D. R. Horton Bows Out On Bayonne

From the Jersey Journal:

$11M IN THE HOLE
By RONALD LEIR

One partner in a joint venture designated to build 1,700 apartments at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor has bolted, leaving the city with an $11 million deficit in the current fiscal year’s budget.

But state officials are giving Bayonne officials an extra year to come up with the cash, taking the unusual step of allowing the city to operate with a deficit.

News of the setback came Monday night at a special meeting of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority when the BLRA commissioners were due to announce terms of an agreement with D.R. Horton and Trammel Crow Residential to develop a 32.7-acre tract called Bayonne Bay.

Instead, BLRA Executive Director Nancy Kist said that last Thursday Horton e-mailed the BLRA that it was bowing out because of “many significant unresolved issues.”

The BLRA commissioners accepted Kist’s recommendation to approve a redevelopment agreement with Trammel Crow Residential to build 530 “luxury rental” apartments on 7.42 acres under which TCR will pay $18.4 million for the right to develop that property. TCR must give the BLRA an $11.3 million deposit upon signing the agreement and must provide the balance by June 2007, BLRA special counsel Joseph Baumann said.
…
Kist said the BLRA will negotiate with the other nine developers who submitted proposals in July 2005 to develop Bayonne Bay to replace Horton, possibly by Aug. 1. Kist said she expected the total purchase price for Bayonne Bay would “come in at well over $100 million.”