Developer wants to build apartments on egg farm

Developer wants to build
apartments on egg farm
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

HOWELL — A developer wants to build 280 apartments on the 30-acre Rubenstein Egg Farm at Route 9 north and Sunnyside Road.

AST Development of Lavallette is planning to include an affordable housing component in the proposal and possibly age-restricted housing, AST President Robert D’Anton said.

D’Anton said the numbers have not been finalized, but at this time he expects the project to include a 20 percent affordable housing component that would qualify for credit under the state’s Council On Affordable Housing (COAH) regulations, and 20 percent age-restricted units for people 55 and older.

According to Denyse Dabrowski of the Marcus Group, AST’s public relations firm, the project would help satisfy Howell’s state-mandated obligation to provide housing for people with incomes that meet regional guidelines. A news release from Dabrowski states that the project also includes about 1,000 square feet of retail development.In 2003 AST built a similar project in Hanover Township that comprises of 316 living units in 21 buildings on an 18-acre tract, Dabrowski said. The Hanover project included an "upscale community clubhouse," she added.

AST is applying to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a use variance in order to build in Howell because the Rubenstein site is zoned half residential and half highway development, D’Anton said.

D’Anton said he was planning to build 280 "luxury apartments" in Howell that would be spread among 25 to 30 two-story buildings.

The buildings would comprise a "well-balanced mix" of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments featuring upgrades not usually seen in rental properties, D’Anton said. When the project was completed, no one would be able to tell which were the COAH apartments and which were full-market-value units, he said.

D’Anton said he has filed an applica­tion with the zoning board, but no hear­ing date has been set.

Because the application will be heard by the zoning board for the use variance and then the Planning Board for site plan approval, D’Anton could not project a time frame for the project to start or fin­ish.