking at our second floor bedroom window, let alone the piles of dog feces left to rot in our view.
To say we were happy to leave would be an understatement.