For Nice People Only

 

Mitch Leigh wants to build a 900-plus-acre residential and commercial development and fill it only with nice people in, of all places, New Jersey.

The 85-year-old Leigh, who composed the famed Broadway musical "Man of La Mancha," is on the final leg of his quest to turn land he has accumulated during the last 40 years in Jackson, N.J., into a vibrant town with artists and musicians, young and old, nice people and nicer people.

The project, called Jackson Twenty-One, would be tailored to a post-housing-bubble generation that is trading the isolation and sprawl of McMansions for neighborly communities, preferably with movie theaters and coffee shops in walking distance.

For Leigh, it would validate his vision of an up-from-the-bootstraps, battle-against-the-odds, keep-your-chin-up life -- a philosophy he drove home with commercials earlier this year trying to drum up builders and tenants alike.

"If you're not a nice person, please don't call," he said with a rueful flourish at the end.

The Jackson Twenty-One project takes its name from the exit number of its location off of Interstate 195, where right now there is only Glory's Market, a deli, butcher and liquor store.

It has been approved for 1,541 residential units, including 510 apartments, and 2.9 million square feet of shops and offices. In Leigh's pitch, it would include an Imax theater, state-of-the-art sports facilities, restaurants and a village green.

The demand for apartments is running high. The vacancy rate in central New Jersey was 3 percent in 2012, lower than the U.S. rate of 4.5 percent. Its asking rent of $1,212 was up 2.8 percent, the highest increase since 2007, according to Reis Inc., a New York-based research company.

It may attract tenants such as Michael Rinker, 24, of Jackson. He is getting married soon and has been searching for an affordable apartment with little luck. The thought of living among only nice people was appealing. But he agreed it would be tough to enforce.

"You can't really ask your customers if they're nice or not before they can apply," Rinker said. "You can ask them if they have a good credit score."

After receiving approval, Leigh started a two-week advertising blitz on television, encouraging nice people to take an interest in his project. To some, the campaign was strange.

This is New Jersey, right? How can you discriminate against mean people and expect to make any money at all?

"That's what makes the world go around," said Jo Fry, 46, of Jackson, who, loading groceries one recent day seemed irritated about the state's high taxes and admitted she likely wouldn't make the cut.

But Leigh said the project's website got 256,000 hits in just two weeks, proof to him that people really do want a nice lifestyle surrounded by nice people.

Leigh spoke about his development plans to about 120 people at a recent Jackson Chamber of Commerce dinner. The guests wore name tags that read: "I am a nice person."     Read more…