By Doug Carman
A developer who was interested in taking over the Rug Mill property across from Hightstown’s Borough Hall proposed turning the dilapidated property into a low-income senior citizen housing development.
Larry Regan, president of Ardsley, New York-based Regan Development, said he was in the process of purchasing John Wolfington’s remaining share of the Rug Mill with hopes to close on the property and begin renovations for the property by the fall or early next year if everything is approved.
As to the years-long legal battling between the borough and Mr. Wolfington over the stalled redevelopment, both Mr. Regan and the council can’t say whether this will end Mr. Wolfington’s years-old lawsuit, filed in January 2008.
The suit demands the overturn of the borough’s redevelopment ordinance over the mill so he could be allowed to add more residences to the proposed complex while also seeking a refund of about $250,000 his company, Greystone Capital Partners, paid toward the planning and zoning of the property.
”I will have nothing to do with that,” Mr. Regan told the Herald. “That’s between the current owner and the municipality. I’m not looking to get involved with that matter … that whole matter should go away because there won’t be a need for a lawsuit because we’ll be purchasing the property.”
Councilman Larry Quattrone, the only remaining member who sat in the council when Mr. Wolfington first filed suit against the borough in 2008, was even less certain this would have any effect on that suit.
”I would assume that it would, but to assume is stupid so I will not comment on that,” he said.
The mill has had an extensive history marred in vacancy, stalled redevelopment plans and legal strife since 2003.
The previous mill owners, Eugene Pascucci and Albert Colligan, were denied permission by the council to demolish the mill after the council passed an ordinance changing the acceptable use of the property, leading them to sue the borough in 2003, claiming that amounted to an unlawful seizure of their property.
Mr. Wolfington’s Greystone presented a redevelopment plan in the spring of 2004 and purchased the property for $3 million. His proposal called for 82 residential units at the site of the mill with space for employees of the borough hall and Hightstown Police Department headquarters nearby.
However, Mr. Wolfington requested more residential units. According to the lawsuit he filed in 2008, Mr. Wolfington and a consultant chosen by the borough and funded by Greystone determined in 2006 that the project was not financially feasible even after the borough allowed 98 units.
Mr. Wolfington requested he be allowed to create 130 units on the property, a $350,000 payment to the borough in lieu of reconstruction work previously promised for the nearby borough hall and a 10-year program to make payments in lieu of taxation, or a “pilot” in developer lingo.
The council rejected this proposal in December 2007, and Mr. Wolfington filed his still-ongoing suit the following month, claiming that vote cost him $4 million, and the borough “breached its duty to act in good faith and fair dealing.”
Mr. Wolfington was not at the council meeting Monday evening, and the phone number and e-mail listed on his Web page were not working.
Mr. Regan told the council Monday evening that his development company had been asked by TD Bank, who gave a loan to Mr. Wolfington to develop the rug mill, to take over the 7-acre tract on Bank Street. In September, however, Mr. Wolfington sold a warehouse connected to the mill to Five C Industries for $680,000, according to records held by Hightstown Borough Tax Assessor Ken Pacera.
Mr. Regan said he planned to create between 85 and 90 “affordable” apartments on the property while simultaneously preserving the Rug Mill’s exterior appearance. He proposed that the old rug mill buildings, which will be the new apartment complex, will be registered as a national historic landmark.
In pitching the development to the council, he also requested his company give Hightstown a 30-year pilot. He said he’d give $45,000 for the first year his company owns the property with the remaining payments to be determined later.
”I think you can all see the handwriting on the wall. The real estate market is not going to change anytime soon,” he told the council.
Mr. Regan declined to disclose the sale price for the property. Mr. Pacera said the mill’s 2010 property tax records gave the two parcels, a combined 7 acres, a total combined value of about $3.33 million. Not counting the warehouse that was sold off, the property tax assessment totals about $105,000, of which about $29,000 is owed to the borough for that year.
Mayor Steve Kirson told the Herald that, as Mr. Regan indicated at the meeting, part of one of the buildings lies near a flood plain so it would have to remain for commercial use. He said more tax revenues could come from that portion of the development, but the amount of extra tax revenue couldn’t be determined at this stage.
The council members asked a few questions, but remained mostly mum on their opinions of the project even though Mr. Quattrone told the Herald Tuesday afternoon that he thought the pilot would be a tough sell.
”I pay half of that right here in this business so I don’t see that flying,” said Mr. Quattrone, who owns a local auto repair shop in the borough.
Members of the crowd attending the meeting, who spent almost an hour commenting on the project, mostly were skeptical about the proposal and were universally opposed to the pilot offer.
Dan Buriak, who previously worked on Hightstown’s Historical Preservation Committee, said he was concerned about a low-income senior citizen apartment complex being proposed with a homeless shelter on Stockton Street nearby.
”From a planning perspective, we need to understand what that densification does to that section of town,” he said, adding of the blighted property, “This will not infuse the town with an economic stimulus. We will fix this up with this project, but this is in no way an economic stimulus.”
Mr. Quattrone said Mr. Regan’s plan, once the purchase is completed, will have to go through the Planning Board. Because the apartments will be rentals, a new zoning ordinance might be needed.

