HARRISON, N.J. — