The Saddle River Planning Board met on June 9, 2026, to hear Toll Brothers' amended plans for two townhome communities. During the hearing, board member Dior Vass asked about expected retail pricing for the model units. The applicant's engineer, Michael Dipple of L2A Land Design, said he was the engineer and didn't know the sales pricing.
That exchange sums up where Saddle River is right now. The town has spent years approving new attached homes on a short list of specific parcels. Buyers comparing it with nearby towns can now see exactly where those homes will go, how they connect to utilities, and roughly when work should start. The price is the one thing that hasn't been published.
How 249 Units Became a Six-Unit Building Requirement
Saddle River's court-approved Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, adopted June 25, 2025, lists a fourth-round prospective need of 249 affordable units for 2025 through 2035. A vacant land adjustment cut that to a realistic development potential of 6 units. The other 243 count as "unmet need." The earlier third round worked the same way. Its 244-unit obligation was reduced to 132 units of realistic development potential and 112 units of unmet need.
The vacant land analysis is why most of Saddle River's large-lot streets don't show up anywhere in the plan. The analysis found little open land left that could realistically be developed, so the obligation goes to specific parcels instead of being spread across town. Under the mediation agreement with Fair Share Housing Center, the borough will rezone Block 1605, Lot 2 so that a 42-unit senior affordable rental building can be built there together with Lot 1. The Superior Court approved the plan and settlement on March 16, 2026. The order calls for a later compliance hearing and formal certification.
One rule reaches beyond the named sites. The plan includes a mandatory set-aside ordinance. Any new multifamily development of five or more units anywhere in the borough has to make at least 20 percent of its units affordable.
The Five Parcels, by Address
Here is every project in the current plan that adds new homes, with its most recent recorded status.
| Site | Developer | What it is | Status in the record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 East Allendale Road, Residences at Choctaw | The Michaels Organization | 111 affordable rental apartments | Fully occupied at its October 2025 grand opening |
| 20 and 22 East Allendale Road | Saddle River Phase 2, LLC | 42 age-restricted affordable rentals, three stories | Planning Board approval June 30, 2026 |
| 107, 111 and 115 East Allendale Road | Toll NJ I, LLC | 54 for-sale townhomes, 8 of them affordable | Approved Dec. 9, 2025; amended June 30, 2026 |
| 14 Algonquin Trail and 167 West Saddle River Road | Toll NJ I, LLC | For-sale townhomes, 12 of them affordable | Approved Jan. 13, 2026; amended June 30, 2026 |
| 1 Route 17 South, Boroline Road | AvalonBay | 275 rentals, 33 of them affordable | Under full construction as of Aug. 17, 2026 |
Three of these sites are on East Allendale Road. The fourth is on Algonquin Trail and West Saddle River Road, and AvalonBay is on Route 17 by the Allendale line. The borough's housing obligations fit on those five parcels.
AvalonBay is the biggest project, and it's mainly a rental story. The Borough Engineer told the council on August 17, 2026, that construction would continue for another 16 to 18 months. The borough's plan counts its 18 family units and 15 supportive housing units as 37 affordable credits. Credits and physical apartments are different measures, which explains why the two figures don't match.
The Toll Townhomes Are the New Way to Buy In
For someone comparing towns to buy in, the two Toll Brothers communities matter most. They are the only projects on the list that sell market-rate homes.
The East Allendale Road community has 54 townhomes in 14 buildings, each two and a half stories tall. Forty-six are market-rate and eight are deed-restricted affordable stacked units. According to NorthJersey.com, 115 East Allendale is the former Rosie O'Donnell estate. In September 2022, the Planning Board unanimously denied an earlier application for a 60-unit townhouse project with affordable units on East Allendale Road, citing an inadequate snow removal plan and the need for more retention basin test pits. The Planning Board approved the current plan on December 9, 2025, and adopted Resolution 26-08 on February 3, 2026.
The Algonquin Trail community's unit count depends on which document you read. 2025 coverage described 60 townhomes, 12 of them affordable. The Borough Engineer's June 8, 2026 review memo calls it a "48-unit townhome development." That number may refer to the market-rate homes only. The board approved it unanimously on January 13, 2026, after hearings running from June 2025 to January 2026.
