The New York Times features Ironstate Development in a story on the significant redevelopment efforts underway along Staten Island’s north shore waterfront. Read it HERE!
Category Archives: David & Michael Barry
New Jersey Condo Market Heats Up as Demand Surges
The New York Times ”Square Feet” features Ironstate Development’s Pier Village and 55 Melrose in Long Branch! Read it HERE!
Ironstate’s David Barry makes the NJ BIZ “Power 50″ List
David Barry, President of Ironstate Development Company, named the 11th most powerful person in New Jersey real estate by NJ Biz.
David Barry
Ironstate Development Co.
President
Beyond multifamily housing, his company has become a player in the region’s hotel market, and Barry — along with his brother, Michael — is now expanding Ironstate’s reach beyond traditional hubs like Hoboken and Jersey City. There will be much more to come: Ironstate says it has a $1 billion project pipeline
Just Outside the City, and Building Bedrooms
via RONDA KAYSEN/ The New York Times
HARRISON, N.J. — Sitting in his office, surrounded by Halloween kitsch and posters of building designs, the mayor of Harrison talks like a man who has been selling an idea for a long time. After 15 years, his vision to transform this long-forsaken industrial town into a bedroom community for single, young professionals is finally taking shape.
A flurry of development is under way in this 1.2-mile-long town along the Passaic River, across from Newark. A 275-unit upscale apartment building was fully leased within seven months of its 2011 opening. On the heels of that success, other developers have broken ground on residential, retail and commercial projects in a redevelopment zone that circles the town’s New Jersey PATH station.
{SNIP}
“Harrison is really like new build,” said David Barry, president of Ironstate Development Company, which built 300 Somerset Street with thePegasus Group. “We’re creating a neighborhood from whole cloth and trying to give it a sense of place.”
By the end of the year, the team will break ground on the Element hotel, an extended-stay hotel that will charge visitors about $150 a night. The seven-story hotel will sit across the street from 300 Somerset, wrapping around a 1,440-car garage the team built in 2010. The Hudson County Improvement Authority operates the garage and Harrison receives the revenue from it. Eventually, Ironstate and Pegasus plan to build five more apartment buildings with about 2,000 units and 67,000 square feet of retail.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
An Ironclad Growth Plan
BARRY BROTHERS MAKE IRONSTATE A SUCCESS BY STICKING TO DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
By Joshua Burd
Ironstate Development principals David, left, and Michael Barry at the site of 18 Park, a 422-unit residential building in Jersey City.
The ability to stick to a plan has always been a key strength of David and Michael Barry. Like their father and grandfather, who founded the development business they now lead, the brothers have stayed atop the industry by staying true to a strategy of building their multifamily and mixed-use projects around the state’s bustling urban centers.
But that hasn’t stopped Ironstate Development from evolving under the brothers’ watch. In recent years, the firm has become a player in the region’s hotel market, and the Barrys are now expanding its reach beyond traditional hubs like Hoboken and Jersey City.
“We’re not single-family homebuilders, we’re not suburban office builders, we’re not strip mall builders or any of those things,” David Barry said from his firm’s Hoboken office. “So when you talk about what we do, which is building multifamily at scale, you need places that are going to accommodate that.”
Multifamily has weathered the storms of the troubled real estate market, helping to expand Ironstate’s pipeline and portfolio in recent years. The development firm of about 50, which descends from the family’s Applied Housing Co., has added more than 1,600 residential units, 55,000 square feet of retail and two hotels since 2007.
The Barrys’ firm now owns and manages more than 6,000 residential units, and has a $1 billion project pipeline that includes another 7,100 units, according to the firm. Its upcoming projects also include 193,500 square feet of retail and some 200 hotel rooms.
Ironstate stuck to its core markets during the recession, completing the signature W Hoboken Hotel and the 93-unit Berkshire, in Hoboken, and large joint venture apartment projects like 225 Grand and 50 Columbus, in Jersey City. The firm also built and opened a luxury rental building in Harrison during the downturn, in what was the first phase of a redevelopment project with the Pegasus Group.
“On the rental side, the economics were still there,” Michael Barry said, noting that the apartment market is “somewhat countercyclical” to condominiums. “So even though the market had fallen apart across the board, there are still opportunities for good, well-placed development, particularly in the rental sector.”
But with space in those areas running low, Ironstate has looked toward new markets to extend its large-scale, transit-centric brand of development. In the past three years, the firm has stepped into the five boroughs of New York, where it now has seven properties or sites under development. That includes a $150 million redevelopment project on Staten Island, where plans call for transforming a former naval base into a waterfront village with 900 residential units and 30,000 square feet of retail.
