When Richard and Virginia Hyland moved to South Amboy, N.J., in 2019, it was a decision that Mr. Hyland would never have predicted when he was growing up nearby, in Woodbridge Township.
“South Amboy was not the nicest place in the ’70s,” Mr. Hyland, 64, recalled.
The city’s once-industrial waterfront on the Raritan Bay had been hollowed out, he said, and it seemed as if “there was a bar on every corner.” But when he and Ms. Hyland, 63, visited friends there a few years ago, they found a “quaint” downtown with a new train station, along with newer homes in the Lighthouse Bay section.
“It’s a totally different place,” Mr. Hyland said.
The couple, who are empty nesters, sold their home in the coastal town of Forked River, N.J., and rented a townhouse in Lighthouse Bay for $2,500 a month. They now have a 10-minute commute to their jobs at a Woodbridge auto dealership, where he is a parts manager and she is a warranty administrator.
The evolution of this small city in Middlesex County is ongoing — on water, with a new ferry to Manhattan on the way, and on land, in the form of residential development that will create 1,000 new apartments along the shoreline.
“Like a lot of waterfronts, it was heavily industrial going back 100 years, but the industrial areas fell into disuse,” said Glenn Skarzynski, South Amboy’s business administrator. “And the changing market has made waterfront development opportunities very desirable.”
The redevelopment has already added about 300 apartments, in a complex called Station Bay, built on the site of a company that dredged sand from the bay and sold it to the construction industry. Officials hope the influx of residents will help energize the business district in this city of about 9,300 people. “We want people to move to town and patronize our downtown businesses,” Mr. Skarzynski said.
John Irwin and Pat Craddick are among the recent transplants. They moved to Station Bay from an apartment in Midtown Manhattan, in search of more space and less noise. The couple, who rented a two-bedroom apartment for $3,400 a month, like to walk their dog along the waterfront.
“It’s nice and quaint and quiet, and people are super friendly,” said Mr. Irwin, 58, who owns a textile company in New York City’s garment district. He appreciates the ease of getting to Manhattan and to the beach — both less than an hour away, depending on traffic. With its waterfront, commuter rail station and walkable downtown, South Amboy has the potential to become a smaller version of revitalized places like Red Bank, Mr. Irwin said.
The ferry could be part of that revival. New York Waterway is scheduled to begin service from South Amboy to Lower Manhattan within a few months. Given the city’s redevelopment plans, “we believe the growing population will sustain ferry operations,” said Wiley Norvell, a company spokesman.
What You’ll Find
South Amboy is about 35 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan, bordered by the Raritan River, Raritan Bay and the borough of Sayreville. And because the city is only 1.5 square miles, “you can walk everywhere,” said Bradley Hoff, a South Amboy resident and an agent with Weichert Realtors, in Old Bridge, N.J.
Prewar homes make up much of South Amboy’s housing stock, although homes in the Lighthouse Bay neighborhood were built in the last two decades on landfill dredged from the bay, and other, smaller developments have been constructed around the city in recent years.
What You’ll Pay
Smaller homes in the older part of the city start at around $300,000. In Lighthouse Bay, three-bedroom townhouses sell for around $650,000, while single-family homes go for $700,000 to $900,000, with waterfront properties fetching the highest prices, said Susan Cerbone, an agent with Weichert Realtors.
A recent check of Zillow found 30 homes for sale, from a three-bedroom house built in 1914 listed for $300,000 to a brand-new four-bedroom house listed for $675,000.
So far this year, sales are down and prices are up. According to New Jersey Realtors, 129 properties sold for a median price of $405,000 in the 12 months ending Sept. 15. During the preceding 12 months, 150 properties sold for a median price of $359,500.
The Vibe
On Broadway, the main shopping thoroughfare, you’ll find restaurants, stores, City Hall and the gallery of the South Amboy Arts Alliance. The street got a face-lift about 17 years ago, when the New Jersey Transit station was built, along with a pedestrian plaza in front. The city plans to build a gazebo on the plaza using state funds granted through the New Jersey Transit Village Initiative, which encourages development centered on mass transit.
There is a small, sandy beach overlooking Raritan Bay, although swimming is not allowed. A walkway winds along the waterfront, with views of a lighthouse in the bay.
Every March, a large St. Patrick’s Day parade honors the city’s Irish-American community, which traces its history to the 19th century, when industrial jobs in the area drew immigrants from Ireland and Poland. In recent years, the city has become more diverse, with a population that is 67.7 percent white, 22.8 percent Hispanic and 9.5 percent Black, according to census figures.
The Schools
South Amboy’s public school district serves about 1,100 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade; 47 percent identify as white, 34 percent as Hispanic, 13 percent as Black and 5 percent as Asian. Children attend South Amboy Elementary School through fifth grade and then move on to South Amboy Middle High School for sixth through 12th grade.
During the 2018-19 school year, the most recent year for which figures were available, 44 percent of students who were tested showed proficiency in English language arts and 33 percent in mathematics, compared with 58 percent and 45 percent statewide, according to the New Jersey Department of Education.
The Commute
Trains on the New Jersey Transit North Jersey Coast Line make the trip from South Amboy to Penn Station in Manhattan in about 50 to 65 minutes. The fare is $13.25 one way or $380 monthly.
Bus riders can catch New Jersey Transit’s Bus 139 at the nearby Old Bridge Park and Ride station. The trip to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan takes about 42 minutes; the fare is $12 one way or $282 monthly.
Driving to Midtown Manhattan via the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike can take 45 minutes or much longer, depending on traffic. South Amboy is also near Interstate 287, bringing counties to the west within commuting range.
The trip to Lower Manhattan by ferry is expected to take 50 minutes, with fares of $18 for a single ride, $165 for 10 rides or $600 for 40.
The History
Two explosions rocked South Amboy in the early 20th century. In 1918, the T.A. Gillespie Company munitions plant just over the border in the Morgan section of Sayreville, blew up, killing more than 60 people and badly damaging buildings throughout South Amboy.
In 1950, as more than 400 tons of munitions were being loaded onto a barge at the waterfront for shipment to Pakistan, a massive blast killed 31 workers and blew out windows all over the city.
“You heard the explosion all the way down to Trenton,” said Fred Henry, South Amboy’s mayor and a retired history teacher whose family roots in the city date to the late 19th century. In its coverage of the disaster, Life magazine called South Amboy a “grubby little factory city,” and reported that, in an era of Cold War anxiety, residents feared the blast was an enemy bomb.
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
