Thousands of tons of soil must be removed and taken to another site in addition to some remediation at the site of a proposed five-story rental complex near Lot B on Main Street.
Continue reading Soil removal next for proposed Lot B project
Tag Archives: The Westbury
Lot B: A street runs through it
Monroe Street would stretch across Main Street between two five-story apartment buildings and connect with West Cherry Street in a concept plan presented to the Redevelopment Agency last month.Former Westbury site back on track?
The owner of several Main Street parcels that had been envisioned years ago as a retail/residential development with a parking deck is interested in adding a neighboring parcel as it restarts efforts on the site.
Dornoch declared in default
The Redevelopment Agency this month declared Dornoch Holdings in default of its redevelopment agreements on The Westbury and The Savoy, which has entered the foreclosure process with Wachovia Bank/Wells Fargo for failure to repay construction financing.
Interim parking coming soon to Lot B
The City Council tonight awarded a $30,000 contract for the construction of an interim parking lot on Main Street, which should be completed within several weeks.
Matawan-based Esposito Construction was awarded the contract in the amount of $29,652.95. Funds for the interim lot were included within a $200,000 bond ordinance also approved tonight that also will fund demolition of 65 E. Cherry St. and installation of a fence around The Savoy site at Main and Monroe streets. Mounds of asphalt millings have been staged at the site for the resurfacing, which must be completed in time for next month’s Hot Rods & Harleys event, according to Redevelopment Director and City Administrator Peter Pelissier.
The interim lot is expected to add about 100 spaces to the existing 65, which the Parking Authority will lease from Dornoch Holdings — the developer which originally proposed to build The Westbury — for $1 annually in exchange for property taxes on the site being waived. The idea for an interim lot was proposed in fall 2009 when it became clear the mixed-used development wasn’t coming online anytime soon. [Link in italics added 4/16]
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An advisory issued last week by NJ Transit indicated that construction of the center stairs at the train station — which have been closed for a year — is expected to begin in “mid-April.”
Lot B parking project coming soon
A story in The Star-Ledger/nj.com earlier this month included a couple of tidbits about two downtown projects:
* The plan to add about 100 parking spaces to the existing 65 at Lot B could break ground this month and be ready by October. Dornoch at one point had planned to build The Westbury, a mixed-use, 152-unit residential structure with accompanying parking deck.
While that project is on hold, the Rahway Parking Authority will lease the lot from Dornoch for $1 a year in exchange for property taxes being waived, according to interim RPA director Leonard Bier. The lease is for two years, with an option for a third, but could remain for as long as five years, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.
Dornoch bought up several Main Street parcels about four years ago that now make up the site. Collectively, the property taxes on the sites were about $25,000 — when occupied by buildings — according to records at PropertyShark.com. Taxes are likely to be considerably lower because the structures have since been demolished.
Pelissier said there is demand for parking and if the Parking Authority can lease each of the 100 spaces at $65 per month, it would more than make up for the property taxes that the city would split with the county and school district. (At $65 per month, 100 spaces would generate $78,000 annually). The Parking Authority sometimes sends money back to the city at the end of the year, he added, in some cases as much as $75,000.
* Glen Fishman of Dornoch said financing is still tough to come by but even if construction financing could be secured for The Savoy, “it would take three to six months before we remobilize.” A July 2009 Ledger story quoted Fishman saying work should begin on The Savoy within a month.
Dirt makes way for more parking near Lot B
Temporary sidewalks have been constructed along The Savoy site in recent weeks. The site has stockpiled some of the dirt from across the street adjacent to Lot B where additional surface parking is planned this summer.
‘The Smoldering Hedge Fund’ and Rahway
A fellow local blogger in Plainfield alerted me to a Fortune magazine story from several weeks ago. “The Smoldering Hedge Fund”, a three-month-long investigative story details the troubles of Greenwich, Conn.-based Plainfield Asset Management. What’s this got to do with Rahway?
P & F Management was founded in 2005 as a joint venture of Plainfield Asset Management (PAM) and Glen Fishman of Lakewood-based Fishman Real Estate Enterprises. Fishman is managing partner with Dornoch Holdings, which is owned and operated by P & F Management. Dornoch had multiple projects in the works — The Savoy (photo below), The Westbury — and bought up sever
al other properties downtown for millions at the height of the real estate boom in 2006 with plans for redevelopment. Dornoch also has a project in Plainfield.
Plainfield Asset Management once managed $5 billion but today oversees $3.3 billion, according to Fortune, and “has faced a wave of withdrawal requests, which it contained only by invoking a contract clause and refusing to let investors withdraw money.” Of the $3.3 billion, $2.7 billion represents money from investors who weren’t permitted to leave, and won’t until 2012. As the Fortune story puts it, only $560 million managed by PAM is from people who “actually want the firm to run their money.” The fund continues to charge investors management fees.
Without getting too much further into it, PAM is “fending off suits from borrowers,” according to Fortune, and its “lending practices are now being examined by the New York City’s district attorney.” I encourage you to read the Fortune story in its entirety.
How does this all affect Dornoch’s Rahway projects? It’s unclear exactly but it can’t possibly be good. I’d ask someone at Dornoch but the number to their Hillside offices has been disconnected maybe I’ll pay them a visit. [Feb. 10 UPDATE: Since this original post, I was able to get through on the phone, if only to a maze of voicemail menus and greetings. So apparently the phone is not disconnected.]
Asked about the report in Fortune, Mayor James Kennedy said he never heard of P&F Management and doesn’t know who Fishman’s partners are, while City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said he was aware of a Holland-based hedge fund backing Dornoch.