The Planning Board is expected to consider an application at its next meeting for the Center Circle property on Main Street. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday and is open to the public.
Tag Archives: Diversified Communities
Foreclosed Riverwalk units will become rentals
The 19 Riverwalk townhouses that went into foreclosure will be turned into rental units before the end of the year.
Englewood-based Real Estate Equities Group acquired the 19 townhouses for $111,842 each, according to property records, which works out to a total of roughly $2,124,998.
Greg Van Cleef of Real Estate Equities Group said renovations to the existing townhouses should be completed by Dec. 15. One unit was completed prior to acquisition but others only had rough work done, with plywood floors and Sheetrock. Renovations will include granite counter tops and other amenities.
Rents will range from $2,250 to $3,000, according to Van Cleef. The 19 units are two-bedrooms with a den but some have garages while others have lofts. The foreclosed units range from 1,350 to 1,745 square feet. Tax assessments range from $151,000 (one unit) to $179,300 (three units), with property taxes from a low of $9,131 to highs of $10,842. The 19 units have a total tax assessment of $3.2 million, with an average assessment of $168,437, yielding an average property tax bill of $10,186. Eight are located on Genovese Lane, another five on Hancock Street, and three each on Danchetz Court and Barnhardt Lane.
Real Estate Equities Group specializes in apartment rentals and this is their first property in Rahway, attracted by the proximity to downtown and the train station, according to Van Cleef.
More than half of the owner-occupied Riverwalk units have successfully appealed their tax assessments in recent years (about 24 in 2011 and eight in 2012). Collectively, the 86 Riverwalk units had a tax assessment of $14.4 million, yielding almost $825,000 in property taxes before appeals. The overall assessments have since dropped by 5 percent, to a total $13.6 million. About 30 units that sold have not appealed their tax assessments.
 |
| (File photo) |
The average sale price for the 68 Riverwalk units sold by the original developer was about $444,000, an aggregate sum of nearly $32 million, according to my calculations. Fewer than 10 units sold a second time, and many at significantly lower prices.
Bank Of America foreclosed on remaining unsold Riverwalk units in late 2009. Now-defunct Diversified Communities constructed a total of 86 townhomes as part of the Essex Street-area development, with many selling for $400,000 and $500,000 during the housing boom around 2006 and 2007, but 19 went unsold before the developer skipped town. The $5.255-million Sheriff’s Sale on the 19 unsold units took place Aug. 15, 2012 and was acquired by VFC Properties in Waco, Texas, a part of FirstCity Financial Corporation, which is dedicated primarily to “distressed asset acquisitions and special situations investments.” This was the first sale after the foreclosure.
Sheriff’s sale of Riverwalk this week
Postponed twice, the Union County Sheriff’s Sale of the 19 unsold, foreclosed Riverwalk townhouses is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday (Aug. 16). The $5.255-million sheriff’s sale originally was scheduled in February, then postponed again in April on the townhouses that went into foreclosure in late 2009.
Sheriff’s sale on Riverwalk units next month
A $5.255-million sheriff’s sale on the remaining 19 unsold townhouses at Riverwalk is scheduled for Feb. 8, Redevelopment Agency attorney Frank Regan reported to commissioners at their meeting earlier this month. Bank of America likely will purchase the 19 units at the sheriff’s sale and then look to sell them, Regan told commissioners.
Foreclosure on the 19 unsold units began in late 2009. A total of 86 units were built, with a plan to add more on an adjacent parcel that never materialized. About two dozen Riverwalk units that are owned won judgments on their tax appeals last year, seeing their assessments reduced by as much as $20,000 and their taxes by $1,000.
***
Well, check this out: A study by the National Trust for Historic Preservation claims that retrofitting an existing building to make it 30 percent more efficient will “essentially always remain a better bet for the environment than a new building built tomorrow with the same efficiencies,” according to The Atlantic.
Capodagli designated redeveloper
A month after being presented with a conceptual plan for a 116-unit rental complex behind Rahway Public Library, the Redevelopment Agency designated Capodagli Property Company as redeveloper at its meeting on May 4.
Guest blog post: ‘Change’ that works?
Note: This is a guest blog post submitted by a reader under the pseudonym, Silence DoGood. While I may frown on anonymous comments on blog posts, this is not anonymous; I know who the writer is, however, they hope the merits of their arguments (not their identity) will carry the day when it comes to passing judgment on what they present. And in case you’re wondering: no, the writer is not me, nor is it anyone running for office. Both major party candidates for mayor have been invited to submit a guest column in the coming weeks.
***
Dear Neighbor,
Perhaps you had the benefit of receiving a letter from our fine City Council At-large members and our county freeholder, Rick Proctor, seeking support in the Democratic primaries in June. I don’t normally take to commenting on things but it seems like with all things in life, there is a time and a place. This time it came to my mailbox and while I realize that the challengers lost, I think this will be a similar argument against the Republicans or any other challengers to the established Democratic Party candidates.
