Real estate developer Mitch Leigh hopes to break ground on Jackson Twenty-One — a Jackson Township, N.J. residential complex that’s been more than two decades in the making — this spring or summer, the New York Times reported. And Leigh, the Tony Award-winning composer of “Man of La Mancha,” has a friendly pitch for would-be buyers: “If you’re not a nice person, please don’t call.”
The project is set to feature apartments, stores, a hotel, an Imax theater and an artists’ community. However, the project could take 25 years to reach its completion. In a commercial for the development, Leigh tells viewers, “If you’re interested in a shop, restaurant, office, apartments, town homes — or whatever! — and you are a really nice person, please contact me.”
Leigh has been adding to it piece by piece as plots of land nearby popped up for sale. It’s now grown to nearly 1,000 acres, which has made him one of the area’s largest land owners.
Leigh told the Times that the bulk of the infrastructure at the site is now in place. Leigh has been approved by Jackson Township to develop 150 acres of the land, which could contain retail, restaurants, housing and a hotel property, though structural plans remain as concepts or as thoughts under consideration.
“When you think of Mitch Leigh as a businessman, remember he’s also a composer,” Leigh told the Times. “And when you think of Mitch Leigh as a composer, remember he’s also a businessman.” [NYT] —Zachary Kussin