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!
Tag Archives: Ironstate Development Company
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
Development Plans In Place For Staten Island Waterfront
Try walking along Front Street in Stapleton.
It’s not easy. The sidewalks that do exist are crumbling and many sections along the busy strip don’t even have them, forcing pedestrians into the street.
“It needs work,” says Tom McKnighty with the New York State Economic Development Council. “It does not have sidewalks, it does not have trees, it does not have lighting.”
Now, as part of the redevelopment of the Staten Island Homeport, that’s about to change.
Front Street borders the long-abandoned 36-acre site, once the home of the U.S. Navy. As part of an aggressive redevelopment plan for the long-abandoned site, infrastructure improvements have finally begun.
For the next several months, crews will be working underground on sewers and water mains. Next year, they will repave streets, add lights and plant trees.
“It’ll make a place that’s more pedestrian-friendly, it’ll be a better place for drivers and it’ll help establish a place for the new development,” McKnighty says.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation has teamed up with Ironstate Development to build 900 units of housing in phases, including 35,000 square feet of retail space and improved waterfront access.
By the end of the year, the city says it expects to begin work on the waterfront esplanade, a roughly three-acre site officials say will eventually look a little something like the recently redeveloped East River Park on Manhattan’s lower east side:
“It’s gonna be planted areas, it’s gonna be seating, it’s gonna be a walking path,” McKnighty says. “There’s gonna be opportunity for active recreation. It’s gonna be a waterfront park.”
Ironstate will begin construction of the first 450 units of housing later this year. In the meantime, the developer is already talking to potential tenants, both island-based businesses and national chains, about the retail space.
“They’re very excited about the waterfront location and about the esplanade and how it will all come together,” says Michael Darata of Ironstate Development.
While Ironstate says it hasn’t signed any tenants yet, it says it expects to very soon.
It’s been a long time coming but there’s movement on converting a sprawling stretch of Staten Island waterfront into the island’s newest place to live and shop, years after the Navy set sail from the site.
Filed under Ironstate Development Company, Staten Island
Staten Island Homeport Site Made A Long Voyage Towards Redevelopment
NY1′s week-long coverage of major Staten Island stories in the last two decades continues with a look at the Staten Island Homeport, which has had its share of stops and starts over the years but now is finally moving ahead towards redevelopment. Borough reporter Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.
The buildings have been knocked down, and now the Staten Island Homeport looks like a shell of its former self. The site at Stapleton is finally being readied for a long-awaited redevelopment plan, to turn the sprawling 36-acre waterfront space into a housing and commercial community aimed at young professionals.
“Now is the time to start believing. There is a lot of momentum behind development in Staten Island, all over the island, but at Homeport we’re confident that this project is moving forward,” said Seth Pinsky of the Economic Development Corporation.
For two short years, the Staten Island Homeport was home to the United States Navy. That all ended in 1994, when the Navy set sail as part of a nationwide defense downsizing effort.
In the 18 years that have passed, the city flirted with a number of ideas for the site, including a motor racetrack and a port for gambling ships.
Arnie’s Bagelicious moved in in 1995 but closed three years later, when actor Danny Aiello suggested the site for a film and TV studio. That plan fell apart as well.
“I’m a little surprised that at this juncture when we’re moving at a pretty good clip why the brakes are being put on,” said then-Congressman Vito Fossella in 2002.
The brakes stayed on until 2009, when the city’s Economic Development Corporation announced a partnership with Ironstate Development to build 900 units of housing in phases, along with 35,000-square-feet of retail space ideally featuring mom-and-pop shops.
“We’re really pushing hard to get this thing done,” David Barry of Ironstate Development said in January.
In the next several months, the city will begin work on the portion of the site it has pledged to develop. There will be a groundbreaking on infrastructure improvements like roads and a waterfront esplanade:
“I said Staten Island will be measured by that important strip of land from Borough Hall to the [Verrazano-Narrows] Bridge. Facing that waterfront, that will define who we are and what we’re all about at some point in the future,” said former Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari.
It looks like that future is almost here, as tenants could move in as soon as 2013. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO >>>
Harrison Station Developers Band Together As Port Authority Fund Platform Rehab
The area around the Harrison PATH
station is being transformed into a
24/7 mixed-use community.
HARRISON, NJ-When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced this week it would move ahead with replacing the antiquated platform at the Harrison train station, six major developers at work in the surrounding community cheered with coordinated gusto.
Very coordinated. Possessing all the polished synchronicity of a champion cheerleading squad, in fact –a rare mode for competitive developers at any time, but perhaps most unusual in the midst of economic crunch times. “It is highly unique, I think,”Peter J. Cocoziello, president and CEO of Advanced Realty, tells GlobeSt.com.
“We have formed our own association to collectively cheer everyone on in getting the master plan underway for Harrison to become a true 24-hour, live-work-play community.” Advance is the so-called master developer for the 245-acre project begun 10 years ago. The massive retooling of a deteriorated site dating to the Industrial Revolution took longer than originally expected. The Red Bulls soccer arena and several condominiums besides the Passaic River were completed in the past few years.
