May 6
...serving up your daily dish.
Today and tomorrow, Hempstead at Montclair Christopher Court gets ready for its closeup. The model is now open for viewing -- today and tomorrow, from 10 am to 5 pm. The sales office is located at 4 Christopher Court -- the house with a big South Fork-like fence around it.
Of course, watch this space for an inside look at Montclair's most talked about development.
Allright...let's have a strong coffee and a hearty breakfast tomorrow, and then venture to see this monstrosity up close.
"Build it and they will come..."
I have to see this with my own eyes. Who would spend a million bucks FOR SOMETHING THIS UGLY???!!!
See you guys there...
Posted by: Sylvia | May 6, 2006 2:21:09 PM
Im gonna lay on my horn every time I drive up Christopher Ct. I advise everyone do the same.
Posted by: Taylor Ham | May 6, 2006 2:42:13 PM
What!!! 1.7 MIO!!!
I am shocked, in total disbelief, flabbergasted...
I just HAVE to see this tomorrow. Anybody else coming?
Posted by: Sylvia | May 6, 2006 3:10:27 PM
I drive by these houses everyday. My favorite thing is that in over a year they haven't erased the "Revenge of the Nerds" tag on the side of the trailer over there. Also Mark and I were hoping it would just be a huge rich extended family who moved into all these houses and had lots of parties. They can invite us.
Posted by: katie | May 6, 2006 3:16:11 PM
Why hasn't anyone else figured this out yet.... haven't you been watching Big Love? It's the perfect set up!
Posted by: darren | May 6, 2006 3:23:08 PM
Maybe a sultan and his harem...they would have enough cash to pay 10 x 1.7 Million! 17 Mio -nice profit.
Posted by: Sylvia | May 6, 2006 3:28:38 PM
By the way:
I just read over on the "Apartments above the Bank" AKA "Townhomes of Upper Montclair" FAQ site, that the expected taxes for one of those four approx 695K 2BR+Den condos will be in the 12,000$ range (maybe more). Extrapolating that on the CRISCO: 35,000+ K in property taxes per monster house/ year (x 10 houses, remember...). Mayor Ed: will my property taxes come down now?
Posted by: Sylvia | May 6, 2006 4:55:23 PM
taylor,
don't do it. think about the neighbors accross the street on grove & watchung and what they've had to live through already.
Posted by: pissant | May 6, 2006 5:40:44 PM
These houses have fake wood porches. Need I say more???
Posted by: Real Estate Freak | May 6, 2006 6:13:07 PM
And snap-on interior window mullions and ground floor stone facades on the front only (with the thin side edges exposed) and pre-fab fireplaces. Priceless.
Posted by: flw | May 6, 2006 6:53:11 PM
any gamers on board here? want to set up a little pool guessing who comes close to the ACTUAL selling price on the 'snap-on mullions delights?'
my guess is 979,000 per. anything over 999,000 would be a shoulder slumping eye roller for some poor sap. any other guesses? sure they're really big, but if someone shouts "honey, we're out of suppositories again!" in one of those sardine-packed crisco mansion bathrooms, the whole compound will hear about it. where's the privacy?
Posted by: i'm fran, dammit | May 6, 2006 7:02:52 PM
Fake porches and fake chimneys too! For $1.7, brick chimneys would've made the appearance a little more convincing that it wasn't a quick slap-up constuction job. I don't think quality was the first objective. Buyer beware!
Posted by: JTF | May 6, 2006 8:18:57 PM
"I don't think quality was the first objective."
Ya think? What gave you the first clue? Remember who the *builder* is, after all.
Posted by: Miss Martta | May 6, 2006 9:24:57 PM
We need burgers and dogs ... why did everyone bring caviar to the block party?
Posted by: Chris | May 6, 2006 10:15:14 PM
more like:
#1 I saw you steal those vegetables from that house accross the street with the scarecrow
#2 ok i admit it but we have no room to grow our own and i so wanted bar-b-cued naturally grown free range corn
Posted by: pissant | May 7, 2006 12:51:49 AM
it almost reminds me Celebration, Florida, that town that disney built. i believe the barista herself once wrote a story about it. barista, care to weigh in on comparisons between crisco and celebration? maybe it's a kind of hybrid, a celebrisco?
Posted by: i'm fran, dammit | May 7, 2006 2:52:41 AM
I'm sorry, but in about 20 years or so it will closely resemble a rowhouse community somewhere in Pennsyltucky.
$1.7 mil? Have they been smoking crack?
Posted by: Miss Martta | May 7, 2006 7:50:11 AM
*sigh*
People may actually pay cllose to asking. 5000+ square feet and all the "quality" features and materials found in Home Depot Expo. Instant gratification for those with different taste.
Posted by: appletony | May 7, 2006 8:48:15 AM
Shouldn't we "root" for as high a price as possible with looming reevaluation?
Posted by: Right of Center™ | May 7, 2006 8:55:40 AM
As I recall, Plofker cited these homes as an example of the "new urbanism" which is supposed to resemble the older neighborhoods that we here in Watsessing Heights already have. They're supposed to be closer together, with front porches and other amenities that encourage a sense of community, not all look alike, and so on. I can see some of that in the picture (am curious now to go see these houses in person). However, I don't think the "new urbanism" vision was to make them quite this, shall we say, HUGE, and cost $1.7 million. To me it should encompass a somewhat more middle class community to form, not this type of elitist community.
Posted by: mauigirl52 | May 7, 2006 9:03:49 AM
I think you are right. If there were 40% smaller homes and less expensive (give up the garages for more of a yard) I think it would be a workable model for middle class housing.
But Plofker didn't do the development right? He sold it to someone else I thought.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | May 7, 2006 9:07:54 AM
I think you're right, ROC, that he didn't do the final development. But it may have still had those elements.
Of course, building a single cul-de-sac of "new urbanism" isn't what the movement even has in mind. It's more about walkable communities, mixed use, all the things Montclair already has, since it is an older suburb. Here's a link if you're interested in more.
http://www.newurbanism.org/pages/532096/
Posted by: mauigirl52 | May 7, 2006 9:11:36 AM
