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"Moody's Investor Service has downgraded the credit rating of Collingswood, N.J., to Ba1, junk-bond status, a six-grade tumble from its previous A1 rating."
This is a major blow to the town and will have far reaching effects. The Lumberyard Project has been a fiasco since the beginning, no one is going to buy "luxury" condos built next to a high speed rail line for MORE than the cost of most single family homes in the town. Now they are abandoning the retail projects that might have actually panned out if the right stores were brought in. The town is so entwined with this project that they really don't have many options to fix it. It looks like it's time for some new blood and new leadership in Collingswood. I can't imagine Malley's crew being able to hang in there after this kind of fiasco especially when the fallout starts hitting Collingswood residents hard in the pocketbook.
Wonder if Westmont saw this panning out in Collingswood and decided to tread lightly on their Haddon Ave renovation of the Dydee service. Which is still MIA!
I agree with everyone that this is going to be a fiasco. The town's borrowing costs will necessarily skyrocket, making everything that needs bonding way more expensive -- from sewers to roads, all bought and paid for with principle and interest at already overinflated NJ union labor prices. I am a resident of Collingswood and this has huge implications for the town. There is an exception in Christie's 2% cap for debt service, so the obligations will obviously pass onto the taxpayers.
Maybe this will convince our town voters that municipalities aren't real-estate developers. People in NJ want a relatively affordable place to live with stable taxes and good schools. It's not rocket science.
And what is the town going to do? Raise tax levy rates, depress home prices, and hope that enough people don't get out?
As downward home price pressure applies based on national job trends, and Section 8 and other problems that accompany turning the unused space into rental units, it wouldn't shock me if the Lumberyard becomes the kind of eyesore it was originally intended to replace, instead of a European utopia providing endless tax revenues and financial gain for its investors.
You can read all about the paln on the Lumberyard on the Collingswood.com website. They are going to rent out the last 13 units and scrap the plans on building four. They are blaming an unforseeable economy. This was posted before the credit downgrade. He mainatins that this will be an eventual win for Collingswood and that renters will be borough supervised.
He even gives a shout-out to us "Trader Joe" screamers saying that talks broke down before the project started but they will always be "open to inroads".
Went to the town hall meeting at the Scottish Rite and just listened. People asked all sorts of questions and the mayor answered, deflected and deffered. One guy did suggest alcohol being brought into the now "broke" town. Maley said "HE didn't think that was a good idea". That is would bring revenue but just be a temporary fix. I really planned to comment but the subject changed. I decided last night that I have no confidence in Mayor Maley and would not vote for him in the next election...whenever that is.
I seriously can't see a scenario where Maley is able to win another election outside of some miracle occurring. Taxes are going to go up, there is no way around that one and the only reason they are going to go up is this whole fiasco at the Lumberyard that has trashed the towns credit rating and piled unpayable debt on them.
They can claim "unforeseeable economic circumstances" all they want, but that project was FUBAR from day one. The units were priced above even the inflated housing values in the town. They started in the lower-$300's when they first went up and that amount would buy you plenty of larger single family homes in town and definitely a nice size twin for significantly less even in 2006. How anyone could look at Collingswood and think that they could attract Center City type residents at almost Center City prices (especially when you factor in the 10 year tax abatement in the city) how could they possibly justify that project?
It doesn't really matter though, what's done is done. Right now it's all about fixing it and moving on, something that Maley doesn't appear ready to do. The residents of his "Mayberry" are going to be paying for his vision for a long time to come.
If you listen to him, he kind of talks like it can all be explained away. Almost like a bump in the road that he has no personal accounatbility whatsoever. I think that's the part that angers me the most. I ran into 2 Lumberyard residents on the way to the meeting (thinking it was there) and they said they were tired of being lied to and weren't even going. I think we pointed out over a year ago that they were headed for the rental market; maybe WE should run!
The fact that he closes the door on alcohol, cannot draw in ANY national chains nor can get those SALE/RENT signs out of the windows tells me he can't get beyond where he is.
I plan to list in the spring anyway.
The alcohol thing is huge, whether he wants to admit it or not. They lost Trader Joe's in part because of not being able to commit to to letting them sell wine. Trader Joe's in Collingswood. Trader Joe's. Think about that for a second. They build the Lumberyard in an effort (originally, at least) in an effort to attract hip, young singles with disposable income into town. Seems to me that every hip, young, single that I've ever know likes to drink alcohol. And a ton of it. Yet, they can't do that in Collingswood. No one thought that this was counter-intuitive?
He (or whoever the next mayor is) is going to have to come around on the alcohol thing now. Too bad that this wasn't considered years ago when the whole revitalization began--the town wouldn't be in this mess now.
Seems to me that a lot of Collingswood's "revitilization" has happened despite the Mayor's efforts, not because of.
Can't wait for the next nail salon to open though!
He really hung his hat on what he feels "we" (he) accomplished in 1999. Yes, they did do a good job but alot of it was a gamble that paid off. They made good choices and cleaned up areas, I can't deny it. He brought up that restaurants were really what people come to town for. I'm sorry but I don't see the town's economy relying on the success of restaurants alone.
As far as what the young, pre-first child home buyers want is a place to congregate after they eat...there is nothing but the PATCO headed to Philly or 1 stop to Haddon Twp.
It's getting to be like the town in Footloose!
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