New Retail and Residential Complex To Be Built on Keansburg Waterfront

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By John Burton
KEANSBURG – Things are looking up for Keansburg, says its mayor, with the advent of shovels in the ground for a new construction project and families slowly returning after being washed out by Super Storm Sandy.
“Today marks the turning point for the borough of Keansburg,” proclaimed Mayor George Hoff last Friday as he and other state and local officials celebrated the groundbreaking on a new Beachway project.
Hoff said “the buzz has already begun” on the 186-unit retail and residential complex, and is attracting attention from prospective businesses and interest in its proposed rental apartments.
On an unseasonably blustery, cold and rainy afternoon on May 6, Hoff, who is seeking re-election in the May 10 election, joined members of the local Borough Council, state Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos (R-13), borough attorney (and former state Senator) John O. Bennett, as well as others connected with the project to mark its beginning.
The project is expected to commence in earnest this summer and is expected to be completed by summer 2018. It will be constructed on a 2.19-acre property located at the corner of Beachway and Raritan Avenue, just across from the public beach and the beginning of the amusement park. That property is vacant and it’s been more than 55 years since homes stood on the site.
The development will be eight stories high, which will include two stories of about 7,000 square-feet of retail space. And 55 percent of the collection of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments will be designated as affordable units, with the remaining 45 percent intended as market rate rents.
The $65.4 million project will be built and managed by RPM Development, Montclair. Much of the funding is being provided by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA), a state agency affiliated with the Department of Community Affairs.
“We’re essentially New Jersey’s affordable housing banker,” explained Anthony L. Marchetta NJHMFA’s executive director, noting of projects like this, “as long as it has 20 percent affordable (housing) we’ll consider financing it.”
In this case, the state agency provided a 4 percent low income housing tax credit, which, according to NJHMFA, is expected to generate $11.3 million in private equity and $35 million in construction and permanent financing through the agency’s Conduit Bond program. Another $3.3 million was made available through the agency’s Multifamily Rental Financing Production fund, with an additional $1.8 million being made available through the agency’s Restoration of Multifamily Housing program; that housing program was created in Sandy’s aftermath, offering qualifying developers zero- and low-interest loans to help cover the cost of building affordable housing in the nine counties hardest hit by Sandy in October 2012.

Keansburg Mayor George Hoff, left, Edward Martoglio (c.) with RPM developers, and state Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., par- ticipate in a ceremonial groundbreaking last week for a large mixed use development project on Keansburg’s waterfront. Photo: John Burton
Keansburg Mayor George Hoff, left, Edward Martoglio (c.) with RPM developers, and state Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., par- ticipate in a ceremonial groundbreaking last week for a large mixed use development project on Keansburg’s waterfront. Photo: John Burton

“This will be a significant project,” for the area, Marchetta said, especially for Keansburg. He noted such urbanized areas, like Keansburg, which has been struggling for decades, and Middlesex County’s South Amboy, have long suffered from perception problems. Largely misconceptions, Marchetta said it has oftentimes made it difficult for these communities to attract businesses and bring about redevelopment.
A case in point is this development, Marchetta noted. “This is a project that has been on the books for a very long time,” upward of more than 25 years, in one form or another, back when Marchetta was in the private sector working in real estate development.
And now “It’s bringing in not only ratables but good affordable housing,” as well, Marchetta said.
And with many of those apartments offering a terrific view of New York across Raritan Bay, said Hoff.
With the catastrophic economic downturn of 2008 and with Sandy compounding matters in 2012, “Things looked bleak for the redevelopment of our waterfront,” Hoff pointed out. “Sandy really hurt us.”
The borough’s Beachway was under more than 6 feet of water in Sandy’s aftermath.
Homes were severely damaged and destroyed and still “a couple of thousand” residents are displaced, said Raymond O’Hare, the borough administrator/manager.
But homes are getting rebuilt, Hoff said. “We’re slowly seeing residents come back.” And with this and another project — with 216 market rate condominiums intended for the Laurel Avenue and Beachway area — things are looking up.