FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Four residential communities in various stages of the development process are coming to the area in the near future and over the next several years.
JSM at Eaton of Piscataway was granted amended preliminary and final major site plan approval at the June 4 Freehold Township Planning Board meeting.
The firm’s development, the Edge at Freehold, will be built at the corner of Route 9 south and Elton-Adelphia Road and incorporate 14 buildings with 209 residential units and 14,553 square feet of retail space. A total of 496 parking spaces are proposed.
It is anticipated that the buildings will include 34 one-bedroom units; 169 two-bedroom units; and six three-bedroom units. A 3,669-square-foot clubhouse for residents will also be constructed.
Applicant K. Hovnanian received approval at the May 21 Freehold Township Planning Board meeting to build 113 agerestricted (age 55 and over) units. The development at 3390 Route 9 south will include 89 single-family units and 24 threebedroom affordable housing duplex units.
The Enclave at Freehold, by Toll Brothers, is under construction on Jackson Mills Road and will include 79 age-restricted (55 and over) homes ranging in price from about $473,000 to $558,000.
The Enclave is being built in the vicinity of the Riviera adult community on Jackson Mills Road, Freehold Township.
About one-third of the homes at the Enclave have been sold, according to Anthony Rocco, Toll Brothers division president. Two decorated model homes are nearly complete and the clubhouse is anticipated to be completed in early 2016.
“Freehold Township has endeavored, through decades of intelligent planning and zoning, to ensure that the infrastructure of the township consistently keeps pace with development,” Mayor Thomas Cook said.
Planning and zoning boards, he said, ensure that “the developer performs the required activities and improvements to alleviate the immediate effect of their development.”
“These conditions put upon the developers can be costly and Freehold Township does not hesitate in making sure they are addressed regardless of the cost,” Cook said.
Municipalities, he said, “cannot simply stop development, but need to control it through proper zoning.”
“The Township Committee is very sensitive to the effect each piece of development has on the immediate and surrounding areas, but needs to weigh public perception against the reality in order to properly evaluate development projects,” Cook said.
In neighboring Howell, K. Hovnanian’s Four Seasons at Monmouth Woods, on West Farms Road, off Route 9 south, will offer 251 age-restricted (55 and over) homes. The land is being cleared and the sales center and models are anticipated to open by late summer, according to a company representative. The home prices have not been set.
Combined, these developments will add up to more than 400 new age-restricted houses in the Freehold Township-Howell vicinity.
“The aging population is increasing and many active adults want the luxury of being able to enjoy the good life and have someone else take care of their landscaping and home maintenance,” said Chris Gaffney, Toll Brothers group president.
“Two things are going on. One is political and the other is demographic,” said George Vallone, president of the New Jersey Builders Association and president of the Hoboken Brownstone Company.
On the political end, “a lot of municipalities put age restrictions on housing to avoid younger families with children. It avoids school overcrowding,” Vallone said.
In reality, he said, public school and private school enrollment is down as baby boomers have passed the age of having children and millennials have not yet started families.
“The fear (regarding children) is misguided,” Vallone said.
“Age-restricted communities are typically easier to get municipal approvals for because they do not bring any new school age children into the town. Many towns perceive homes with school age children as being a fiscal ‘negative’ since the costs of public education are paid for through local property taxes,” said Peter Reinhart, an attorney and director of the Kislak Real Estate Institute at Monmouth University, West Long Branch.
Turning to demographics, Vallone said there is a high demand as baby boomers are looking to downsize their current home.
Age-restricted communities “are where the active adults want to be,” Vallone said, adding there is “pent up demand that needs to be satisfied.”
Due to a slowdown in the construction of age-restricted housing starting in early 2008 and not picking up again until 2012, Vallone said, the pace of supply is trying to keep up with demand.
According to Reinhart, newer adult communities generally come with a higher price and more amenities.
“In addition, many of these (adult communities) include single-family detached homes on small lots, whereas some of the older adult communities tended to be more condominium style with smaller attached homes,” he said.