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Denville certainly has a lot of potential to grow. Right now, its really a "hidden gem" and if you know, you know. The downtown there, while nice, has a lot of opportunity to grow aggressively, especially with the 700-800 $750k-$2M townhouses they are building a mile away in Morris Plains. Also, some open land to build housing. Its setup between rt. 287, 80, 46, 10, has a train station or quicker access via bus, and some nature that is only unique to that area but don't want to give it away.
I've been picking my husband up at the train station there on some Friday nights and it seems like a great place. I think I could live there.
I wouldn’t say you could call Denville an up and coming town. It has been a nice, stable, middle to upper middle class town for decades and decades. I’d be weary of Hackensack for flooding issues alone. I think Atlantic City will improve, but it’s not going to be anything like Hoboken or the established and desirable Jersey Shore towns. I think Dover is too far out to get a really hot surge of development, but perhaps it gets residual effects of people getting pushed out of more expensive areas closer to NYC.
When I think of locations with real upward potential, I think lower-middle to middle-middle class towns with many amenities and a train being a plus but not a total necessity. Bloomfield, Clifton, Englewood, Red Bank, Bergenfield, Union, Rahway, Sayreville, Boonton, and Garwood.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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I have no hope for Atlantic City turning around. We used to go there a lot in the 1970s. And my family had been waiting for AC to turn itself around since the 1980s. My parents and their friends each bought a condo there for investment soon after gambling started. They thought a casino would be built near our building (or knock down our building) and activities would spread and bring up the street the condo was on. It was on California Avenue, if I remember correctly. It wasn't a bad street but needed improvement. I remember my parents talking about Trump turning AC around, too. For years they were hoping the condo would go up in value. There were certainly parts of AC that did improve at least for awhile. But their hopes of a casino being built nearby never happened, and they eventually sold. I think AC has only gone downhill since then, although it's been years since I've been there.
Fun fact: when Resorts first opened, men had to wear jackets to enter. I remember watching a couple try to enter and being turned away because the man didn't have a jacket on. The woman did, however, and they walked away, and she gave him her blazer, and then they went in.
I could see downtown Pompton Lakes becoming further revitalized. There has been some recent development and that is the only true “walkable downtown” in the area.
Knowing OP, I assume he is targeting money making opportunities as opposed to looking at it from a social science perspective and in that sense, AC has some $ making opportunities in terms of AirBnB, buying new construction or fixer uppers, etc. Storefront, mixed use. Going in on commercial real estate.
Are you gonna just buy an existing condo and watch in quadruple in value by sitting back and doing nothing and watching gentrification take place? No. You have to be creative.
That kind of stuff is not my bag, but I know quite a few people who have invested in stuff in AC.
North Brunswick is an obvious answer as they are getting a new train station 'some day' and it's already a decent place, and they have a relatively new Trader Joes, gyms, etc, etc.
A new Chick-Fil-A just went up too.
If they can turn that Transit Village into anything like that Asian Square in Edison is, commercial real estate will be nuts there. Obviously, the big dogs already have dibs on that cookie jar.
I could see downtown Pompton Lakes becoming further revitalized. There has been some recent development and that is the only true “walkable downtown” in the area.
I think they are far enough apart to draw from different crowds. Boonton is a significantly further drive for people from Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Pequonock, Wanaque, Kinnelon, Butler, and Bloomingdale.
Boontons problem is proximity to Morristown. Anyone south of them on 287 has Morristown as a competing option at a similar distance.
I think they are far enough apart to draw from different crowds. Boonton is a significantly further drive for people from Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Pequonock, Wanaque, Kinnelon, Butler, and Bloomingdale.
Boontons problem is proximity to Morristown. Anyone south of them on 287 has Morristown as a competing option at a similar distance.
I think Boonton's downtown problem is space. Its built on the side of the small mountain (if you go a few blocks off the mainstreet, there are skyline views of NYC). The existing downtown mainstreet was built 250+ years ago when it was old mining town and that's why it is narrow and twists and turns as it does for the days of horses.
There definitely is open space further down the mainstreet for it to keep expanding, and its right off 287 and there is a train station. Boonton is kind of a mixed bag, you have some continuation of Mountain Lakes which is arguably has the nicest homes in the state, and you have early twentieth century middle class neighborhoods near the downtown, that have turned to rentals and need a refresh. If the downtown expanded, I think there might be a lot of investment back into the area. Even outside of the downtown area there is a lot of open space to develop, which in part of reason I love the charm of the town.
You are certainly right that Boonton is competing with Morristown, and Morristown has moved away from its big town charm to becoming an actual city full of corporate offices and major(cold feeling) apartment buildings all in development in the last 2 years. I used to live in Morristown, and I live 10 minutes from it now, and every time I go its crazy to see all the new development its unrecognizable even to someone who was last there not to long ago. I just can't imagine what it will be like once Deloitte opens their HQ there and Speedwell revitalizes to all the Corporate Offices that are planned.
Boonton certainly has all the ingredients and opportunity to redevelop, I think it could be the place people would want to live who don't want to deal with the crowdedness of Morristown now.
Last edited by DannyHobkins; 06-24-2022 at 10:51 AM..
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