Recession or Not, Toll Brothers To Break Ground on New Project Soon

Construction on the newest Toll Brothers installment in Hoboken is slated to begin this week. Workers were already seen at 1450 Washington St., painting guidelines for the perimeter last Wednesday and city officials confirmed the developer would soon break ground.

Director of Community Development Brandy Forbes said that the company is starting the foundation. "The developer is just working on its next building," she said. 

Toll Brothers, a luxury real estate developer based in Horsham, Pa., has already built two residential complexes in Hoboken: the Hudson Tea, with two 12-story buildings at the northern tip of Washington Street, and Maxwell Place, a property on Frank Sinatra Drive that will eventually include more than 800 units.

Plans for the new project, which include 13-story structures on either side of Washington between 14th and 15th Streets, were approved in 2004. Toll Brothers representatives declined to comment on the new development.

It appears construction will begin near the corner of 15th and Washington. According to the blueprints available at City Hall, the portion of the block owned by Toll Brothers will include a 13-story structure facing the already existing Hudson Tea buildings, a six-story structure on Washington, and a two-story structure on Bloomfield Street. It will have studio and one- and two-bedroom units and retail space on the ground floor.

On the vacant lot to the east, Toll Brothers plans to construct a slightly larger building with 13 stories on 15th Street, six stories on Washington, eight stories on Hudson Street, and two stories on the corner of 14th and Hudson. It will include studio and one- and two-bedroom units and a parking garage.

The blueprints also depict another building near the corner of 15th and Hudson with 13 stories and a parking garage.

Toll Brothers converted Hoboken's former Lipton Tea Factory into a luxury condo complex in the 1990s. The Hudson Tea development now includes one ten-story structure near the corner of 15th and Bloomfield and, one block east, two 12-story buildings. The complex has studio and one-, two-, and three-bedroom units ranging from about $450,000 to more than $1 million, according to the Toll Brothers Web site.

Maxwell Place was built on the site of the former Maxwell House Coffee plant on the Hudson River waterfront. The complex includes a fitness center, game room, entertainment lounge, and rooftop pool. It also has commercial space on its ground floor, which is now home to the Massage Envy Spa, the Hoboken Man, a branch of PNC Bank, and other businesses. One- to three-bedroom condos at this location sell for about $550,000 to more than $3 million. The project is not completely finished. At least one more building will be constructed on the property.

Despite the housing crisis, sales at the Hudson Tea and Maxwell Place have been strong in recent years, said Toll Brothers spokesperson Ron Simoncini. 

"We have certainly outperformed the market," Simoncini said. 

Barry Shoot, who recently moved into Maxwell Place said he is happy with his purchase. Shoot, who runs an executive search firm, bought a two-bedroom condo with his wife last month, after their daughter left for college. "It was the right time for us," he said. He added that Maxwell Place was the only building they looked at in Hoboken. "We knew it was for us," he said.

Hoboken as a whole has not been immune to the recession, but the housing market is getting better, said local real estate agent Katherine Silver, who's also a partner at Empire Realty Group on Washington. "I feel that ... we've bottomed out, and we're starting to climb," she said.

Silver said that while home prices may not have increased in the past year, the number of closed deals has. From May 3 to August 3 this year, Hoboken had 248 closings, compared to 156 closings during the same period last in 2009, according to the Hudson County Multiple Listing Service database. However, the median price did drop from $471,250 in 2009 to $457,500 in 2010.

"The people who are looking now are people who have waited out the sellers' market or built up their down payment," said Silver. "They know there is plenty of inventory and they can afford to be picky." She added that lower-priced units are going faster than higher-end realty. 

But, she added, "That's not to say that luxury isn't selling." 

Before the recession, said Silver, more people were going for luxury condos. Now, buyers in the market for real estate similar to what Toll Brothers has to offer are more like the empty nester than first-time home buyer.

Either way, increased Hoboken sales could mean good news for Toll Brothers' newest project.