Rosie O’Donnell’s Saddle River mansion to be demolished
Back in 2013 Rosie O'Donnell paid $6.375 million for the English country-manor style six-bedroom, five-acre estate. She tried selling it just two years later for $7 million, but no one bit. According to the site Jersey Digs, she lowered the price to $6.495 the next year and then down to $6 million in 2018. A developer recently took it off her hands last month for $5.3 million and will tear it down to make room for affordable housing units that the town need to fulfill their state requirements. Only in New Jersey! You can see the photos of this magnificent home here.
What a spectacular, almost obscene action to destroy such a beautiful house that was built and purchased legally, but this is New Jersey and we have our rules and regulations, even if they defy logic and common sense, and they often do. Once the home is demolished, the developer is ordered to put up 112 affordable housing units on the property. Again, THIS IS NOT A FAKE NEWS "ONION" STORY! This is real.
Fifty-two market-rate units will go into a development with eight affordable housing units. If you always wanted to live in Saddle River with the likes of Mary J. Blige, Russell Simmons and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, this might be your chance. Keep looking for the signs to go up or apply to Bergen County's Housing Commission and see what you can do about becoming one of their neighbors.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis's own.