New Jersey Moves Away From McMansion Trend

More and more builders are changing their strategies in favor of smaller projects, and a rising number of developers are conceding that McMansions probably aren't the best future for the state.

"'You have to build not simply for the market we've experienced in the past, but for where the country is headed. Energy prices could soar. The price of the little remaining open space is unattainable,' Robert G. Torricelli, a former senator who now has a development company, said in a telephone interview.

'What will trigger denser development is that there's no space left, and what is left no one can build on,' said David Henderson, a principal at HHG Development Associates, a Trenton company that focuses on sustainable building practices. According to the Rowan and Rutgers report, New Jersey is poised to become the first state to develop every acre of unprotected land, a milestone researchers predict will happen 'sometime within the middle of the century.' But whatever the imperative, a number of untraditional projects seem to be finding acceptance with home buyers. "