Garden-Style, Walk-Up, Suburban.

The Job

Oak Park is a 252-unit garden-style community in Roselle, New Jersey — twelve buildings spread across several acres next to Warinanco Park, all of it income-restricted Section 8 housing. The renovation preserved the property and its affordability rather than repositioning it.

PPR renovates the apartments.

PPR's Scope

PPR performed unit turnarounds at Oak Park — upgraded kitchens, upgraded bathrooms, new flooring, paint throughout. The property runs to three unit types across twelve walk-up buildings: twenty studios, a hundred and forty-nine one-bedrooms, eighty-three two-bedrooms.

• Upgraded kitchens
• Upgraded bathrooms
• New flooring
• Paint throughout

Three Layouts, Twelve Buildings

Twenty studios. A hundred and forty-nine one-bedrooms. Eighty-three two-bedrooms. Three different footprints, three different takeoffs, twelve separate buildings to move between — and one finished result that has to read the same in a studio as it does in a two-bedroom two buildings away.

The Suburban Version of the Job

A twenty-story tower gives you one elevator, one staging area, one loading point. Twelve garden-style walk-ups give you twelve of everything — twelve entrances, no elevators, materials carried up exterior stairs, crews split across acres instead of stacked in one shaft.

It isn't harder than a tower. It's a different problem, and it's the one most owners and managers actually have.