N.J. rental market soaring

MITSU YASUKAWA/staff photographer

Allen F. Goldman, president of developer SJP Residential, standing near the floor-to-ceiling windows during a tour of the Modern, where one-bedroom units like the one above rent for $2,150 a month.

More than 40 years after Fort Lee cleared 16 acres downtown for redevelopment, the first building on the site a 47-story luxury rental is opening to tenants this month.

The glass-clad monolith, called the Modern, is the tallest building in Bergen County and a familiar sight to anyone who crosses the George Washington Bridge. It's also emblematic of a resurgence in apartment construction in New Jersey, especially along the Hudson River waterfront, stretching from Fort Lee south to Jersey City.

Mitsu Yasukawa/staff photographer

The Modern in Fort Lee symbolizes the state's resurgence in apartment construction. It opens to tenants this month.

MITSU YASUKAWA/staff photographer

Tucker Development of Chicago has begun construction on a mixed-use development called Hudson Lights.

In a recent tour of the building, Allen F. Goldman, president of Parsippany-based developer SJP Residential, showed off the Modern's high-end finishes, the sweeping views through floor-to-ceiling windows and amenities that include a pool, basketball court, three gyms, a sauna and 10 barbecue grills.

Construction on the building started two years ago, but the development's drawn-out history stretches to the 1970s. The first redevelopment proposal on the site fell apart when the developer was jailed after trying to bribe Fort Lee's then-mayor. The land languished for years under the ownership of New York developer Harry Helmsley, then was bought by Town & Country Developers of Westwood in 2003 for $45 million. But that developer's plans for an ambitious, mixed-use project collapsed after the financial crisis of 2008.

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N.J. rental market soaring