80East Luxury Apartment Project Progressing

The six-story, 90-unit apartment building on East McFarlan Street is poised to transform the neighborhood and attract new residents to Dover.

Construction continues on the six-story, 90-unit 80East development at E. McFarlan and Route 46. (DOVERNOW photo/David Arredondo)

Crossroads Companies and CrownPoint Group are nearing completion on the 80East luxury apartment project, slated to open early next year. The six-story, 90-unit building is located at the corner of McFarlan and Passaic streets, and will transform a site that has been vacant for over a decade.

The apartments, ranging from studios to one- and two-bedroom units, will occupy the top four floors, offering access to a rooftop deck with outdoor gathering spaces. The bottom two floors will deliver over 5,000 square feet of amenities, including an entertainment lounge for residents, home offices, and a fitness center. Parking spaces for residents will be included. 

The developers have not yet disclosed the rental asking price. 

The Quiet Man pub and Studio 46 Hair Designers should be among the retailers that will benefit from 80East residents. (DOVERNOW photo/David Arredondo)

The completion of the building, expected in 2026, will mark the end of more than five years of work for Crossroads. While town officials had signed off on the project in the spring of 2022, Crossroads and CrownPoint didn’t partner up to begin construction until 2023. For Crossroads and CrownPoint, the development is the first of two Morris County projects under construction. Company officials would not confirm the cost of the building.

Town Council members approved a 30-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement in exchange for nine units being set aside for affordable housing.

The completion of 80East will be the first development on a site that has remained empty for over 11 years. A redevelopment plan filed with the city administration back in 2021 indicates that the Hibachi Grill Restaurant and Attilio’s Restaurant were the last occupants of the two buildings. That single-story, 9,000-square-foot restaurant building had stood at the corner of McFarlan and Passaic since 1960.

The entire lot had 80 parking spaces and spans 0.75 acres, with nearly 100 feet of frontage along East McFarlan Street, according to an archived listing on Loopnet.com.

Michael Legaki, a Vice President at CrownPoint Group, told DoverNow.com that the project could serve as an economic catalyst for restaurants and businesses in the area.

“Dover presents a compelling opportunity as a desirable outer-ring suburban hub, situated only 31 miles west of New York City and a short 20-minute drive from Morristown,” he said. “Given the property’s prime location, just blocks from vibrant downtown Dover, it was viewed as a tremendous redevelopment opportunity primed for transforming a neglected site into vital community housing. This vision was ultimately shared and supported by the project partners, the surrounding community, and the Town of Dover.”

When asked for comment, Town Planner Alex Dougherty referred all inquiries to Mayor James P. Dodd and CFO Edward Ramirez. Neither Dodd nor Ramirez returned calls to discuss the project and its impact on Dover.

The developers said that nine units have been set aside for low- and moderate-income

residents and families. However, reports from 2021 in The Daily Record show that local

residents, including members of the immigrants’ rights group Wind of the Spirit, voiced

concerns about how little this project does to aid the town’s need for housing affordability.

Residents have expressed concerns about the development's impact on safety along Route 46. (DOVERNOW photo/David Arredondo)

The wave of new apartment construction in Dover has also been concentrated in the downtown area. Blackwell Street, particularly the area around the train station, has evolved into a corridor of new apartments, but this has not been the case along E. McFarlan Street, despite the Route 46 corridor continuing to be one of the most prominent thoroughfares in town for local service

providers, small businesses, and restaurants. The Quiet Man Pub is across the street from 80 E. McFarlan; a Fuel4 gas station is on the other side of the project.

When asked how many local workers have been involved in the construction project, a spokesman for the developer said, “As a matter of practice on all of its projects, Crossroads Companies and CrownPoint Group maintain a strong commitment to local employment, with a significant portion of our development team residing in the Greater Dover/Morris County/North Jersey area. We have also had local employment fairs and worked closely with the municipality.” 

While long-time residents have voiced concerns about how development continues to

be shaped by real estate developers, tax incentives may be the only mechanism

that the town has used to create new low- and moderate-income housing. Meanwhile, for Dover, the development represents an opportunity to add new residents with high disposable incomes to an area already dotted with successful local restaurants and small

businesses.