Baker breaks ground: Bayonne to be site of luxury townhomes.

Bayonne Mayor Joseph V. Doria, Jr. and several members of the city council were present at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the "Boatworks At Bayonne," a new series of townhomes, which will be built along Bayonne's industrial waterfront. The Pleasantville, NY-based company Baker Residential is developing the manor homes.

Doria said he doesn't expect the new homes to hinder any of the activities that often take place at the waterfront, such as crabbing and boating, but will actually encourage community residents to make use of the area, now a large vacant lot.

"The good thing about this project," he said, "is that it will maintain the character of the community. Bayonne is a metropolitan area with a small town feeling. They'll be improving the marina with a walkway. People can still go crabbing."

The Boatworks will consist of 160 luxury townhomes to be developed on a 10.1 acre waterfront site in the Bergen Point section between Avenue A and the Newark Bay.

The individual townhouse units, each measuring 1,800 SF, on the average, will have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony and a garage. They will be available for sale by fall at prices between the mid and high $200,000's, said Baker Residential president Marcus Baker. He also said he expected to see "the heavy equipment to start rolling in, in 30 to 60 days."

Baker Residential is developing the community on property known to Bayonne residents as "Old ELCO." Formerly owned by Electric Launch Company (ELCO), the space was home to a manufacturing plant during World War II that produced the famous patrol torpedo (PT) boats. Among them was the "PT 109" craft commanded by future president John F. Kennedy. However, after the war, the property mostly went unused.

"Bayonne is an undiscovered gem in the Jersey coastline," said Baker, whose company has a history of developing luxury homes throughout New Jersey and has another community development plan in the works in Passaic.

"This is an area with a great historical past," said Doria "The war effort went on here for many years here. Families have grown but there was nowhere to live. It's a great place to live now."

Among the honored guests at the groundbreaking were city council member Ted Connelly, city freeholder Barry Dugan and Boatworks owners Helen and Peggy Mecca.