Both sites will use public sewer, and the route changed this year. The original approval sent the force main about 4,000 linear feet into Allendale, toward DeMercurio Drive near the Dunkin' Donuts. The amended plan connects to Allendale's system at or near the borough line, by Boroline Road and Westgate and Eastgate Roads. Under that design, a smaller pump station at East Allendale Road sends flow to a larger station at Algonquin, which pumps everything to the Allendale connection. The applicant's attorney, Antimo A. Del Vecchio, called the Allendale connection a "handshake or tentative agreement" at that hearing.
The June 2026 record leaves these steps open before buyers can expect move-in dates:
- Final Bergen County and NJDEP approvals for the revised Algonquin drainage design, which ties into the County system on West Saddle River Road.
- Drainage work at Algonquin, which the engineer said would happen "very early, before major land disturbance."
- East Allendale Road construction, which the attorney expected "would likely follow shortly thereafter or occur simultaneously."
- A model unit and sales trailer. The trailer is a modular building finished in earth tones that will be removed once sales end. The model unit will eventually be sold.
As of early October 2026, Toll Brothers' public Northern New Jersey catalog doesn't list either Saddle River community. There's no published community name, starting price, home size range or sales-center opening date. The public records reviewed don't show a construction start date for either site. Anyone planning around these homes should treat the timeline as a forecast from the June hearing.
Where the Senior Building's Payments Go
The 42-unit building at 20 and 22 East Allendale Road works differently from the Toll sites. The borough bought the land with money from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Under a Developer's Agreement dated May 1, 2026, it will convey the property to the sponsor for one dollar and "other good and valuable consideration" when the project's financing closes.
The project won't pay a regular property tax bill. Ordinance 26-1125, adopted September 14, 2026, grants a tax exemption and approves a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT. The PILOT sets an annual service charge of 6.28 percent of gross sheltered rents, subject to a minimum annual payment. The borough will pass 37 percent of that charge to the Saddle River Board of Education for its general funds.
The 37 percent figure is set in the ordinance. The total payment isn't, because it depends on rents the building hasn't collected yet. For someone comparing tax situations between towns, that means this building's contribution grows or shrinks with its rent roll, separately from how single-family homes are assessed.
What Comparing Saddle River Now Involves
The plan gives buyers a clear map. New attached housing in Saddle River is going to five named parcels, and any other multifamily project of five or more units triggers the 20 percent set-aside. A buyer looking at a large-lot property elsewhere in town can check it against the plan's site list instead of guessing what might be built nearby.
The Toll communities bring a kind of home the borough's plan hadn't produced before: new-construction, for-sale townhomes on public sewer, sold through a model unit and an on-site sales trailer. Anyone hoping to buy one needs to keep track of approvals and sales announcements, because no price has been published yet. According to NJ REALTORS®, municipality-level monthly reports are available only through REALTOR access. The public August 2026 figures from Greater Bergen REALTORS® report sales totals for the whole Greater Bergen market, with 495 single-family closed sales that month. Those regional numbers can't show you what a Saddle River townhome will cost.
At the June hearing, Mayor Albert J. Kurpis spoke about the borough's priorities. The minutes record it this way:
Mayor Kurpis stated that the goal was not to make any individual happy, but to act in the best interest of the community, including Barnstable Court and the Borough's commercial and historic districts.
Quick Answers
Are the Toll Brothers townhomes for sale or for rent? For sale. The June 2026 testimony described a sales trailer and a model unit that will eventually be sold.
Which Toll community comes first? At the June 9, 2026 hearing, the applicant's attorney said Algonquin is expected to go first, with East Allendale Road following shortly after or at the same time.
Is there other construction in town right now? Yes. AvalonBay was under full construction on Route 17 as of August 17, 2026. The same night, the council awarded Cifelli & Son General Contracting the Lower Cross Road improvements contract, which is fully funded by an NJDOT grant.
If one of these new Saddle River townhomes is on your list, or you're weighing a large-lot home nearby, The Doyle Group can follow the Planning Board record and the sales launch with you, so you're ready when Toll publishes pricing.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
