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May 2010 – week 3 Issue
Englewood’s Breakfast Club Begins Operations
Falling Values of Real Estate
New Measures to Reduce Unemployment
Retail Real Estate Shows High Vacancy Rates
Edgewater Torn Between Private Residential and Public Land
Englewood’s Breakfast Club Begins Operations
The Breakfast Club of the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is finally operational. This club held its first meeting at the Montammy Golf Club of Alpine in the last week of April. Now the club is looking at new ways to help the families of patients and work to improve the quality of life. Comprising of service-minded individuals who wish to support the hospital and get involved in providing service, the group also includes 28 volunteer facilitators of the new Family Resource Center (FRC) of the hospital. Besides moral support, the center offers resources like the Internet that allows people to pay bills or check e-mails if they are at the hospital unexpectedly. Required information and other resources are also being made available. Service inspires people to get out of their lives and understand the lives of others better. The Breakfast Club is a philanthropic community that has set out on the journey of making its vicinity a happier and safer place to live in.
A commercial real estate deal in Fort Lee that had once been an example of soaring real estate values, now represents the current scenario of decline. The building owned by Kwasha Lipton, a Human Resources Consulting firm, had been purchased in the year 2007 for a record value of $44 million. At that time, it had been an example of high rising prices of those times. However after staying vacant for the past two years, the building fell into foreclosure and its owners had to file for bankruptcy protection. At a distress sale, the building was sold this month for a record low of $10 million. The property now belongs to an Asian investment firm. The buyers state that they would continue to use the building for office purposes though certain renovations will be needed. Though there are a few rays of hope, the New Jersey real estate market continues to stay slow and operate at a dull pace. This is all the more true for commercial real estate, where buyers are still not willing to put in funds and sellers are not getting their property’s worth. Statistics by Grubb & Ellis also report that the overall availability rate of office space in Bergen County today stands at 25.5%.
New Measures to Reduce Unemployment
Residents of Bergen County towns continue to face difficult times, as real estate prices fall and unemployment rates rise. In such difficult times, the county is constantly adopting measures to reduce problems as much as possible. In this regard, various cost cutting methods have even been suggested for the job market in the region. Through adopting these measures, the county is being able to save approximately 43 county jobs. One of these measures includes the provision of five voluntary furlough days in 2010 and 2011. Through this measure, approximately 1.5% salaries can be contributed towards health care. Both blue collared and white collared union members agreed to this measure, through which few county jobs can be saved. Based on the successful acceptance of this measure, officials have also decided to re-negotiate and ask for similar measures in the year of 2012 also. The statistics reveal a sad state of affairs whereby 70 county employees would have to be laid off by June 1, 2010. Also 30 vacancies in the borough would not be filled this year due to the economic crisis and budget constraints. However with the above measures, officials are hopeful that the number of layoffs can be curtailed.
Retail Real Estate Shows High Vacancy Rates
As per an online tracking survey conducted by RJ Brunelli & Co., a retail real estate brokerage firm, the retail vacancy rate along six shopping corridors of northern New Jersey has risen to 8% in 2010 as compared to 6.8% in 2009.Real estate experts from the organization also predict that these vacancy rates will more or less remain so through the year. Details of the survey showed that Route 4 from River Edge through Paramus was the only region where the vacancy rate of 2010 was noted to decrease. However this was largely attributed to the fact that the 62,000 sq ft, former site of Huffman Koos was no longer on the property rolls. Other factor of the survey that demonstrated a rise in the rate of vacancy was the closure of various chain stores like Circuit City, Clifton based Linen n’ things and other national retail stores. The survey is further indicative that while the economy has still not bottomed out, retail real estate is still lagging behind and needs a positive push into the right direction.
Edgewater Torn Between Private Residential and Public Land
In the town of Edgewater, the borough may soon ask the Department of Environmental Protection to remove 6.5 acres of land from the municipality’s open space list. The land in question is located near the Edgewater Colony, an upscale community that has illegally built docks on the public land. However these docks have been present since many years and the colony does not lay any claim on them. All council members also agree that the docks should not be destroyed. The borough is thus seeking solutions to overcome the situation of whether public lands can be used in such manner by private parties. Various modes of action are being considered. Besides removing the land from the open space list, few officials have also suggested leasing out some part of land to the Edgewater Colony. Discussions on a lease agreement with the Colony authorities are yet to take place. Also, the DEP is yet to determine whether removing the lands from the open space list is feasible or not.
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