_Condo Confections Hit a Snag - New York Times_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/realestate/06njzo.html?ref=realestate&pagewanted=all) January 6, 2008 In the Region | New Jersey Condo Confections Hit a Snag ASBURY PARK and Vernon are two communities offering up cautionary real estate tales to start the year: a grand development project in each has taken a sharp turn for the worse. In Vernon, work has ceased prematurely on a _ski_ (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/great-homes-and-destinations/lifestyles/mountains/in dex.html?inline=nyt-classifier) -resort village, and in Asbury it has screeched to a halt at the Esperanza, a condominium complex front and center in the effort to revive the beachfront. In each case, developers ascribed their sudden inaction to increasingly dismal market conditions — sluggish sales and foot-dragging lenders.... In Asbury Park, a work stoppage at the Esperanza as of Dec. 11 stunned city officials, who began scrambling to counter the potent symbolism of work halted on a project whose name means “hope” in Spanish. The Esperanza was just starting to rise above ground level on the site of a previous unfinished building whose builder had gone bankrupt, and whose rusted skeleton had haunted the derelict shoreline area for more than 20 years. Now, some market watchers discern the reappearance of the time in the 1980s when the first Asbury redevelopment plan collapsed, merging into a sea of such failures across the country. “I think we’re just beginning to realize the scale of the excesses that took place in the ’02-to-’06 period,” said James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers, as he contemplated the setbacks in Vernon and Asbury Park. “The period from 1982 to 1988 was very similar, nationally, and in _New Jersey_ (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newjersey/?inline=nyt-geo) : lending without verification; very little down payments, if any, required,” he said. “This current nightmare is a repeat,” he added, with “projects conceived in heavy boom years falling apart as we head toward economic recession.” Dean Geibel of Metro Homes, the builder of the Esperanza, cited the impact of the “national mortgage crisis” in announcing his company’s work stoppage. Other developers and market analysts said they assumed that Metro had not garnered enough sales contracts at the 224-unit project — which has the most amenities and highest prices of any of the three large residential complexes taking shape on the beachfront — to persuade lenders to finance the next stage of construction. In late summer, Mr. Geibel said that 57 units had been sold at the complex, which has a striking wavy-sided design, a large recreation area with pool over the parking garage, a ground-floor restaurant and shops. A week ago, Mr. Geibel said he was working on several options for restarting the project and perhaps scaling it down, in concert with city officials and redevelopment project managers, including Madison Marquette, a Las Vegas-based company brought in last year to oversee retail and entertainment redevelopment. He acknowledged “the possibility of some sort of collaboration with Madison Marquette,” adding that he did not believe this would mean subtracting housing or adding retailing. He noted that Madison had expressed interest in “ participating” in the residential part of the Asbury Park redevelopment. In fact, said Terence J. Reidy, the city manager, Madison has also met with Westminster Properties, which built the first phase of Wesley Grove, a town-home complex at the south end of Asbury’s mile-long beach. With 91 condos complete, and the early burst of sales having dissipated as the market cooled, Westminster is looking to sell its interest in finishing that project. Mr. Reidy asserted that he had been meeting with a steady stream of investors still looking to get in on the “renaissance” in Asbury despite the overall real estate slowdown. According to him, the current master plan for redevelopment was specifically designed to include many developers, so it could not collapse based on the fortunes of just one, as happened at the Esperanza site in the 1980s. Mr. Geibel, whose company is proceeding with three other large projects in Hudson County, including the Trump Plaza Jersey City, said he remained committed to Asbury. Last week, he said he was searching for a new concrete contractor for the Esperanza, because the one hired earlier had not worked up to speed....
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