Workers were framing out the second floor of the building last week. It will have 20 apartments with retail space on the ground floor, as well as a courtyard and amphitheater, according to information on a city list of developer Frank Cretella's projects.
So far nothing has begun on Cretella's largest project, 100 apartments and 48 condos on West Second Street with commercial space on the ground floor. Cretella received approvals for the project in 2010.
--Bernice
Did this developer pay up his taxes yet? It sure is taking a long time to build these.
ReplyDeletePlainfield is overcrowded, population 60,000 easily! And more coming !
ReplyDeletePlainfield is 45th in the state for population density - lose the drama.
DeleteIf the city enforces the law regarding how many people live in a house or apartment, the overflow will have to go somewhere.
ReplyDeletePlainfield has apartments that can accommodate all economic levels, so I see apartments being rented. If the city enforces the rules.
Possibly, and hopefully, what will happen is that new units will get rented, overall area will start to improve, demand will increase, private home owners will start remodeling and improving their properties to take advantage of the demand and rent them to folks that can afford to pay market rents and the overcrowding in units will start to dwindle and rooming houses will become history.
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope.
start remodeling their apartments and/or selling and those units will be rented at higher rents will go up and the houses with rental units will start getting
It amazes me that with all this planning and building. As well as the construction projects to come. That no is demanding that there be job guarantees for locals on these sites. Stimulate the economy from the bottom up as well as the top down. Organizing for peace and progress for all. Norman X Johnson
ReplyDeleteWhenever special consideration is given to a project, such as a PILOT agreement, local hiring requirements should be part of the picture in numbers that are substantial and not just mere tokenism. I thought I heard at the Planning Board meeting a few weeks ago that the South Avenue Redevelopment area would have a 10% set aside for resident construction jobs. This seems very low to me, and should be an area of concern and the subject of strong negotiation for both the City Council and the Administration. I've asked for clarification on more than one occasion, but so far all I've been met with is silence. The Administration acts like it knows it all and we should just be grateful it exists, and the City Council acts like it knows nothing and is too troubled to bother to find out. Now, some projects are completely private, so the City doesn't have much say in the matter of hiring. And some present the City with leverage to do right by the citizenry. But it all may be moot with the South Avenue project which could be in jeopardy. There may no jobs at all, or the added $7 million in municipal revenue that would come with it. This is what happens when you have a City Council more interested in "respect" than doing its job between meetings, and an Administration that rarely spells out its decision making process adequately and before controversy sets in.
DeleteAlan, If PILOT was essential to South Avenue project, a developer should have secured it at the get-go, not a year into the planning. Threatening to cancel at this stage seems more like an act of extortion. Nevertheless, that land is "in play" now, and if JMF drops out, it will be available to other developers who don't demand PILOTS. Plainfield will get its progress and increased tax revenue.
DeleteAnonymous, you are making the assumption the land is in play, and if only JMF gets out of the way other developers will SOON fill the vacuum. Or, in the alternative, JMF doesn't really require a PILOT, so if the City just stands fast it will have its cake and get to eat it too. Of course I look around and see an abundance of commercial and residential vacancies, many properties for sale, and generally low real estate values compared to surrounding communities. So I see a need to jump start a moribund situation rather than sit by idly in wait of whatever fate throws our way. Because I'm not privy to the actual timing of the Administration's and City Council's discussions about the agreement, I can't say anything about what lead time was necessary to move forward with the PILOT without 'disrespecting' one party or another in the process. Every resident in this city would have been disrespected if the developer had secured the PILOT from the "get-go", as you say, when the project was just pie-in-the-sky. That would be complete negligence on the part of our public officials. But almost as negligent is what seems to be a distaste for change by those who view progress as backsliding several decades. They hope to cement their presumed authority by keeping Plainfield mired in indifference without opportunity, and believe the city will get its progress and increased tax revenue by doing nothing but wait for someone, anyone, to fill the void.
DeleteAlan, I pointed out elsewhere that two projects on South Avenue went forward without PILOTS. No one stood in the way of that change. It is not the change, it is the dollars- the millions of dollars JMF wants. It is a false assumption that PILOTS are needed for change as the other projects prove.
DeleteI hope the City of Plainfield starts to inspect apartments and should make all owners get a certificate for the city before someone can move in. Many houses in Plainfield have had three room apartments magically made into four or five room apartments. We also have five or six people living in a one bedroom apartment. If the City can afford to hire enough people, these problems need to be taken care of. We don't want to wait for a fire to find five people who shared a one bedroom apartment died.
ReplyDeleteEverybody know where the illegal boarding houses are except mapps code enforcers and inspectors.
ReplyDeletewhat a half wit... any of those have been around since before even the Queen of Deniers and code laxation SRB... Every Mayor and City Council before and now have all folded to the apartment owners.... but, good attempt at a slam, ignorant people like you will run with your statement as fact.
DeleteAre any of these new apartments "fast wood" construction? That is within state codes but if there is a fire the results have been like the Edgewater Avalon fire.
ReplyDeleteLocal codes can be more demanding than the state.
As much as I want to be positive about these projects, I hope quality is a cornerstone of Cretella's efforts.
ReplyDeleteThe brick work and detail on the front of Miron's building is VERY sloppy, an obvious eyesore. There is no reason that on a total rehab project, the front facing part of the building should look so cheap. The bricks are all lopsided and he left the sill on the front-facing sealed/bricked window. Often in these types of projects, effort will be made to conceal the previous opening as if it never existed.
Although he's is fixing up these properties they are for profit ventures, cutting cost and minimizing expenses is part of his business.
I know Mr. Cretella is very cozy with the Mayor's office, but anything any of the Commissions can do to have the work properly done? (At least the bricks, that's a mess).