River Road, which runs alongside the Hudson River, has come a long way in 20 years. Once home to abandoned railroad sidings and industrial sites, the riverfront border shared by North Bergen, Guttenberg, and West New York has become a haven of luxury residential communities.
West New York’s latest residential project, Grandview II at Riverwalk, Port Imperial, is almost ready to open its doors with most of their properties already sold.
“The community started opening up for sale in November of 2003, and we started construction on October, slightly a month before,” said Ronald Lukowiak, community manager for K. Hovnanian’s northeast region. “There are 300 homes between the two buildings, and we have 250 homes sold.”
Personalized community
Located at 20 Avenue at Port Imperial, Grandview II is a six-story mixed used residential community with 300 residential properties.
It also boasts unique attributes including more than 125,000 square feet of dining and retail space, which will be located on the development’s ground level.
“This is one of our premier communities,” said Jonathan Pink, salesperson for K. Hovnanian. “You have ownership in a planned community. At Grandview residents will have a promenade of retail shops and transportation among other amenities.”
“[And] this is the million dollar view location,” said Lukowiak.
The buildings will have indoor parking lots on the first level. The condominiums will range from one to three bedrooms and one to two bathrooms. The home is designed to the buyer’s liking and can include dens and fine dining rooms.
“[These constructions] use the latest advances and structural technology,” said Lukowiak. “It’s more energy efficient and use more advanced building materials. Everything is new.”
Buyers can request specific features and stylize the home to their particular tastes, from cabinets to bathroom fixtures. In addition, although the dwelling will come with the latest state-of-the-art in home construction and appliances, owners will be able to upgrade on their own.
“They will get to do a lot of upgrades; things you can do to make it your home,” said Doug Fenichel, region director of public relations and communications for K. Hovnanian.
Revitalizing North Hudson
In addition to the commercial space right on the property, residents of Grandview will enjoy a wide variety of amenities including concierge service, and will also be close to buses and ferries to New York.
“Twenty years ago, there was nothing here just old abandoned rail yards,” said Fenichel. “This is sort of the apex of redevelopment of the Gold Coast.”
“Homes vary from as low as $400,000 up to about $1.7 million,” said Lukowaik.
K. Hovnanian Homes have already enjoyed success with their first town home communities of Bull’s Ferry, Jacob’s Ferry and Harbor Place, which are located just north of the new Grandview.
K. Hovnanian is one of the largest developers in New Jersey.
“We’ve continued to evolve to meet the needs of our home buyers,” said Pink.
“Home styles change much like clothing styles change,” said Fenichel. “We accommodate lifestyles for the young single and first time home buyers to families with children.”
The commercial space provides the convenience of having necessities such as supermarkets and dry cleaners at arms’ length, much like Bergenline Avenue offers to those up the hill.
“Those are hours saved that you would normally give to your business or quality time with your family,” said Pink.
Their recent purchasers are active adult buyers from all walks of life, and are coming from the local area to across the Hudson. About 25 percent of their buyers have been from New York, they said, but 75 are from the local area, and have been nicknamed the “River Road Group.” They include Hoboken, Weehawken, West New York, Guttenburg, North Bergen, Edgewater and Fort Lee.
“It’s a really desirable place to be,” said Lukowaik.
“You can’t get homes like this anywhere, with this view and access to transportation,” said Fenichel.
Preparations are being made for a topping off ceremony to mark the completion of steelwork of this first mixed used residential mid-rise building.
K. Hovnanian’s next residential development, The Views at Hudson Pointe in North Bergen, just up from Grandview on River Road, has also begun selling process with hopeful buyers lining up around the block for first selection.
For more information on these properties and home ownership, call Grandview at Riverwalk sales office at (201) 392-0153, or for Hudson Pointe (201) 758-0905.