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An artist rendering shows The Green at Bloomfield, a 140-unit mixed-use, apartment building that opened in the Essex County township in the fall. The Green is just one of a wave of development centered around New Jersey's many public transit stations, meant to capitalize on the growing demand for walkable, urban neighborhoods. (Courtesy of BNE Real Estate)
By Jonathan Schwartz
Imagine, if you will, a bustling streetscape of pedestrians set against the hubbub of the quintessential downtown. It's here you might picture new parents pushing strollers down the sidewalk, millennials huddled at European-style cafes, and suit-and-tie professionals streaming off a nearby train into the closest pub for a pint of craft beer.
If this conjures images of Brooklyn, Hoboken or Jersey City in your mind, you could easily be forgiven -- in many ways, these are the hallmark illustrations of the style of urban living that has drastically altered demographics and the way of life in dozens of American cities. What you may not know, however, is that many of these same traits are on their way to a community near you.
For more than a decade, much of real estate has been defined by migration to large urban areas. Young people in their 20s and 30s are increasingly spurning the traditional path toward suburban home ownership, turning down a two-car garage for a lifestyle that requires no car at all.
That seismic shift in the market shows no signs of slowing, though it has reached a critical inflection point. While the demand for walkable, urban neighborhoods remains unyielding, the skyrocketing rents of New York City and New Jersey's "Gold Coast" locales are now prohibitive for many renters. Even those who have spent years residing in these markets face a difficult proposition when major life events --such as marriage, the birth of a child, a desire to be closer to family -- conflict with their ability to remain in their costly urban climes.
Enter New Jersey. The state -- with its extensive commuter train and bus systems, and proximity to two major cities - is dotted with dozens of communities ripe for development to satisfy this market demand. Earlier this year, doors opened at The Green at Bloomfield, a 140-unit luxury rental community located in the heart of a rapidly transforming Essex County township. Less than three months later, the majority of its units have been rented -- an astounding pace for a luxury development in a market that had been largely under the radar until now.
Towns such as Montclair, South Orange and Morristown have already found success by investing in upscale housing centered around their walkable downtowns and public transit hubs, and relentless demand for an urban lifestyle promises to bring those same dynamics to places like Englewood, Metuchen, Aberdeen and other communities around the state.
This push by developers is also being met with unusually open arms from both residents and officials. For many years, most of the state's bedroom communities viewed multifamily housing as less than desirable, and plans to build new multifamily projects were often treated as dead on arrival.
Today, however, the right proposal is often greeted as a vital step to revitalizing downtowns that, in many cases, have been left to languish since major highway construction sent residents fleeing for the suburbs. The presence of value-priced, high-quality downtown housing attracts not only millennials and young professionals, but also the empty nesters -- along with the restaurants, shops and cafes that follow.
Coupled with an increased focus on tax incentives for these redevelopments projects, this helps to create a perfect storm of conditions for precisely this kind of downtown growth. With the right mix of zoning and a well-funded developer, these new dynamics have the power to turn an abandoned former factory in Harrison into modern, luxury apartments, or a vacant storefront in Maplewood to a thriving art gallery.
New Jersey has long been regarded as a suburban state -- a place where New York City and Philadelphia goes to raise a family and retire. While that remains a major part of its appeal, it now stands at the forefront of a major societal shift that promises to alter the fabric of many of its most historic communities. Thanks to this mounting sea change, our state is set to embrace a new, starring role as ground zero for a new era of prosperity.
Jonathan Schwartz is a partner at Livingston-based BNE Real Estate, which has been developing luxury homes and apartments in New Jersey for 60 years.