Trenton Lofts: Broad St. Bank Building

There's been a little flap in the press and the blogs about whether or not downtown Trenton should have revitalized because of all the folks having moved in to the building. It's covered in a Trenton Lofts newsletter article.

It looks as though downtown Trenton finally has a place where Yuppies can call home.

April 1, 2008

The new marketing team is coming through with a new and improved look for Trenton's crown jewell, The Broad St. Bank. The Trenton Downtown Authority and Richardson Commercial have forwarded me hot off the press pictures of the new model apartment.

Being able to look at a furnished place will really help folks visualize their new life in the building. There's also a distinguished looking new logo that's make me believe we've got the right attitude about the building.

Here's a link to pictures of the decorated aparment!

March 23, 2008

Richardson Commercial has taken over leasing operations at the Broad St. Bank. Richardson is partnering with the Trenton Downtown Association to market the project. This is refreshing.

As a piece of real estate the Broad St. Bank is a quality product. However the previous marketing was inept at best. It was a shame because like any product, marketing is important. It's not just about getting people to buy but rather its about creating an overall impression of the product, a brand image if you will.

For living spaces this is particuarly important as one's rent is a big portion of their overall budget. You want to live in a space that projects a positive image of your lifestyle. Marketing can be a big part of this image. For the Broad St. Bank, this is especially important as you're not only renting a one or two bedroom apartment, your renting a space in the downtown Trenton neighborhood. The biggest features of that lifestyle extend beyond the lobbies of the building itself.

My hope is that TDA can take aggressive steps to present a new marketing message Trenton and its downtown.

Article from the Times.

August 31 , 2007

The newest date for the Broad St. Bank Opening is mid-Sept. 2007. Seems unclear what's holding up the Opening.

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The new new date for The Broad St. Bank is April 1. It's confirmed that people actually have scheduled move-in dates in April.

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The Broad St. Bank has a new due date, Feb. 1. The rental applications are ready to go and believe me there is some pent up demand. This building is a great opportunity to get a beautiful living space in downtown Trenton where you can walk to work and to the train station (if you work elsewhere).

You'll notice that the application has a lot of information requests from the state. However, this is a minor inconvenience compared to the luxury of the building. There are 28 units available for lower income folks who will need to enter a lottery to have a chance at them (rules are explained in the application).

There is also a very strange income requirement on the "unrestricted" apartments in the building. Apparently a person cannot earn more than seven times their rent. I don't know what numbskull at the State thought that up but I'm trying to find out. You'll see a Trenton Speaks article in January's Trenton Downtowner that addresses this and other ways our state government is in the way of Trenton's revitalization.

But don't let my ranting discourage you. Broad St. Bank is a professionally converted commercial building and has quite a few amenities. It's nicer than any other rentals in Trenton (except mine of course) and far less expensive than comparable apartments in Philly, Jersey City and NYC.

-------------------- Previous comments about the project ---------------

The Broad St. Bank building was the first and is the highest skyscraper in Trenton. It represented the height of Trenton's prominence as a regional financial and industrial center. Richard Libby and Bayview Holdings have bought and restored this landmark building to near its original splendor. In the process they are seeking "historical" status for their renovation project.

According to the Trenton Times Bayview paid $2.5 million to buy the building from the NY speculator who owned it and has been watching it rot. Good riddance to him.

Though the Times apparently said this week (Oct. 25) that the project will be finished in 2 weeks, the actual completion date for the first wave of 60 units is December 15 with the rest to be completed in January. My tour of the building and the fact that there are 165 workmen busy on the project tells me this is doable.

As I was walking to my appointment with Mr. Libby, deliverymen were dropping off counter tops and sinks. All of the drywall is in, bathrooms and kitchens are roughed in. Most, but not all of the windows are in. Doors are on site and hardwood floors are being installed. Basically there is a mad flurry of activity to complete the finish out. It's a wonderful thing to see.

The upper floors have the largest units with two bedroom units over 1000 SF. There are two units that are over 1300 SF. This is big for a high rise building. You can't really say enough about the views from this height as they are the highest in Trenton. It's been said that you can see Manhattan from the roof. I don't know about that, but you can see to Princeton and beyond and well into PA. If you were a lobbyist needing to keep track of the legislature, you'd have a bird's eye view.

Mid floors have apartments of various sizes and shapes and all with plenty of windows and interesting views even to the attractive interior courtyard of the building. A couple of the mid floors in the buildings have been trimmed out to reflect the buildings original decor which used dark wood stained trim.

The 2nd floor units on Montgomery St. have the best windows in the building as they're "classic" half-rounds. These windows give dramatic flair that can't be found this side of Jersey City.

Understandably, Mr. Libby couldn't go into the details about the 1st floor commercial tenants. At least one of the units appears to be ready for a restaurant. If it happens, and the stars align, I'm sure this could be one of the best eating spots in Central NJ. There's a big vault in the back of the room that could come to good use.

The building comes with amenities too. There is central air and heat using a newfangled system that's apparently more efficient that anything on the market. The building is pretty "green" and would have gotten an Energy Star rating but it would have meant removing original windows, which would have destroyed the historical significance and ambiance.

There are cable and phone lines throughout. PSE&G has just about the best service into the building possible. The fire suppression system is the biggest I've ever seen and the boilers are by far the biggest and newest I've seen. There will be 5 elevators and no waiting but you might not want to always use them because a large portion of the original interior stairs have been preserved and they're gorgeous.

There are washer/dryer rooms on every floor except the upper units where hook-ups are provided in the units. There's a gym in the basement with men's and women's locker rooms. There's storage available and even bike storage.

The Trenton Historical Society, long an advocate for preservation of the building, has been given 3700 SF of space in the basement for its use. This space includes the private vaults used to store lock boxes.

Rents will go as high as $1500 but that's not very high considering the top end at the Trenton's current "nicest" building (Grand Ct. Villas) are the same and for a much more marginal space. The Broad St. Bank will be the biggest and nicest apartment building in Trenton.

Now to explain the split between market rate and affordable units. As I understand it, a portion of the units are set aside for people that qualify. This was done in order for Bayview to qualify for the necessary subsidies needed to complete this project. I'm not even going to begin to explain the rules that will have to be used. Needless to say that if you think you may qualify, definitely try.

That said there are going to be special rules for city employees that qualify for affordable housing (police, firemen, teachers etc.) that give them special consideration. If you fall into that category you should jump at it.

However, most of the building is market rate and will command rents from $900 - $1500 (subsidized rents can go as low as $700).

Now for parking. There is a state parking lot across the street from the building that will provide all the spaces needed for tenants as state employees only use it during the day. The state of NJ runs many such lots in downtown Trenton which go unused at night (your tax dollars at work). The developer, the city, the Mill Hill neighborhood and anyone else with a brain is attempting to get the state to open up this lot. Apparently it's like pulling teeth. The Governor is being pulled into this and hopefully, given that he's a reasonable man, the right thing will happen.

Here's the bottom line: The Broad St. Bank building is a great place for singles and couples with no kids to live in Trenton. The train station is walking distance. The impact of 124 lively people in downtown will be profound as they'll join the 300 or so lively folks in Mill Hill and others around town to create near critical mass for new shops and restaurants.

The only down side to this project is that the prospect of Bayview's success is driving speculators to raise the prices on their vacant buildings. This is a problem for Trenton and one that our new Housing and Economic Director is hopefully up to the challenge of solving.

Link to web site:

Broad St. Bank


North to the Battle Monument	b	The interior courtyard

To the Elevators		First Floor entry

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