Waterfront condos to make splash
First of 466 units ready for occupancy
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/2/07
BY NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
Post Comment
ASBURY PARK If the city's three waterfront developers were racing
to see who can get the first new condominium residents moved in,
Paramount Homes' North Beach project appears to have won.
Paramount obtained its first certificate of occupancy this week for a
two-bedroom unit with an ocean view in the Seville, one of the three
Mediterranean-motif buildings being constructed on the oceanfront
block just north of the Berkeley Carteret hotel.
Paramount President Jeffrey Fernbach said a second certificate is
expected this week and several more by the end of next week. The
first two closings are scheduled for Thursday.
"It's not a dream anymore," Fernbach said. "By this summer, we should
have at least 50 or 60 people living here to enjoy the ocean and the
town people shopping and spending their money in the city."
By the end of February, all 16 condominiums in the Seville should be
ready for occupants, Fernbach said. He's looking at March or April
for buyers to be able to move into the 48-unit Barcelona, and later
on this year for the 93-unit Monterey.
"People have really wanted to see the first C.O.," City Manager
Terence Reidy said, discussing progress on the 466 total condo units
going up along the water. "People asked, "Are you sure, are you sure,
is it really going to happen?' "
The first buyer likely to close with Paramount next week is Adam
Pfeffer, 27, an attorney who lives in Manhattan and works in Jackson.
He said he bought his two-bedroom unit on the second floor in the
Seville for about $800,000.
He does not plan to move in right away but will wait until late
spring or summer.
"Being one of the first was part of the attraction," Pfeffer said
Thursday. "They (Paramount Homes) has a vision there and that's what
they sold me. They have partnerships with all of the developers.
Asbury used to be a destination city and they're trying to bring that
back."
Westminster Communities, which is completing the 91-unit St. James
complex at the south end of the city's waterfront, bordering Wesley
Lake, is not far behind Paramount.
"We also are very close to getting our initial C.O.s," Westminster
President Samuel Gershwin said this week. "We anticipate some of our
townhouse units being ready for final inspection in February and
other units following suit."
Tax revenue anticipated
Both builders are about six months behind schedule getting their
first units finished and sold, which, for the city, meant Asbury Park
did not get the tax revenue from the new residences that was
projected for last year's budget.
Reidy said the city projected $925,000 in tax payments from the
condominiums in 2006. This year, he's asked City Engineer Brian Grant
to follow up with each of the developers to get realistic estimates
for how many units are coming on line, when they'll come on during
the year, and how much they sold for.
But the developers who were attracted to the beachfront by the city's
master developer, Asbury Partners, said the time is now 2007 looks
to be a good year, and lights will be on in new homes.
Carolyn Villani, Paramount's vice president of sales and marketing,
said 96 of the 157 units in the three buildings have sold. Paramount
lost about 10 other sales because of the slumping real estate market
over the past year.
Prices currently start at $500,000 for a one-bedroom home and go to
more than $1 million for oceanfront units and two-story penthouses,
she said.
Westminster's Gershwin said more than 50 percent of the 91 units at
the St. James complex at Wesley Grove are sold. He said they have had
trouble getting buyers for a very large duplex in the mix of models
that include townhouses and flats. The Wesley Grove units are priced
from $400,000 to the mid-$900,000s.
Gershwin said two new buildings are under design for Westminster's
next block, a triangular shape bounded by Asbury and Cookman avenues
and Heck Street. That block will contain a clubhouse with recreation
and social facilities.
"We continue to see an increase in traffic in the sales office (600
Cookman Ave.)," Gershwin said. "People coming in now are more
interested and more qualified. . . . Everything will come together
this summer."
"This is real"
"Even though we're behind the original projections and that's no
secret this is real," Reidy, the city manager said. "This is not
the planning, not the ribbon cutting. It's the certificates of
occupancy, people living on the waterfront, living in the
redevelopment zone. That's the significance of this.
"I don't think confidence in Asbury Park has ever been stronger,"
Reidy added. "These units coming on line, Old Man Rafferty's
(restaurant) coming on line, Steinbach's coming on line. The downtown
and the waterfront are coming together." The former Steinbach's
department store building on Cookman Avenue is being converted into
the restaurant and apartments.
Asbury Partners' third developer, Metro Homes, is just finishing
driving pilings for the 224-unit Esperanza condominiums, replacing
the now-demolished C-8 high-rise skeleton. The first occupancies are
anticipated in the summer of 2008.
"Alan Greenspan (former Federal Reserve chairman) put a damper on the
market for a whole year," Dean Geibel, Metro Homes' president, said
this week. "But the big story is our market has stayed pretty good.
2007 is going to be a great year."
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