Then, last summer, the 275-unit Harrison Station rental apartments opened and leased up with surprising speed. This spring and summer construction is about to “go vertical” on a second rental building and a hotel; meanwhile, demolition work is underway so work can begin early next year on a retail center with housing above it.
Now, with the train station funding, executives from six companies that are part of the newHarrison Redevelopment Association and spoke to GlobeSt.Com say the overall project is back on track. One of Advance’s fellow developers in Harrison, Carl J. Goldberg, the principal of Roseland Property Co., says, “The project was bogged down for many years while remediation work was done and infrastructure was installed, which gave it an unfortunate reputation for a while.”
Recently, says Goldberg, Harrison’s longtime mayor Raymond McDonough appealed to the developers, asking them to help jumpstart the overall development again. All responded enthusiastically, and said they have found it surprisingly exhilarating to work in concert. “The new train station is going to be a game-changer,” says Cocoziello after the Port Authority formally voted Monday to authorize the $250 million replacement of the 76-year-old existing station, starting work next year.
“It will create Harrison as a true destination, with a gorgeous new glass-and–steel station facility providing an incredibly quick commute to New York via the PATH. Harrison is actually closer to New York than Midtown is to downtown.” “We are all thrilled, as a group and as individual companies,” adds Goldberg, who said the developers’ group met with New Jersey officials several months ago to advocate for expediting the Port Authority funding.
“Our feeling at this point is really the more developers in the project, the better,” says Edward Russo, president of Russo Development, whose company purchased a piece of property from Roseland 18 months ago. “Even though, to some extent, we compete with one another, we are all looking to create a community.”
Executives from the various development companies, including Ironstate Development, Pegasus Group, and Heller Industrial Parks detailed these current projects:
• Russo will begin vertical construction of a 300-unit rental apartment building in May or June.
• Ironstate, which opened the first apartments adjacent to the train station last July, will start work this summer on a 138-unit Element by Starwood hotel.
• Roseland plans a late-summer start on a 141-unit rental building beside its condominium development.
Heller expects to begin work on a building with ground-floor retail and 65 rental units above, as soon as demolition of a building across Frank E. Rogers Boulevard from the Harrison Station apartments is complete.
Work on the train station is expected to take roughly three years. The existing station, built in 1936, will be replaced with a modern glass-walled structure and the platform expanded to accommodate longer trains at a stop that already handles an average 7,000 commuters per day.
APARTMENT PROJECTS RAMP UP N.J., AIMED AT RENTALS
By JOSEPH DE AVILA/The Wall Street Journal
Rental apartment construction in New Jersey is poised for a resurgence in 2012 with more than 2,000 apartments expected to hit the market by the end of the year.
During the past decade, New Jersey’s coastline was transformed by a wave of high-rise condo development in areas like Jersey City and Hoboken. After the housing crash, builders put the brakes on adding new condos and single-family homes.
The market for new single-family homes continues to be weak, but the pace of luxury apartment construction is picking up as builders look to take advantage of low apartment vacancies, higher rents and an improving job market. And while lenders are still skittish about financing large condo projects, real-estate developers say the money is there for apartment buildings.
“Now we are near historical rent highs and vacancy lows—that usually means it’s time to build,” said Brian Whitmer of brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield. “All the towns along the waterfront have construction going on.”
Fewer than 1,300 apartments were built in New Jersey in 2011, but that number is expected to more than double in 2012, according to real-estate services firm Marcus & Millichap. That would be the most since 2007 when more than 3,700 were built.
Most of those new apartments will be built in Northern New Jersey, but some 800 units will also be constructed in Central New Jersey, according to Marcus & Millichap. The median rent statewide is also expected to spike 4% this year, reaching $1,322 a month.
New Jersey’s job market showed improvement in 2011 as 39,400 new jobs were created, according to the New Jersey Labor Department. The unemployment rate dropped to 9% in December, its lowest level since May 2009, but remains high by historical standards.
“The economy is slowly healing. Nothing is on fire,” said Michael Barry of Ironstate Development, a major real-estate developer with about 5,500 apartments planned or under construction in the state. “In that environment, rental apartments do well.”
Tighter lending standards have made it more difficult for some people to buy apartments, pushing them into rental market, said Carl Goldberg, managing partner of Roseland Property, one of the state’s most active builders. That has coincided with a shift in attitudes toward home ownership for some young people, he added.
“The idea of living in an apartment community with amenities, not having the anxiety of the investment” of a home, Mr. Goldberg said. “It seems to be very appealing.”
One such renter is Alex Jung, 32 years old. With his brother, he pays $3,600 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in an amenity-rich, 500-unit building in Jersey City developed by Roseland Property.
“I need time to decide if I want to buy or not,” Mr. Jung said. So he opted to rent in a building that has a mix of young singles living with roommates, newlyweds and young families. Amenities there include a heated outdoor pool, a theater and 24-hour concierge service.
