Rio Vista, Mahwah, NJRio Vista Mahwah
Developer: Darlington Associates
The 500 acre site formerly a portion of the early 20th Century country estate known as "Darlington - The Country Estate of George Crocker" was acquired from the Catholic Diocese of Newark in 1986. The site consisted of the original country estate mansion of 50,000 square feet, various 1937 institutional buildings, including a 120,000 square foot seminary, an 18,000 square foot gothic chapel, and vacant land with varying degrees of topographical constraints and environmental sensitivity.
Rio Vista created a plan to develop the site with a luxury residential community offering a wide range of housing opportunities with recreational facilities, sensitive to the topographic and environmental conditions of the site, with restrictions involving architectural review and control of building and landscape designs,.
The entire site was developed with 460 residences sharing a common clubhouse, recreational facilities and greenbelts. A portion of the vacant land was subdivided into over 300 one and two-acre residential sites for construction of upscale single family homes, subject to covenants and restrictions, landscaping and architectural controls under a homeowner's association regime. The homes vary in size from 4,000 to 12,000 square feet. The 75-acre site surrounding the seminary building was developed with formal gardens, walking paths, art deco fountain, outdoor, heated swimming pool, and 62 single-family "maintenance free" condominium homes varying in size from 2,800 to 4,000 square feet. The seminary building was rebuilt and converted into 92 residential apartment condominiums varying in size from 750 to 2,400 square feet.
The 18,000 square foot chapel was converted into a multi-purpose clubhouse for the entire community, which includes health club, meeting facilities and conference rooms, offices for the association staff, banquet facilities for association members, card rooms, game rooms, saunas, locker rooms and other amenities. The Clubhouse serves as a focal point for an active association and social activities of the community.
The project was financed through conventional financing and private equity.
