Most expensive town in N.J. gets its first townhouses, and look at the price tags

Alpine in Bergen County is known for a lot of things: privacy, low taxes, a 15-mile commute to Midtown Manhattan and being the most expensive zip code in New Jersey.

A lesser known fact about the town is that it hasn’t had any townhomes -- until now. The borough, in 2022, approved a more than 30-year-long quest by a developer to build the first-ever townhomes in Alpine. They’re nearly complete and on the market.

And they come with an Alpine-sized price tag. The three bedroom, four full and one half bathroom units have a starting price of $3.25 million.

“You can’t really get into Alpine for under $3 million, and certainly for new construction,” said Cynthia Pierce of Keller Williams Town Life, the listing agent for the townhomes. “A tear-down, depending on the lot size, could be $2 million.”

The townhome development, called The Summit, will consist of two buildings, each with two units for a total of four townhomes on Closter Dock Road.

The first two units are scheduled to be completed in mid-August and are currently listed for sale. The two other units are expected to be completed and listed later this year.

All of the units are the same. The units beside each other will have mirror-image layouts. They all will be about 5,000 square feet, which includes 3,400 square feet of living space and 1,600 square feet of finished basement and a finished loft. All four floors can be accessed by an elevator.

“They were individually crafted. They’re more like custom homes,” said Janice Norian, who along with her brother James have seen the project through. “We thought about everything possible.”

Janice and James’ father, Edward Norian bought the 1-acre Alpine property in the mid-1980s with a partner, who is no longer involved. Norian was a builder who constructed more than three dozen homes in Tenafly and Englewood Cliffs from the late 1950s into the 1970s. He later went on to build garden apartments, including one in Ridgewood.

Edward Norian, who is turning 94 this week, still lives in Alpine, where he raised his children. His initial vision was to build a couple of small office buildings on the site but he couldn’t get approvals from the town, Janice and James Norian said.

Edward Norian shifted his focus in about the early 1990s to building townhomes there. First it was seven, then five and after years of litigation and going before borough boards, the family finally got approval in 2022 to build four townhomes.

“It’s wonderful to finally see it through to fruition,” said James Norian. “It’s going to be great for the whole area.”

Pierce has been doing private showings and holding open houses on Sundays, including this Sunday from 2-4 p.m. and June 1 from 2-4 p.m. “People are kind of waiting for the landscaping and some other things to be finished,” she said, adding that she has amassed a list of people to call back when those things are done.

Pierce said the buyers will likely be people who are “right-sizing.”

“They’re coming from a larger home into a ‘lock-and-travel’ lifestyle,” she said. “They don’t have to worry about maintenance.”

But the townhomes could also appeal to younger families who are seeking Alpine’s highly-rated schools, Pierce said.

A roughly $1,000 per month homeowner’s association fee would take care of snow removal, landscaping and septic costs.

Potential buyers have come from New York City and towns within Bergen County, including Alpine, Demarest and Park Ridge, Pierce said.

The $3.25 million starting price is for the unit closest to Closter Dock Road. The one beside it is listed for $3,325,000 and the two in the other building are expected to step up in price from there, she said.

The townhomes have hard wax oiled white oak 10-inch flooring, skylights, 10-foot ceilings, living rooms with gas fireplaces, coffered ceilings in the dining room, a den or library, a chef’s kitchen with a Quartz, waterfall island, Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances, a deck off the living room and a terrace off the den.

All three bedrooms are on the second level and have en suite bathrooms. The primary has a radiant-heated spa bathroom with a separate tub and shower.

It has a finished loft and a finished lower level, a two car garage, a whole-house generator and a charging station.

The property also has a staircase leading down to borough hall, its fields and School House Lane so walkers or joggers don’t have to go onto Closter Dock Road.

The outside awnings are designed after ones James Norian saw in Tribeca and Janice and Pierce, who are high school friends, drove around surrounding towns looking for just the right style of brick to use on the exterior.

“This is something we truly put our hearts and souls into,” Janice Norian said. “All the details, the woodwork, the flooring, soundproofing.”

Are you an agent, buyer or seller who is active in this changing market? Do you have tips about New Jersey’s real estate market? Unusual listings? Let us know.

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Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com.