Dreaming About a New Home in New Jersey?
Some time in the late 1830's the town of Sea Bright had its humble beginnings as Nauvoo, a village of fishing huts set along oceanfront sand dunes. A century and a half later, a new phase is beginning along Sea Bright's dunes with construction of 20 new homes priced from $1.8 million to $3.7 million.
(PRWEB) February 11, 2005 -- Kara Homes, a home builder based in East Brunswick, has constructed "Millionaire's Row," said the company's president, Mr.Zudi Karagjozi. He has promoted the development as a first: very-high-end homes, actually on New Jersey's oceanfront, only a 45-minute ferry ride from Manhattan.
Mr.Karagjozi said he likes to think of the project as a renaissance for Sea Bright, a "restoration" of its period of highest elegance in the late 1800's when big names of the day -- Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, William Nelson Cromwell, Sir Thomas Lipton of World Cup racing fame -- summered there, engaging in chic festivites like an annual horse-drawn carriage race between Sea Bright and Long Branch.
By 1870, the railroad had come through the little town, which is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Shrewsbury River on the other. Sea Bright's barrier beach, which is the southern half of the Sandy Hook peninsula, had been purchased by its first developers, who brought in topsoil from Rumson Long Branch to smooth out the hilly dunes and began building enormous Victorian "cottages" and huge, sumptuous hotels.
The half-dozen grand old hotels that once stood on the barrier beach are now gone, according to the Monmouth County historian, George H. Moss Jr., who has pored over their ledgers to find evidence of the past. Mr. Moss has written a number of books about the area and published a pamphlet on Sea Bright's early history. He describes how people coming from New York by steamer in the 1840's and 1850's, when Nauvoo was still just Nauvoo, would disembark at the ocean House Hotel near the village and continue on if they wished to their favorite hotel in the more established Long Branch.
Mr. Karagjozi and his architect, William Tagland, who is known for his work on Long Beach Island, say the new community will outshine what is available even in those highly affluent towns.
"When was the last time you heard of ocean front homes becoming available only 45 minutes from New York?" Mr. Karagjozi said,"This is going to be a whole neighbourhood of them, each one with incredible views and great amenities for relaxing and for entertaining."
Mr.Karagjozi painted Sea Bright as potential "New Hamptons," providing an alternative to the famously gridlocked multihour drive along the Long Island Expressway from Manhattan to the Long Island resort communities. The trip to Sea Bright is only about an hour by car, he said. The ferry from Manhattan runs frequently to nearby Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Belford.
Mr.Karagjozi, who has been promoting his company through radio and television advertising, founded Kara Homes in 1999. Three years later, it was named the fastest-growing building company in the country by the industry publication builder, Builder Magazine.
The Kara founder said one thing the company always tries to do is develop neighbourhoods that are sensitive to the surrounding community -- not crowding homes onto property, but rather using designs that are compatible with what exists and having to local planner's wishes.
The $2 million-plus homes which are constructed, most of them have already been sold.
"Getting out to the Hamptons has become difficult'"Karagjozi says. The trip from Manhattan to Sea Bright, on the other hand takes less than two hours by car and a mere 35 minutes ferry.
For buyer Andrew Czujko, a New Jersey business owner, the Jersey shore location was just what he was looking for.
Tradewinds' homes shouldn't lack for elegance. The houses will range from five to six bedrooms, with trickedout oceanfront properties (featuring hardwood floors, designer ceramic tile and the ever important four-car garage) beginning at $3.8 million. More modest oceanview homes will start at $2 million.The website is www.karahomes.com
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