Mounir Badaan, CEO of property owner Badanco Holding LLC, appeared before the Borough Council with his son, Brandon, on Oct. 2 to present the revised plan, which Borough Attorney Bob Oostdyk said would likely require a zoning overlay before it could move forward due to apartments not being approved for the R-7 zone Argonne Woods sits in.
Much has changed since the company first got the approvals for the condo development back in 2005-06, Badaan told the councilmen, and the pool of potential buyers for the 2,800-square-foot, $400,000 townhomes has shrunk due to the economy.
Only 18 of the planned-for 69 units have been finished, and just 10 have been sold in the year and a half since their completion. Some of those have been sold for $50,000 under cost, he said.
"We are losing a fortune," he said. "It hasn’t been benefitting us and it hasn’t been benefitting the town… we’re just getting to be in a very bad situation."
Badaan asked the council for permission to finish out the second construction phase — bringing the total number of condos to 38 — but then change course and finish the project out with one- and two-bedroom, 800- to 1,000-square-foot rental units that would go for about $1,000 a month.
"Renting today is doing unbelievable… that’s what everybody’s looking for right now, and that’s where the shortage is today…nobody has $300,000 - $400,000 to buy homes," he said.
This would leave Argonne with a total of 90 apartments, which would raise the number of overall units to 128 but remain within the same physical footprint due to the smaller size of the floor plans.
Badaan’s son Brandon said that the three-story building would reach a height of 55 feet, 20 feet higher than the borough allows, and would require a variance. However, before spending an estimated $250,000 on new site plans, he said, they wanted to get a feeling from the council as to whether it would perform the zone overlay.
After a brief conversation, Councilman Bob Fox, the governing body’s liaison to the Land Use/Planning Board, suggested that he be allowed to bring the idea to that body and discuss it before the council made any decision.
The rest of the council agreed, and Oostdyk noted that with the increased density and zoning change, getting the board’s approval before borough officials put the effort into reviewing plans would be appropriate.
The Badaans concurred, with Mounir stressing the importance of being allowed to move forward with the new proposal.
"That’s the only way we’re going to be able to survive," he said, "because the way it is right now, it’s just bleeding and bleeding."
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/news/173065901_Butler_council_mulls_new_proposal_for_Argonne_Woods_development.html?page=all
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