Demolition of Wanaque 'horror' townhouses begins

WANAQUE — Demolition of the abandoned Lakeside Manor townhouses began Tuesday, 15 years after builders walked off the project. It's a significant milestone for neighbors and borough officials who have been lobbying the owner to tear down the decrepit structure.

"It's big for the neighbors," said Borough Administrator Thomas Carroll from the demolition site off Mountain Lakes Drive on Tuesday morning. "It's something that we've been working a long time to accomplish and hopefully it's now a brighter future for the residents and for this development."

Demolition equipment was on site over the weekend, and when Carroll arrived Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., work was underway, he said.

Carroll was among borough leaders who held demolition talks with the property owner's attorney, Eric Abraham, in recent weeks. Negotiations heated up after the borough adopted two ordinances that would allow it to demolish the structure. However, the preference was for the owner, Jacinto Rodrigues, to pay for the demolition and for the borough to avoid litigation. An agreement was formalized by the mayor and council last Monday.

Initial approvals for the 47-unit complex go back almost 30 years, but the on-site work didn't start until 1999. Construction stalled when the state Appellate Court overturned a decision by the state Department of Environmental Protection that denied JS Group a Highlands Act exemption to complete the project. 

The nearby Mountain Lakes Estates project was designed for 128 homes but never moved beyond Phase One. Three of the 12 single-family homes were constructed and currently sit abandoned as well. A decision on whether to demolish those homes or not is pending the completion of an engineering report due Aug. 1.

Owner agrees to demolish abandoned Wanaque 'horror' townhouses

Wanaque wants 'horror' townhouses demolished

James Van Wyckhouse is the owner of Top Notch Tree & Excavating, the company hired to do the demolition work at Lakeside Manor. By 10:30 a.m. the brick from the front of the building was removed and trucks were en route to haul the piles of rubble away. 

Van Wyckhouse said he expected the entire six-unit structure to be torn down to the first floor deck by the afternoon.

"Tractor trailers are coming to load it out," he said Tuesday. "And tomorrow or the following day we'll be completely wrapped up just getting it to the foundation."

Prior to demolition the decaying structure had become a "horror," as one neighbor put it. Others on Facebook described the building as a "war zone" in Iraq and a "skid row tenement." The exterior of the building had discolored brick, boarded doors, and broken or missing windows, and some unfinished foundations were sprayed with graffiti. 

Video: Abandoned Residential Property in Wanaque

Video: Owner agrees to demolish 'horror' townhouses 15 years later

On Tuesday the extent of damage under the bricks was on full display. 

"As we took off the brick from the front of the building we found a bunch of spots that were wet, which when the wood gets wet it rots it," Van Wyckhouse.

He pointed out that under the front door stoops the wood is dark brown and rotted, and on one unit the plywood was rotted through to the insulation.

As part of the agreement reached between the borough and the owner, the structure must be removed by July 14 and the foundation removed by Aug. 11, subject to an engineering report on the foundations under the structure.

Vegetation, grass and bushes at Lakeside Manor and Mountain Lakes Estates properties needs to be cut back by June 12. 

The borough will develop criteria for the selection of a redeveloper by July 1 and the owner or the developer needs to go before the borough's Planning Board July 20. The project must be completed by June 30, 2020. 

The three Mountain Lakes Estates buildings are to be demolished by Sept. 30 pending the findings of an engineering report. If those properties can be rehabilitated, that must be done by April 30, 2018 subject to DEP approval.

Email: Agnish@northjersey.com

On the web

Watch a video of a crew tearing down the townhouses. Visit njersy.co/lakesidemanordemo