Developers cut ribbon on luxury apartment complex in Harrison

The project officially opened last week after being developed by The Hampshire Cos. and CrownPoint Group, with Circle Squared Alternative Investments serving as a project investment adviser, according to a news release. The firms gathered Friday with local officials to mark the completion of the complex, which includes two 52-unit luxury apartment buildings and a host of amenities.

Jon F. Hanson, founder and chairman of Morristown-based Hampshire, credited Harrison’s mayors for driving the redevelopment of the town’s former industrial waterfront, including Raymond McDonough, who died in February 2014 during the approval process for 221 Bergen. He said McDonough’s successor, James A. Fife, “continued to lead with a passion which has been reverberated through our own halls and those of CrownPoint.”

“For Hampshire, the completion of this project is a testament to our dedication to work with local officials and communities in order to create something that is more than just a building, but an opportunity to take part in the revitalization of a growing, thriving community,” Hanson said in a prepared statement. “221 Bergen embodies that sense of community.”

The Bergen Street property is the latest addition to Harrison’s 250-acre waterfront redevelopment zone, which encompasses 32 percent of the town’s 1.2 square miles and is across the Passaic River from downtown Newark. The effort to transform the waterfront goes back more than 15 years and has garnered the support of nearly a dozen developers, but has faced plenty of hurdles along the way including the economic downturn.

The complex includes a mix of one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a residents’ lounge, a fitness room and a furnished rooftop terrace with upscale seating and umbrellas, the news release said. It occupies the site of the former Century Cookies plant, which closed about a decade ago.

Its developers also tout the mass transit access — namely the soon-to-be-rebuilt Harrison PATH station — that has been the key selling point for Harrison’s redevelopment plans.

“The completion of 221 Bergen signals a coming out party for Harrison as the $250 million dollar expansion and modernization of the PATH station and the oft-written Gold Coast renaissance attracts millennials, empty-nesters and investors,” said Jeffrey Milanaik, CEO of CrownPoint Group.