By: Parisa Yan

On a cliff, there are two winding roads: Manhattan Avenue and Mountain Road. There are mansions on the cliff, such as the 13-room mansion formerly owned by Raffaele Menconi, a sculptor who designed the flagpole bases at the New York Public Library. In 2005, investors paid millions of dollars for those houses and planned to turn them into five towers of apartment units. But they did not destroy the old mansions and turn them into apartments.

In the time since they were bought, the buildings have been ruined by fires and intruders. Neighbors have argued about whether the houses should be fixed or torn down and replaced. Kate Sparrow, who used to live in one of those houses, wrote that “These buildings are a fire hazard, an eyesore, reduce our property values, and give Union City a disgusting presentation.” Later, she found only 33 people who supported her idea.

In 2021, builders began blowing up the cliff to make room for another development but stopped a year later because the company’s owner filed for bankruptcy.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/30/realestate/union-city-new-jersey-houses.html