A great many things have occurred to me recently but I will get to those in due time. For now, two items catch my notice. First, the letter described what can only be conflicting if not altogether hypocritical stances. “We are proud of the accomplishments and represent ‘Change that Works for Rahway,'” and yet just a few lines down, they note “now is not the time for on the job training.” So what type of change do we need here? Or is this similar to — and I hate to use this as a reference — Fox News (9:10 of video), which slams polls when they support Obama and then touts those same polls when they serve their interests, like stopping universal health care.
Secondly, “Change that works”… yes, we do have a hulking new hotel downtown, and certainly there are other projects that were built over the past eight to 10 years or so, like the parking deck across from the refurbished train station. But are they all working for Rahway? The mailing mentioned three items/issues that Democrats appear to have a handle on: stable property taxes, economic growth, and preservation of quality of life.
Stable property taxes
Does anyone remember the sewer fees that were separated from our property tax bills that were supposed to save us tax hikes — but left us with quarterly bills for water and sewer charges that, according to my math, are actually a hike? Check your old property tax bills against your last year’s worth of sewer bills if you don’t believe me.
Economic growth
What about the heap of dirt that sat across from the unfinished construction on Main Street, which at one time eventually became covered with grass and weeds because it sat so long. I hear we have a great new piano for loan but hardly a pedestrian on the street to listen to it, even if it was played. And do you recall the lawsuit with overzealous developers just across from the library that leaves the city and us taxpayers holding the tab for street improvements?
Quality of life
I know it is subjective but could an uglier building (the new hotel) have been built, any more out of scale with the downtown? One that I hope won’t become public housing considering lawsuits, lack of residents and possible foreclosure. I believe it took three years for sidewalks to go back on Main Street in front of the rusted steel fingers pointing to the sky, as if asking when they will be covered with walls and a roof.
Perhaps less subjective is the lack of attention to the repair of the steps at the NJ Transit train station. Why aren’t our city representatives being more proactive on our behalf to have this fixed?
A pocket park on the corner of Monroe and Essex? Maybe I’m not as progressive as some, or don’t quite think we have the same feel as say Brooklyn, or am I just not impressed with the other pocket park across the street from the arts center — which cost taxpayers a pretty penny. Smells more like a favor to a political supporter…
Or is this the change that all incumbents say you shouldn’t offer their opponents? To be honest, I can’t remember a time in the recent past when times weren’t a little difficult for the average citizen in this country. I’m not sure their opponents can do a better job and, to be fair, there have been accomplishments to the town that I have overlooked. But is it really fair to claim that change that works for Rahway means not giving someone else a chance to serve our community? Have they cornered the market on good change?
I have other thoughts, but I will save them for another day and another letter.
Sincerely,
Silence DoGood
Developer interested in 19 unsold Riverwalk units
A developer is negotiating with Bank of America to acquire the 19 unsold Riverwalk units that have gone into foreclosure.
Redevelopment Agency attorney Frank Regan told commissioners last week that the city has provided the developer with information regarding the outstanding issues at Riverwalk, namely on-site improvements that remain undone and reimbursement to the city for work that was completed in the spring. The developer requested that the city not identify them, Regan said, adding that the developer is familiar with the city and and its redevelopment efforts.
Bank of America has started the foreclosure process on 19 unsold Riverwalk units, seven of which the city planned to pursue for property taxes. Diversified Communities built a total 86 townhouses in the Riverwalk project. The developer had ideas to build another 40 on adjacent property but did not due to the cost of remediating environmental issues, and at one point was a player in the Town Center project that was proposed three years ago.
A visit to Diversified’s ‘headquarters’
The talk of foreclosure at Riverwalk and the story from North Carolina about another project abandoned by Diversified Communities got me curious.
I didn’t expect much when I paid a visit to the (former) “corporate headquarters” of Diversified this week and wasn’t disappointed. I’m not sure how long the Parsippany office of Diversified has been vacant, but Suite 110 most certainly is (photo above), despite being listed on the building directory. Actually, most of the building is empty except for what looks like one tenant (photo below).
Although Accent Title Agency hasn’t had its Web site shut down, unlike Diversified, phone numbers for both are disconnected. Accent is described as an independently operated affiliate of Diversified (.pdf, of a brochure), which was founded in 2002 by Ken Schwartz and Richard Weis
sman.
Almost all of the unsold 19 units at Riverwalk are those with balconies facing the Kings Inn motel and incinerator across Routes 1/9, City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Only seven of the 86 units have not paid their property taxes, he added.
***
Jim McKeon’s Broken Hearts Memorial, which was installed at Train Station Plaza this past summer, was picked by MSNBC in a Web-exclusive video story (2:29) this week. You can check it out here.