Options on the other side of the river

From Bloomberg:

Hoboken’s Luxury-Condo Builders Get Lifeline From New Residents

Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando helped make Hoboken, New Jersey, famous. Now designer Michael Graves and builder Robert Toll are making the waterfront town across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan a haven for the rich and famous.

Hoboken, a city with working-class roots, long served as a refuge of junior Wall Street analysts. Its newer residents include Governor Jon Corzine and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, as builders convert apartments into luxury condominiums with fitness clubs, doormen and shuttles to New York City-bound trains and ferries.

Demand for condos in the square-mile city of 40,000 residents is a lifeline for builders such as Toll Brothers Inc. that are weathering a yearlong decline in the U.S. housing market. Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers has three condo projects under way in Hoboken. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. already has sold 33 of the 37 condo units in the W Hoboken, a luxury hotel that it plans to open next year.

Corzine, a former chief executive officer of Goldman, Sachs & Co., moved to a rental in Hudson Tea when he was divorcing in 2002. He may run state affairs from the condo or from the governor’s mansion in Princeton when he is released from the hospital following his April 12 automobile crash, said Tom Shea, his chief of staff.

At Hudson Tea, where Manning also lives, a 1,300-square-foot (120-square-meter) two-bedroom condo with cherry hardwood floors, gourmet kitchen with six-burner stove, marble bath, and 13-foot (4-meter) ceilings goes for $1.5 million. That’s about $1,154 a square foot. Manhattan condos sold for an average of $1,142 a square foot last year, according to appraiser Miller Samuel Inc.

The maritime industry crumbled in the 1970s as companies moved to bigger ports with deeper waters. A decade later, students began flocking to Hoboken for its affordable, renovated brownstones and townhouses and its easy access to New York.

Junior Wall Streeters moved in as the number of housing units in Hoboken jumped 14 percent from 1990 to 2000. The 2000 U.S. Census showed that 98 percent of the city’s housing units were occupied, 77 percent by renters.

This entry was posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Options on the other side of the river

  1. Think it through says:

    If you want to get an idea of who lives in the HTB, here’s an exchange lifted from the kannekt board:

    #11 Anonymous: Yeah you are right, I guess the dead do have less yellow teeth and bad breath.

    #12 Anonymous: Cigarettes dont kill people guns do.

    #13 Anonymous: Just as long as you stay dead, I could care less about your hygiene issues.

    #14 Anonymous: # 12 What f’ing planet do live on?

    #15 Anonymous: #12 must be the person who wants to change the dawg rules. hey brain-wave, both kill. the gun just happens to kill quicker. stay on the subject Jack A.
    again if you have a complaint go to the new Toll Bros Customer Service thread.

    #16 Anonymous: why don’t you come knock on my door and tell me to stop smoking? Or tell me to stop when I’m smoking in front? This way I can tell you to go f-yourself in person while I blow smoke in your face.
    But you wouldn’t because you are a coward, and this board the only place a person like you would ever confront someone.

    #18 Anonymous What is your apt#? OK if come over after American Idol is over? I relish the opportunity to have you blow smoke in my face…you’ll sleep very well tonight after a good ss whipping.

    #19 Anonymous So why don’t you just settle down with this “stop smoking in your apartment” BS.

    #22 Anonymous Are you used to being slapped around?

    #23 Anonymous You already know what apartment I’m in… follow the smoke.

    #25: Anonymous Who is the coward now? What is your apt # pssy?

    #26 Anonymous: #25- you’re funny!!!! I’m outside every morning which is around the time you could probably use a good punch to get you going. hahahahahahaha, you #OOPS#! Tough guy! I can’t wait for you to start with someone so your #OOPS# a$$ can get arrested. I can hear your explanation to the cops now, “they were smoking and I, I, um, I, didn’t like it. And, um, they blew smoke in my face, so I, I , I got mad. And Sanjaia

    #27 Anonymous Apt 402 Beotch. Come hither and bring your fat ugly girl so i can bang her in her sloppy A S S.

    …and so on.

  2. HEHEHE says:

    I don’t get how they keep getting these “article/advertisements” placed about Hoboken. 3/4’s of the buldings Toll has in Hoboken aren’t complete. Loook on those Kannekt message boards and its filled with people complaining about delays.

  3. curiousd says:

    #1, great, great stuff.

    The best part might be that the guy plans on beating the sh*t out of him… but only after American Idol is over. Too funny.

  4. chicagofinance says:

    I started that thread on kannekt with this post, and you can look at the response…..

    To all smokers who either smoke at the base of the buildings or blow smoke out their windows.

    Please realize that we now have warmer weather and people open their windows.

    Your second-hand smoke will travel right into your neighbors’ windows above, and to the left and right. If you smoke at the base of the building, your second hand smoke WILL enter the apartments that are 2 and 3 floors above you.

    The way this building is constructed, the lower floors are basically and air intake for the whole building, and air and heat is pushed upward to the upper floors. As a result, the air cuurents around the building have a natural flow to draw air TOWARD all the windows and if open, draw outside air into apartments.

    As a clear example, if you have windows open and you live on a lower floor, your front door will tend to slam closed, as opposed to be held open by the wind. The hallways are the the most free area for the air flow due to the stairs, elevator shafts, vents and garbage chutes.

  5. Lincoln78 says:

    ChiFi,

    And this is exactly the reason why I want to get the heck out of the ‘boken. That, plus all the info i’m now discovering on Hoboken411.

    When I told my Dad (who grew up in West New York in the 1940-1960s) that I was moving to Hoboken, he told me, “Ain’t nothin there but crooks and dregs.”

    Even after all the gentrification, I guess he still has a point.

    Lincoln

  6. HEHEHE says:

    I also find it funny they mention Eli and Corzine when they’ve been living there for 3 years or so each. It’s like they reprinted a 2004 article.

  7. Eisbär says:

    Interesting that they didn’t mention Kanye West in that article. I would’ve figured that his name would also have some cachet for the starstruck. It’s also amusing that Carla Katz isn’t mentioned, either, but I guess that that’s just a Jersey thing and would be a totally opaque reference to non-New Jerseyans.

    Anyway, as HEHEHE said there are other condo developments in Hoboken besides Hudson Tea. Many of which are not as well-located as Hudson Tea — some, in fact, set smack dab in the middle of the projects (here’s looking at you, Velocity). It’s really misleading to conflate properties located in Hoboken’s prime locations with the entire Hoboken property market.

  8. Think it through says:

    So YOU started it, eh, CF?

    Anyway, sorry to hear that your neighbors are so…um…collegiate.

    Do any of them have a Budweiser can pyramid on display on their window? That’s what I picture.

Comments are closed.