The firm opened a Manhattan office in February, given that the city “fits that mold and (is) an area where we can leverage our expertise in a profitable fashion,” Michael Barry said.
Despite being third-generation developers, David and Michael Barry said the business was never meant to be a dynasty. The South Orange natives became active with what was Applied Development Co. in the early 1990s, with David joining after a stint as a practicing attorney and Michael after finishing graduate school.
They effectively took the reins and formed Ironstate in 2001 after their father, Joseph Barry, retired as head of the company. And while their work often overlaps, each brother as an owner has his own role: as president of Ironstate Development, David spearheads the firm’s pipeline, while Michael oversees construction and management of the firm’s portfolio as president of Ironstate Holdings LLC.
But together, the Barrys have built the firm’s reputation for creativity and a cutting-edge approach, industry colleagues say, and Ironstate has become a sought-after partner for other developers. For instance, by year’s end, Ironstate and Edison-based Mack-Cali Realty Corp. will break ground on a three-tower rental project of more than 2,000 units on the Jersey City waterfront.
Mack-Cali CEO Mitchell Hersh, whose firm primarily develops office buildings, said the Barrys “bring a great deal of local market knowledge and experience to the table,” plus the ability to put their own equity capital into the project.
Ironstate also is partnering with Kushner Real Estate Group, in Bridgewater, on three upcoming projects totaling 1,500 apartment units in Jersey City. Jonathan Kushner, the firm’s president, said the relationship goes back about seven years, fueled in part by the Barrys’ “forward-thinking” approach and pulse on the market.
“In terms of apartment design and layouts, unit sizes and curb appeal, amenity spaces, lobby designs — they’re always on top of it, and they’re always ahead of the market,” Kushner said.
The brothers also try to guide their residential projects using their hospitality experience, from revamping management systems to putting art in the lobbies.
They have had plenty of practice in recent years, they said: Aside from the W Hoboken, Ironstate in 2009 opened the Bungalow, a boutique hotel that’s part of the ongoing Pier Village development in Long Branch. The firm also recently acquired the former Cooper Square Hotel, in Manhattan, and is renovating it in partnership with hotelier Andre Balazs. Meanwhile, in Harrison, Ironstate is preparing to break ground on a new 136-room hotel, part of its venture with Pegasus.
The Barrys attribute their success in part to how they manage volume, through a close circle of about 10 key executives, and refusal to stray from their expertise in development. Instead, Ironstate brings in professionals in construction, architecture and marketing to cover those project phases.
Such was the case in the early 2000s, when Ironstate set out to build the W Hoboken, one of its first hotel projects. Robert Siegel, the architect, recalled that the brothers hired a prominent consultant for Starwood’s W brand to complement their own experience in the city. Ironstate also allowed his design firm — Gwathmey, Siegel, Kaufman & Associates — to take the creative lead in the 27-story tower.
That sort of collaboration helps lead to success, Siegel said.
“A lot of it has to do with being intelligent enough to find the good opportunities to pursue, and then having the confidence to work with people to make it happen,” he said. “They’re great at that.”
Path to glory
Jersey City development is on the march to greater heights
Like some desperate boy on the make, Brooklyn and Long Island City spent a long time trying to convince apartment hunters to give them a chance.
Now it’s Jersey City’s turn.
Like Hunters Point and Williamsburg, Jersey City is close to Manhattan — only one train stop away (a PATH train, true). But new apartments are a lot cheaper, and a lot more plentiful, here than in the city.
And while new construction often seems stalled or small-ball in the five boroughs, Jersey City is shooting for the moon.
Manhattan trends including eco-friendly living are starting to appear at developments like Madox, the new rental building that will be the first LEED-certified residential building in Jersey City (as well as the first smoke-free one). Madox will open the Paulus Hook neighborhood this fall.
“It might be the first smoke-free [residential] building in New Jersey,” says James Caulfield Jr., a principal with Fields Development Group, which is putting up Madox.
Prices haven’t been set yet for the 131 apartments (there will also be at least two commercial spaces), but one can expect them to be in line with other newer Jersey City luxury properties (in the upper $30-to-lower-$40-per-square-foot range, per year).
In the next 15 months, Paulus Hook will get another boost of development with the Warren at York. This will be a 12-story, 139-unit rental building featuring one-, two- and three-bedrooms that range from 714 to 1,350 square feet.
“We’re going to have a gym, a media lounge, a pool table, a movie screen, sitting areas and a green roof,” says Jonathan Schwartz, senior vice president of BNE Real Estate Group, which is developing the Warren at York.
Clearly, eco-friendly has been accepted by more than one Jersey City developer.
