Page 19 - RE-NJ

DCA to calculate new obligations
for the so-called fourth round from
2025 to 2035. It also set deadlines
for towns to develop and adopt their
“fair share” housing plans, seeking
to streamline the process and create
a new mediation process to negate
costly legal battles. As incentives,
the law gave bonus credits for plans
that adapt former offi ce or retail
properties and create special needs
housing, among other criteria.
Joseph DeMarco, an attorney and
partner at Scarinci Hollenbeck LLC
of Little Falls, said local offi cials
have learned that courts are no
longer lenient about delaying or
sidestepping their obligations.
“Towns know they actually have
to pick real sites,” that can be
developed, said DeMarco, a former
municipal business administrator
for Bayonne and West New York.
He was also one of the six panelists
— which included developers,
attorneys, design professionals and
two former mayors — who spoke
before a standing-room-only crowd
on Dec. 9 as part of Real Estate NJ’s
forum, “The State of Redevelopment:
Multifamily and Mixed-Use” at The
Highlawn in West Orange.
With the next round slated to
begin in 2035, the law required
municipalities to adopt their initial
fourth-round housing obligations by
Jan. 31, 2025, submit full housing
plans by June 30 and resolve
challenges from developers or other
stakeholders by Dec. 31. According
to the Fair Share Housing Center,
the infl uential advocacy group, some
380 municipalities had developed
compliant plans by year-end, in what
it called an unprecedented level of
participation and compliance in the
state’s affordable housing process.
A MODEST START, WITH A
WAYS TO GO
Still, KSS Architects’ Jason
Chmura points to the challenges
of converting offi ce buildings to
residential in New Jersey. Deep fl oor
plates and access and egress points
often seem to be some of the biggest
hurdles of repurposing offi ce parks
that were designed for the 1980s and
’90s, he said. Most of those decades-
old campuses also have too much
parking and utility density that is
no longer needed for today’s more
transient workforce, he added, while
a central corridor almost always
must be added and plumbing tends
™ 17
Photos by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ
Real Estate NJ’s Dec. 9 event, The State of Redevelopment: Multifamily and Mixed-Use, drew a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd to
The Highlawn in West Orange.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
Commercial Real Estate Brokerage
9 10
11 12 13 14
1 Burlington County, NJ
$60,000,000
400 Units
5 Vineland, NJ
$12,000,000
104 Units
9 Garwood, NJ
$6,600,000
36 Units
FEATURED 2025 INVESTMENT SALES
2 Summit, NJ
$22,150,000
57 Units
6 Union County, NJ
$12,000,000
75-Unit Portfolio
10 Trenton, NJ
$4,850,000
40 Units
13 Millburn, NJ
$4,000,000
15 Units + 4 Retail
3 Jersey City, NJ
$20,000,000
32 Units
7
$11,000,000
63 Units
11 Belleville, NJ
$4,700,000
28 Units
14 Somerville, NJ
$2,675,000
4 Aberdeen, MD
$15,800,000
60 Units
8 Piscataway, NJ
$6,000,000
31 Units
12 Livingston, NJ
$4,500,000
51 Units
The Kislak Company, Inc. | www.kislakrealty.com | 732 750 3000