Audubon bringing the sparkle back to NJ apartment jewel.

Charles Reyher, President of Audubon Communities Management, LLC, has unveiled the $10 million master plan for the renovation of the Parkview Apartments, one of southern New Jersey's largest rental communities.

Under the plan, Parkview residents will see a full renovation of the building interiors including lobbies, mechanical systems and sprawling grounds.

"We are bringing back a real jewel of a property and a fabulous community," Reyher told a tenants meeting at which the plans were unvviled. "The renovations will ensure that Parkview residents have an exceptional facility today and far into the future."

Parkview Apartments, a 1,025 unit mid-rise apartment complex, gained media and public attention as a successful private-public partnership during the late 1990s. The property was sold to an affiliate of Audubon Communities of Maple Shade, N.J., in April of this year.

Reyher is now trying to balance the needs of residents without pricing out the many existing long-term tenants, by ensuring that the renovations provide the overwhelming majority of residents with the most value and relevance. An additional goal is to minimize the time the work is in progress.

"Due to the condition of the property, especially the mechanical components, we thought it was better to do all of the work simultaneously," Reyher said. "This will help limit the inconvenience to residents. We therefore look forward to completing all work by summer 2007." Accordingly, all building roofs have been completely replaced and work on this will be complete by November 24, 2006.

Now in progress is the replacement of all 12 elevators, noted Reyher at the meeting. The first four, one in each building, will be completed by the end of the month and the others will be finished around the end of the first quarter of 2007. In the meantime, in an unprecedented move, the owners have assigned one full-time on-site elevator engineer and three on call to attend to any problems that occur with the old elevators.

Reyher also discussed another major renovation involving the repair of the existing 100,000 s/f parking deck. The garage has been only partially usable for many years, as water seepage has caused failures in the steel and concrete structure, so Reyher called in renowned New Jersey engineer, Dan Siegel, to help with the project.

The parking repairs are already 25% complete. At the meeting, Siegel projected that the renovation of the 276-space parking area will be complete in six months, making the garage fully functional for the first time in several years.

Interior renovations will include new elevator lobbies, hallways and many apartments designed by local Collingswood architect, Phillip Kunz.

Once renovations are complete, residents will enjoy a much-improved living environment, Reyher adds. "We have never been more excited about the future of a property than that of Parkview's. The 1950s facility was built right. We are making Parkview the quality community that residents in a prospering community like Collingswood deserve."