Madox and the Warren at York are smaller than other Jersey City developments in the works. The new 18 Park, which broke ground this summer, will be an 11-story building with 422 apartments; the residences will sit atop the 34,000-square-foot Boys & Girls Club of Hudson County and 10,000 square feet of retail. The development should be finished by early 2014.
“This was kind of a win-win transaction,” says Josiah Wuestneck, senior vice president at Ironstate Development, which is building 18 Park withKRE Group. The Boys & Girls Club “needed a new home and an endowment to ensure longevity of organization. They had an existing site, so we worked out a deal where we would build them the new space and relocate them.”
While this sounds mammoth, also on Ironstate’s plate is Harborside Financial Center, which is being developed in partnership with Mack-Cali Realty. This is a three-phase project that will bring over 2,000 units to market, as well as several million square feet of office space.
“We’re going to break ground on the first building, which is 69 stories,” in the fourth quarter of this year, Wuestneck says. Ironstate is planning 766 apartments in this first tower. This first phase of Harborside, should be finished in early 2015. (The other two towers are expected to be similar in design and size.)
And if that’s not enough, Newport is also planning more buildings — although so far the developer LeFrak has been mum about any of the details.
Eat your heart out, Long Island City!
GSKA revises Costas Kondylis design for two-tower Jersey City development
By Adam Fusfeld
Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates has unveiled a new design for a planned 1.2 million-square-foot development project in downtown Jersey City (see rendering to the right). The firm was recently selected by Ironstate Development and partner Panepinto Properties to replace Costas Kondylis as the architect of two 50-story residential and hotel towers planned for 70 and 90 Columbus Street in Jersey City.
Gene Kaufman and 70-90 Columbus Streets
Ironstate chose GSKA after it successfully designed the firm’s development of a W hotel in Hoboken, according to James Ronga, vice president of development for Ironstate. Gene Kaufman, a principal at GSKA, told The Real Deal in a statement that his firm is working with the same footprint and square footage, but will make “qualitative modifications that result in a project with a distinct geometry and a plan that better integrates the site into the Jersey City community.”
Kondylis did not respond to requests for comment.
The project was first proposed in 2007, but a combination of issues delayed the start of construction, according to Ronga. Now, the first tower of the $350 million project is expected to break ground in the first quarter of 2013 and is slated for completion two years later. At that point, construction would begin on the second tower.
“We wanted to get a premier architect on board to sort of make a statement,” said James Ronga, vice president of development for Ironstate. “The change was more about aesthetics, making it more efficient, and making sure [the development] was impressive. We wanted an architectural statement.”
The first tower, 70 Columbus Street, will have a 20,000-square-foot retail space, below about 150 hotel rooms and 550 rental apartments. Ronga said Ironstate and Panepinto are hoping to land a high-end grocer for the retail space and are in talks with extended stay hotel brands to operate the 100,000 square feet dedicated for the rooms. They’re interested in the extended stay sector because they believe it is an underserved sector both nationally and in Jersey City.
Once construction finishes at 70, the fully residential 90 Columbus Street will begin to rise. Ironstate and Panepinto also plan to develop a public plaza around the nearby PATH station to serve commuters, hotel guests and tenants.
First Group of Harrison Station Rentals Are Fully Leased
Via GlobeSt.com/ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Harrison Station
is now 100% occupied.
HARRISON, NJ-All 275 units are now leased and occupied at the first Harrison Station complex, Greg Russo, a principal of Ironstate Development, tells GlobeSt.com. Debuting last September as the first rental project in a planned mixed-use community on 245 acres around a PATH Station, the building leased quickly from the start.
“We were able to stop offering concessions by March, and are now seeing some decent rent increases,” says Russo. Because the project was the first luxury rental building to go up in a raw post-industrial area where abandoned warehouse buildings still stand on surrounding streets, a month’s free rent was originally offered as enticement.
The development features an Olympic-size outdoor pool and deck, a fitness center, and other amenities. The exclusive marketing and leasing agent for the property was The Marketing Directors, which is based in New York and which has long been active selling and leasing apartments on New Jersey’s Gold Coast.
Ironstate, which has Pegasus Group as a partner in Harrison, is to begin work within a few months on a 136-room Element by Starwood hotel adjacent to the rental complex and PATH station. Also, by the end of the year, the companies will break ground on a second residential complex, Russo says.
The partners are only two of six development companies at work on projects under way at the massive redevelopment site. Russo Development, headed by Edward Russo – no relation to Greg – has begun construction of a 300-unit rental apartment building.
Heller Industrial has nearly completed demolition of buildings across Frank E. Rogers Boulevard from the PATH station, which is itself scheduled to be rebuilt starting next year. Heller expects to begin work on a mixed-use structure including 65 rentals by the end of the year.
