Urban Practice Celebrates Grand Opening of the Borough’s First Purpose-Built Affordable Housing Community
Residences at Choctaw Offers Modern, Sustainable Housing for Saddle River Families with Moderate Incomes
Saddle River, NJ — Oct. 24, 2025 — Today, executives of Urban Practice, a leading architectural and urban planning firm based in Camden, NJ, joined Saddle River Mayor Albert J. Kurpis and other state and local officials to celebrate the grand opening of the Residences at Choctaw. Designed by Urban Practice and developed by The Michaels Organization, the new community offers high-quality, affordable housing to Saddle River residents with low and moderate incomes.
“We are so proud of this project, which combines sustainability, comfort, and modern amenities, and will be an asset to the Saddle River community for years to come,” said James Haley, Principal of Urban Practice.
Located off East Allentown Road, the Residences at Choctaw is designed as a three-story, garden community, set among trees, and featuring a variety of amenities, including a clubhouse with a community room, a fitness center, a basketball court, and a tot lot. The spacious apartments are offered in one-, two-, and three-bedroom layouts. The community, comprising 111 apartment homes, is affordable to households earning less than 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), with 20 percent of the units available to those earning no more than 30 percent AMI.
“We are very proud to be the Borough’s private sector partner, bringing this much-needed affordable housing to Bergen County,” said Michaels Senior Vice President Jonathan Lubonski. “We are grateful to Urban Practice, which has served as our strategic partner for Architectural and Planning Services on developments across the country, for their beautiful design of the Residences at Choctaw.”
The borough of Saddle River is renowned for its attractive and stately residences. Ensuring that any new community would naturally blend within the surrounding architecture was a top priority for both local officials and the architects.
“Saddle River has many grand, attractive homes, and having this new community blend within the surrounding architecture was very important to the borough,” said Urban Practice Principal Bryon Yoder. “We focused our design on proportions and details that are in harmony within this context, ensuring the new homes feel like an organic extension of the existing neighborhood, not a contrast to it.”
Others who joined the Mayor and Councilman to cut the ceremonial red ribbon at today’s ceremony included Terry Tucker, Chief of Staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, which provided both the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits as well as Affordable Housing Gap Subsidy funds to the development. Additionally, financial support came from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, which was represented at the ceremony by NJHFMA’s Chief of Staff Terry Tucker.
About Urban Practice
Urban Practice is an architecture and design firm based in Camden, NJ, dedicated to shaping equitable, sustainable spaces that uplift underserved communities. The firm partners with mission-driven organizations to transform visions into impactful, inclusive developments.