Columbia buying failed Riverdale development
The Arbor
The down real estate market has dealt a major blow to one developer in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale. L&M Equity Partners and its affiliate Hudson Arlington Associates, the firm behind The Arbor, a 127-unit condo at 3260 Henry Hudson Parkway, has taken that property off the market and is selling it to Columbia University.
"Columbia has agreed in principle to purchase the residential building now under construction at 3260 Henry Hudson Parkway for housing faculty members, graduate students and their families. After a period of due diligence, the university hopes to finalize the purchase soon," said Robert Hornsby, Columbia's director of media relations, who offered no further details on the sale.
Hudson Arlington Associates declined to comment on the impending sale, which has Riverdale's real estate community buzzing.
The wholesale purchase of an entire building by a nonprofit, even one as deep-pocketed as Columbia, is not giving local brokers great confidence in the future of Riverdale's real estate market.
"I don't think it's a good thing," said Robert Wachsman, president of Riverdale Homes.
Brokers say that only 13 apartments in the still-unfinished Arbor had entered into sale agreements. Some observers say they believe the project's high prices and unappealing design slowed sales. Units at the Arbor ranged between $400,000 and $900,000, too high for Riverdale, Wachsman said.
Wachsman noted that Riverdale buyers have plenty of options: the building boom that hit the leafy neighborhood near Westchester about four years ago created close to 1,000 new co-op apartments, most of which were marketed to buyers being priced out of Manhattan.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz has been a critic of the Arbor project since 2005, when the site, previously occupied by the Baptist Home for the Aged, was purchased for development. At the time, he argued that developers were creating new housing that the neighborhood did not need in a rush to profit from rising real estate prices.
"A developer saw a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and in fact found a pile of debt instead," said Dinowitz.
Even the impending sale hasn't placated Dinowitz.
"I'm not happy that this is happening," said Dinowitz. He said he worries that Columbia's future tenants at the Arbor might have only tenuous links the Riverdale community and few reasons to care about the neighborhood.
"My preference would be for a building that would attract families to our community," said Dinowitz. "And while the people that move in might be very nice, almost by definition this would be a building that will have a high turnover rate. And that's generally not a good thing."
Some local river estate watchers see the Arbor as a cautionary tale for developers who need to be flexible with prices in a slowing market.
"There's still a market here for lower-priced apartments," Wachsman said. "Everyone reads the press, and the gloom and doom, and buyers are adjusting to that. Sellers need to adjust accordingly."
Comments
Anonymous
Riverdale is a fine neighborhood with a stable population. Some developers built buildings that are insensitive to both the scale and qualities of the community, expecting to sell before completion, following Manhattan models (the Arbor is not quite finished and is now considered a failure). Solaria, another condo project, is a building better suited for Miami without parking spaces...These developers deserve their luck. The better integrated new new being built will sell out, and the Arbor will provide good housing for professors and scientists that will appreciate Riverdale.
Comment #0 Posted By: Anonymous 05/16/08
Anonymous
Columbia faculty are not a group with particularly high turnover. Those who are tenured will probably stay for decades on average. Some who aren't tenured will remain for more than five years -- or considerably longer for those who aren't on the trnure track at all (and who therefore won't have to leave the university if they aren't awarded tenure on schedule). Grad students will likely stay put for several years as well; most of them will be Ph.D. candidates whose programs can be quite lengthy.
Comment #1 Posted By: Anonymous 05/17/08
Anonymous
I live next door to the failed Arbor development. Before the property was purchased, it contained a lovely Georgian-style building surrounded by very tall mature trees and carefully tended lawns. In one day, the developers demolished all the old trees. I'll never forget the sight of those stumps; it was so sad.
After two years or more of noise, smoke and dirt we have a finished building that is way over scale for the site; it is built right up to the sidewalk line. I truly miss those towering old trees. Which makes the name "The Arbor" even more of a blow.
Once a sleepy "village in the Bronx" greedy developers are re-making Riverdale into another over-built, frustratingly crowded part of the borough. With its narrow streets, it has never been an easy area to navigat, but now with construction vehicles blocking intersections and the increasing lack of parking, it has become absolutley harrowing for both drivers and pedestrians.
I have loved living in Riverdale but now I am planning to move. It has lost it's charm. I have to thank our elected officials for allowing this once peaceful enclave to be turned into just another ugly, over-crowded part of the city.
Comment #2 Posted By: Anonymous 05/18/08
Anonymous
Come'on--Riverdale hasn't been a sleepy village in the Bronx since the Henry Hudson parkway was built 80 years ago!
Comment #3 Posted By: Anonymous 05/19/08
A.Victim
A city dweller who is well aware of this project, I was astounded by the inflexibility of the developers in what has proven to be a dramitically changing market. Priced too high and with no parking spaces guaranteed (an additional $250/mth was required) the developers fell victim to greed. With the immediate area around The Arbor lacking services and any modern conveniences this was always going to be a tough sell if the target market was new couples being tempted from the city. Obviously I am sorry for all those who have had their deposits locked up for the last year or so...hope you get your money back.
Comment #4 Posted By: A.Victim 05/19/08
Anonymous
Most professors would have been attracted by the Georgian building described above - the project as described is the last place that most faculty with would want to end up living. If they have children they would probably choose to go to another university with affordable housing, back yards and better public schools. If they do not have children, they would tend to prefer living closer to downtown, not further away.
This sale seems like a good deal for the developer, and maybe some others involved directly - hard to see how Riverdale or the University is gaining by this....
Comment #5 Posted By: Anonymous 06/01/08
Anonymous
I agree that most people would want to live closer to Columbia, but what the comments above me said is not true. I still love Riverdale, and it has always been beautiful. It's not overcrowded, and PS 24 is among the best public schools in the city. However, RKA is a dump.
Comment #6 Posted By: Anonymous 06/09/08
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