Builder Charlie Farkouh on the Bank Street portion of the project earlier this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A planned condo complex with a knotty, decade-long history of false starts is finally going into the ground on Red Bank’s West Side.

Rumson builder Charles Farkouh, who acquired the project in August, tells redbankgreen he’ll have the 15-unit River’s Edge project, which spans several lots at the western ends of Bank Street and Drs. James Parker Boulevard, finished in 12 to 14 months.

“Full steam,” said Farkouh, as workers prepared footings in a large excavation abutting a steep bank overlooking the Swimming River on Tuesday. “It’s happening.”

Farkouh’s Home & Land Development Corporation paid $833,000 to acquire the site, according to Monmouth County records.

The purchase, from an entity called RW @ River’s Edge, was the latest twist in a saga that dates back a decade. It’s also involved repeated trips to the borough zoning board, a detour into court, and changes to the plan.

After the borough forced RW to demolish three vacant homes on the site, the lots sat idle for years, with sewer pipes sitting on the ground, awaiting installation.

The waiting is over, said Farkouh, a former computer industry worker who started building homes in Staten Island, where he then lived, in 1988.

River’s Edge will have four homes on Drs. Parker and a total of eleven on two lots on Bank Street. Ranging in size from 1,900 to 2,400 square feet, they’ll have full basements, one-car garages, two bathrooms and hardwood floors.

Farkouh said prices haven’t been set. Two of the units will qualify as affordable housing, with buyer selection to be handled by the Affordable Housing Alliance in Eatontown, he said.