“This was close to the PATH, I can see nice views of Manhattan, it’s very close to Manhattan and I work in Fort Lee,” Mr. Jung said.
Roseland Property is betting that demand for rental apartments will continue as the economy continues on its slow recovery. The company is building a $120 million project in West New York that will have around 320 units and is expected to finish in 2013. Roseland also is starting a new project with Hartz Mountain Industries in Weehawken where they will build four midrise buildings with about 580 units.
The state’s Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit has been another catalyst for apartment construction, said Michael Fasano of Marcus & Millichap. “The development community has reacted strongly to it,” he said.
Under the program, the state has allocated $250 million in tax credits for residential development near transit stations. About $220 million has already been approval for residential projects, most of them rentals.
Ironstate Development, along with a team of investors, received a $28.3 million tax credit to build a 500-unit apartment development in Jersey City. The total cost of the project is estimated at $162.6 million.
The tax credit helps bridge the gap between the what lenders were willing finance before the housing crash and the reduced amounts banks are comfortable lending now, said Mr. Barry of Ironstate.
As more people opt to rent, that means some former condo projects are switching to rental. BNE Real Estate is constructing a 139-unit rental building in Jersey City and another with 194 units in Fort Lee. Both were intended to be condos before the market turned, said Jonathan Schwartz, vice president of BNE.
“The condo market is by no means where it should be or where it was once upon a time,” Mr. Schwartz said. “We are happy to get back to rentals.”
—Pervaiz Shallwani contributed to this article.
Feedin the Rental Appetite
via The New York Times/Antoinette Martin
The 422-unit 18 Park in Jersey City./IRONSTATE DEVELOPMENT
HUDSON COUNTY indisputably rules the rental housing market in New Jersey: It has the largest supply of Class A units — around 13,000, according to industry experts — and commands the highest average rental rates of any part of the state. This year and next, that rental kingdom is projected to grow rapidly.
Developers are already at work on, or have recently announced, projects that will add several thousand more units in waterfront communities like Hoboken, Jersey City and Weehawken, and hundreds of other units elsewhere. READ MORE >>>
Filed under NJ, Ironstate Development Company, Harrison Station
Jersey Shore Facelift
via gb&d/Interview by Suchi Rudra
Pier Village and the Bungalow Hotel, Ironstate Development’s latest high-end revitalization project, tempts travelers and residents with a boutique hotel and more than 500 luxury rentals
Beneath the luxurious design and natural materials of the Bungalow Hotel, developed by Ironstate Development and designed by Sixx Design, are numerous sustainable elements, including a high-efficiency, ductless heating-and-cooling system. Photo: Matthew Williams.
Stretching along the oceanfront in Long Branch, New Jersey, is a new luxury playground for locals and celebrities alike. Pier Village, a $400 million mixed-use community by Ironstate Development, is a massive reclamation project for the real-estate-development firm, and it features 536 luxury rental residences plus a boutique hotel, the Bungalow Hotel, which has a playful beach-chic interior and 24 guest rooms. Ironstate principal Michael Barry shared with gb&d his thoughts on the significance and the challenges of going green in the hospitality market.
gb&d: Can you explain how Pier Village works as a massive reclamation project and as part of an urban-revitalization project?
Michael Barry: The single most important feature in a sustainable project is site selection. This project has many of the desirable features, which include location within a half mile of rail transportation, access to bus routes and public transportation, walkable streets, amenities, existing infrastructure, an existing urban setting, and a need for revitalization.
gb&d: How does this development combat unnecessary sprawl?
MB: Density and location. This project takes advantage of an existing developed piece of property with low-density housing and introduces vertical construction in an established neighborhood.
gb&d: Talk about the difficulties of obtaining LEED certification for hospitality design. Why does LEED not always come into play with these types of projects?
MB: Building LEED sometimes means you need to make changes from the norm. Getting guests comfortable with some of the operational aspects of LEED can be challenging. Asking guests to change their habits can sometimes be daunting. But we feel that the general sentiment, as in our residential product, is that green is beneficial and the way of the future.
gb&d: Can you talk about the sustainability goals behind the Pier Village development?
MB: As an owner and operator of apartments, not only in Long Branch but across the state of New Jersey, we recognize the need and value of creating sustainable buildings and projects. Our clientele is very sophisticated and values the benefits of living in green environments. So for us it’s very important to address these concerns to be competitive in the marketplace.
At the Bungalow Hotel in Pier Village, one of the most important strategies was energy efficiency. A number of measures were implemented for the Bungalow, which started with the HVAC system, which utilizes a ductless split system with incredibly high efficiency ratings, environmentally neutral refrigerants, high operator control, and seamless integration with the design. The hotel units also incorporate large areas of glass for daylighting, virtually eliminating the need for artificial lights during the daytime. In the Pier Village residential buildings, we are examining modifying the light fixtures in the garage and common areas and exploring the use of LED lighting and motion sensors. We are also working on a company-wide plan to reduce water-bottle usage by providing tenants with in-faucet water filtration.