The Ironstate/Pegasus building includes almost 13,000 square feet of street-level space, and Russo says this is also filling up. A Five Guys restaurant is now open at the site, and Russo reported recent lease-signings with a Pronto Gourmet market, Fakara restaurant and the hair salon Pro Cut.
HARRISON PREPARES FOR APARTMENT BOOM
via Liz Burlingame/ Northeast Real Estate Business
There was a time when Harrison in Hudson County, New Jersey, was dominated by views of aging warehouses and commuter parking lots. That landscape is changing, however. The former industrial center has become a hotbed of residential development, including a $750 million, mixed-use project known as Harrison Station.
The first completed building in the project opened last September and included 275 apartment units and 12,814 square feet of retail space. By April, the apartment units were fully leased, while Five Guys Burgers & Fries; Pronto Gourmet; Pro-Cuts; and Sakara, a Japanese restaurant, have each inked leases for retail space.
Ironstate Development Co. and the Pegasus Group are developing a $750 million mixed-use project in Hudson County, Now Jersey.
“The absorption has been very consistent, which is a sign that you haven’t tapped out that demand,” says Greg Russo, a senior vice president of Ironstate Development Co., one of the site’s developers.
Ironstate and its joint venture partner, the Pegasus Group, were initially attracted to the area’s transit access. The new building is just steps from the PATH station, with quick access to the New Jersey Turnpike.
The developers partnered in 2000, and after acquiring several parcels and completing environmental clean-up work on the site, they constructed a four-story parking deck before starting construction on apartments and retail space. This June, they will break ground on the project’s next phase, a 136-
room Element hotel, to be built around and atop the parking garage.
When completed, Harrison Station will ultimately include 2,600 residences and 80,000 square feet of retail.
The developers have noticed strong demand from those who work along the PATH line in Hoboken, Jersey City, or New York City
Young professional singles and couples, ages 20 to 39, are the target demographic for rentals, says Jacqueline Urgo, president of the Marketing Directors, the development’s exclusive leasing and marketing agent.
Urgo says many renters are attracted to living in luxury housing without the Hoboken price tags. “The well-designed homes, full suite of amenities, and supportive street-level retail complete the desirable urban lifestyle experience,” says Urgo. “It’s all at a price point that is extremely favorable when compared to areas like downtown Jersey City and Hoboken.”
Rents in the Harrison Station building average $1,450 for a studio, $1,675 for a one-bedroom unit and $2,150 for a two-bedroom unit. The development also includes a beach volleyball court and outdoor pool.
The project is also across the street from a 600-unit, mixed-use development by Heller Urban Renewal. Crews began demolition on the site last November.
The Heller development shares the same name, Harrison Station. Local developers reached an agreement to call the neighborhood Harrison Station to avoid name confusion. “Our project will be called Harrison Station 300 Somerset St.,” says Russo. “The neighborhood should have a name, and we’ll both build off that brand.”
Harrison Station To Get An ‘Eco-Wise’ Element Hotel By Starwood
HARRISON, NJ-Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is to open a 138-unit hotel at Harrison Station in 2014 with its “eco-wise” Element brand, the Stamford, CT-based company announced today.
The hotel will be developed and owned by Ironstate Holdings, the Hoboken-based company which opened a 300-unit residential complex in the redevelopment area around the station last year.
The Element Harrison will be the brand’s second hotel in New Jersey, after the Element Ewing Princeton. The Element brand, launched in 2008, was the first major hotel brand to designate that all its buildings would be built “green,” meeting the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards.
“Element Harrison will provide a fresh, new update on lodging that will appeal to travelers to the bustling Newark metropolitan area,” said Brian McGuinness, a senior vice-president with Starwood. “The Element brand offers guests a bright, energizing environment that’s conducive to both work and play.” The hotel will be managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts.
Element Harrison will have a 24-hour fitness center, indoor pool, and a 1,500-square-foot meeting space with state-of-the-art technology. Rooms designed to accommodate business travelers will have swiveling flat-screen televisions and large desks with open shelving, spa-inspired bathrooms, and fully equipped kitchens.
“We’re very excited to introduce Element to Harrison and expect the brand’s fusion of style, personal wellbeing and sustainability will resonate with guests,” says James Ronga, the vice-president of Ironstate Holdings. “Our location adjacent to the PATH Station and so close to Newark Liberty International Airport will also make Element Harrison a highly attractive choice for travelers on the go.”
The Harrison Station PATH station offers a direct connection to Newark Penn Station and the city’s business district, and also quick trips to Jersey City, and lower Manhattan. The hotel will be situated a short walk from the Red Bulls professional soccer team stadium in Harrison. The Prudential Center in Newark, which is home to the New Jersey Devils professional hockey team, college basketball, concerts, family shows and special events, is also nearby.
