At 1 Spango Court, on more than 25 wooded acres off Harrison Avenue, Garden Communities is offering two-bedroom duplex homes with up to two and a half baths. Most come with an attached private garage that has direct exterior entry, along with a stone-clad clubhouse, a heated pool and a pickleball court. On paper, that looks a lot like what a townhouse buyer in western Essex County is shopping for. Every one of those homes is for rent.
That is the pattern across Roseland's newest housing. The large projects going up on former office and industrial land are rentals, and that includes the townhouse-style units. The for-sale townhouse and condo projects in the borough's plans have not been built. Anyone buying a townhouse or condo in Roseland this fall is mostly choosing among resale homes in established communities, and the newest product down the road is a lease with a garage and a move-in special.
Where Roseland's newest townhouse-style homes are
The borough's amended housing plan, dated February 9, 2026, lists the redevelopment sites. Leasing pages and a developer release fill in what has come to market since then.
| Project | Address | Homes | Tenure | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardens at Roseland | 1 Spango Court, former Bobst tract at 146 Harrison Ave. | 211 single-level and duplex apartments | Rental | Leasing launched May 28, 2026 |
| Avalon at Becker Farm | 6 Becker Farm Road | 299 units in four buildings | Rental | Leasing, with fall specials advertised |
| AvalonBay at 85 Livingston Avenue | 85 Livingston Avenue | 192 apartments plus 42 townhouse units | Rental | Under construction as of the borough's February 2026 plan |
| Avalon Townhome Collection Roseland | 100 Avalon Boulevard | One-, two- and three-bedroom townhomes | Rental | Existing community |
The three redevelopment projects add up to 744 homes. Two of them include rentals with a townhouse layout, the duplexes at Gardens at Roseland and the 42 townhouse units at 85 Livingston. AvalonBay also runs an existing townhome rental community at 100 Avalon Boulevard. Before redevelopment, the Gardens at Roseland site was a light industrial and office property that Bobst North America occupied. The Becker Farm site's former office building was torn down for the new four-story buildings.
The rental pitch is written for would-be buyers
AvalonBay's marketing for its Roseland townhomes doesn't hide who it's trying to reach. The Avalon Townhome Collection Roseland page describes renting there this way:
"Space to spread out. A garage for your car. A front door that's yours to open. Avalon Townhome Collection gives you the feel of a home without the burden of owning one."
The same page lists townhomes starting at $3,223 a month for one bedroom and $3,870 for two bedrooms, each with a private garage and driveway. At Avalon at Becker Farm, a 1,073-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bath apartment was listed at $3,875 a month on a 12-month lease. The community is also advertising two months off on select homes for applications submitted by November 16, 2026, on leases of 12 months or longer. Select two-bedroom units show savings of up to $200 a month, already built into the advertised price. When Gardens at Roseland began leasing in May, Garden Communities put starting rents at $2,695 a month.
This matters at the closing table. A seller pricing a Roseland townhouse is pricing against other sales. The buyer touring that townhouse may also be touring a rental with a garage, a clubhouse and two free months, a few minutes away. That second option rarely shows up in a comparative market analysis, and it is the one with a marketing budget and a deadline. One pressure works on the buyer and a different one works on the seller, and both are worth recognizing before the first offer.
The for-sale pipeline is still a zoning document
Roseland's plans do include townhouses and condos that could eventually be sold. None of them are close to move-in.
65 Livingston Avenue. Woodmont's approved plan for this site was a 181-unit senior living project with independent living, assisted living or memory care, plus a separate 42-unit affordable apartment building. That plan was never built. According to the housing plan, Woodmont attributed the delay to the market-rate senior living component no longer being economically viable, citing shifts in that market along with higher site and building costs. A settlement with the borough replaced the senior living use with 69 market-rate townhouses, 12 with two bedrooms and 57 with three, alongside a separate 42-unit affordable apartment building. The plan doesn't say whether those townhouses will be sold or rented. As recently as October 2025, Woodmont Senior Living was asking the Planning Board for a one-year extension of the older approval.
