‘Hungarian Home’ eyed for condos

Vacant Roebling building, once used to teach English to Hungarian immigrants, may be turned into condominiums.

By: Scott Morgan
   ROEBLING — The echoes of the past are too tempting to pass up — a Trenton boy looking to expand his business and develop a town heads 12 miles south and comes across the ideal place to break ground. It happened for Charles Roebling, and it is happening now, 100 years later and on a much more modest scale, for Rich Tola.
   Mr. Tola, president of the New York City-based development firm West End Capital Partners, said that while he has been in the Big Apple for the past 12 years, his heart remains in his native Trenton and its history-rich neighbors like Roebling. It is for this reason, Mr. Tola said, that his company is looking to turn a badly neglected (but historically significant) building on Norman Avenue, once used as the place Hungarian immigrants learned to speak English, into middle-income condominiums by the end of the year. It will just take a lot of work.
   Today, what was once known as "the Hungarian Home," the community center built beside the Hungarian Reformed Church in 1925, is in bad shape. Township Administrator Richard Brook even referred to the building as "a dormant, old, vacant building that is a blight on the community." Its roof is pocked with large holes, the insides have been gutted and are bestrewn with old debris.
   "There are no positive aspects to it," Mr. Brook said.
   But that is now. What West End Capital is looking at is about six months from now, when Mr. Tola said the condo units (between four and 10 of them) should be complete, along with the ground floor recreation center and laundry facility for residents. West End Capital will restore the two-story brick building — all 2,800 square feet of it —which Mr. Tola said will house loft-style condos that will cost between $149,000 and $249,000.
   Tina Capitly, a spokeswoman for West End Capital, said the redevelopment of the site would be "bringing the past into the future in a happy medium."
   Some in the village couldn’t be happier.
   "It would be wonderful," said Donna McElrea, owner of Donna’s Deli on Main Street and president of the Roebling Historical Society. "It would be a beautiful thing to do because people like to stay here. This is a whole new style of living."
   Mr. Brook, too, said redevelopment there signals the kind of growth township officials are striving to build. With the cleanup of the Roebling Steel Mill site churning toward completion, township officials have been aching to build Roebling’s image as a bedroom community and visitor-friendly commercial district. A project like this one, Mr. Brook said, certainly helps.
   West End Capital must still get approval from the township Zoning Board, as the developer’s plans are still in the application phase. Mr. Brook said the board is expected to decide on the project before June; and though he said he cannot speak for the board, nor speculate on the decision it would make, Mr. Brook said he would expect them to look favorably upon the project.
   Mr. Tola said he expects cleanup to take four to six weeks and that the units could be occupied by year’s end.
   "We like to move fast," he said.