By CLAIRE LOWE

Staff Writer

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP – Like a perfectly tied bow on a birthday present, a red ribbon was placed neatly across the front pillars of the new Horizons at Woods Landing clubhouse Sunday, June 12, as current and prospective residents wandered inside for a peak at their new space.

This present wasn’t a surprise. The residents here knew it was coming for the last five years. And as the first developer went bankrupt and the property was sold, for some it seemed like it would never be built.

But within about two years of Fernmoor Homes purchasing the development from the now-defunct Kara Homes, Inc. the clubhouse went up, and on Sunday, it was the grand opening ceremony for the 55-and-older community’s clubhouse.

In 2006, a year after development on Woods Landing began, Kara Homes declared bankruptcy, leaving the development only half finished. Kara Homes reorganized and now operates as Rahway-based Maplewood Homebuilders, LLC. Two hundred and forty-nine units were approved for the development, and in 2009, only 143 were constructed. That is when Fernmoor Homes came in to purchase the property.

Due to the economic climate and the condition in which the development was left, Fernmoor Homes had to negotiate with the homeowner’s association regarding certain aspects of the property; in particular, the clubhouse. Fernmoor Homes went before the Hamilton Township Planning Board in August 2009 with an application to amend the site plan for Woods Landing, which was approved unanimously.

Last summer, the construction began on what was just a concrete slab. Finally, walls were going up.

Paul Kinsey has been a resident of Horizons at Woods Landing from nearly the beginning. He said since he moved in, a slab of concrete stood in the place of the clubhouse and it was very difficult to imagine the space he was standing in Sunday for all those years.

The clubhouse contains two lounge rooms with a pool table, card table, bar and multiple sitting areas. Across the hall is a living room area with a fireplace and outside access. A pass-through leads into a full kitchen. On the other side of the building are meeting rooms, a gym complete with a sauna and steam room, and just outside is an in-ground pool.

Guests sipped wine and beer and munched on snacks while strolling through the clubhouse.

Community residents Dolores and Louis Roi, doing a self-guided tour, said it was great that the clubhouse was finally open.

They moved to Woods Landing in 2006.

“It’s completed for us. It’s like a vacation,” Dolores Roi said. “We have a gym, we have a pool.”

Judy Beharry and her husband Carl have lived in the community for five years. She said she was “ecstatic” the clubhouse was finally open.

Beharry admitted that after the property sat in limbo for so long, she was a little “down spirited” about the future she and her husband had purchased. But now that has changed.

“I’m excited for everything,” she said.

Dottie Appert said she was “absolutely beyond happy” on Sunday.

“We’re just thrilled to be here at last,” Appert said. “Waiting for it has taken a lot of patience.”

Appert complimented Fernmoor Homes on the form’s cooperation in the process.

Vince Corso, president of the Horizons at Woods Landing Homeowners Association, toasted the occasion in a speech before his neighbors.

“The five-year journey from the original builder’s bankruptcy…until today has been a long and difficult road to travel for our homeowners,” Corso said.

He said that 15 community members had died before the clubhouse was completed. Corso also noted the concessions that the developer, homeowners and the township made in getting to this point.

“Everyone wins and that’s the way it should be; everyone derives a benefit, everyone is happy,” he said.

Corso thanked those that have helped the community along the way and all the members of the Fernmoor management team, including Jeffrey Fernbach, owner of Fernmoor Homes, for their cooperation during the last two years.

“To Jeff and all his team members, I’d like to just say that the Woods Landing community couldn’t have asked for, or found, a better group of business partners to work with on the continued development of our community,” Corso said.

Construction at Woods Landing is scheduled to continue until all the lots are built out.

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