Community Corner

Developer Proposes 74 Apartments

The township would sell land for $1.8 million under the tentative agreement.

The township has tenatively agreed to sell a piece of land it owns nearby Gloucester Township Community Park to a New York developer that proposes to build 74 apartments there.

The Township Council at its Feb. 27 meeting authorized the $1.8 million sale of township land to Conifer Realty LLC, of Rochester, NY.

The township selected Conifer as the developer after it and another developer each bid $1.8 million for the property, which is located at the end of Melbourne Lane, between the Revere Run II development and the park.

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Conifer has proposed to build and manage a 74-unit affordable housing development on the site.

A total of three developers submitted bids for the property by the Feb. 8 deadline. The bids ranged from $750,000 to $1.8 million, with the high bid coming from Conifer, Township Solicitor David Carlamere said.

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Lawrenceville-based Community Investment Strategies (CIS) LLC increased its initial bid of $1.5 million to $1,800,001 during an advertised auction, at which Conifer was not represented.

With CIS and Conifer both essentially making the same bid for the property, township officials asked both developers to make pitches in support of their proposals. The developers met with Carlamere, Business Administrator Tom Cardis and Councilman Dan Hutchison.

"We had to look at their finances and the proposals that they submitted, and where they were going to secure their funding, because we were very much interested in being satisfied that the award would go to the one most likely to succeed," Carlamere said during the Feb. 27 Council meeting.

The three-man committee decided Conifer was "most likely to succeed" with its proposal.

The property had previously been approved for 100 housing units, according to Carlamere.

According to Cardis, Conifer's proposal would result in construction of 35 three-bedroom units, 25 two-bedroom units and 14 one-bedroom units.

The resolution approved by Council stipulates that the contract of sale be finalized "with a projected date for closing to be set at a date within 120 days of availability of funding to the purchaser or Dec. 31, 2012, whichever first occurs."


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