4 Becker Farm Road. This 21.4-acre site on the north side of Becker Farm Road and Eagle Rock Avenue still holds a vacant office building and sits in the OB-2 Office Building District. A developer has proposed 265 homes, and the borough says it intends to rezone the property for that use. This is the clearest for-sale product in the pipeline. The plan describes for-sale affordable units in both the age-restricted and non-age-restricted portions, and the remaining homes as a mix of townhomes, stacked flats and condo flats. It also illustrates how the timing works. A proposal that is still waiting on a rezoning is several steps from a model unit.
The Gardens at Roseland site shows how long those steps can take even when a project moves forward. The borough entered settlement agreements on the Bobst tract in November 2019, rezoned it in May 2020 and granted site plan approval in July 2021. Leasing started in May 2026. Roughly six and a half years passed between the settlement agreements and the first lease. A buyer holding out for new for-sale townhouses in Roseland is waiting on that kind of calendar.
What a Roseland buyer is actually choosing among
Without new for-sale construction, buyers are left with established communities. The borough's housing plan lists three existing for-sale developments by size:
- Roseland Green, 230 homes
- Eagle Rock, 178 homes
- Roseland Glen, 98 homes in an age-restricted community
Some homes in each of these communities carry affordability deed restrictions that are recorded and tracked in the borough's plan. Those restrictions were put on record. At Eagle Rock, for example, the condominium association amended its Master Deed to show which units carry extended controls. Ask early in any purchase there whether a particular unit is one of them. This is general information, not legal advice, and a real estate attorney can confirm what applies to a specific home.
For these resale homes, the competition comes from two directions. One is other resale listings in the same complexes. The other is the newest rental product in town, which has the latest finishes, garages and amenities and is advertising concessions this month.
What the county condo numbers say this fall
New Jersey REALTORS® reports this data at the county level, and its Local Market Update for Essex County, September 2026, current as of October 9, 2026, shows the townhouse-condo segment loosening while single-family homes stay tight.
Townhouse-condo, Essex County:
- Inventory in September 2026 was 208 homes, up from 159 in September 2025.
- Months of supply in September 2026 was 3.1, up from 2.2 a year earlier.
- Percent of list price received, year to date through September 2026, was 103.5%, down from 105.2% over the same period in 2025.
- Closed sales in September 2026 numbered 67, down from 75 in September 2025.
- Median sales price, year to date through September 2026, was $440,000, up from $397,625.
Single-family homes in the county ran on 2.8 months of supply in September 2026 and sold for 106.3% of list price that month, or 109.7% year to date.
These numbers cover all of Essex County, not Roseland alone, so they can't be read as proof that Roseland's rentals are moving condo prices. They do show that in fall 2026 the county's condo and townhouse buyers have more inventory to choose from and are paying less over asking than a year ago. Single-family buyers are still paying close to 10% over list year to date. The higher condo median and the smaller premium over list price can both be true. Prices have risen, but buyers are less often pushed far past the asking price.
For Roseland specifically, that county softening comes on top of a local market where the newest townhouse-style supply is entirely rental. A buyer here has two reference points, recent resale prices and current asking rents with concessions, and can use both in a negotiation.
A few questions buyers ask about this
Are any of the new Roseland townhouses for sale? The townhouse-style homes at Gardens at Roseland, at AvalonBay's 85 Livingston Avenue project and at Avalon Townhome Collection Roseland are rentals. The clearest for-sale product in the borough's plans is the proposed 4 Becker Farm Road project, which is still waiting on a rezoning.
What do the new rentals cost? Avalon Townhome Collection Roseland lists townhomes from $3,223 a month, and Avalon at Becker Farm listed a two-bedroom at $3,875 a month on a 12-month lease. Gardens at Roseland announced starting rents of $2,695 when leasing opened in May 2026.
Is there Roseland-only market data for this fall? The most current public New Jersey REALTORS® report is for Essex County, covering September 2026. For a single complex, the most useful comparison is recent resale activity in that community, set against the current rents nearby.
If you're weighing a Roseland townhouse or condo against the rentals going up around it, or deciding when to list one, Orsini Real Estate & Marketing Group can put recent resales in your complex next to this fall's asking rents and concessions so your offer or list price reflects both. Request a Free Home Valuation to start with your own unit.
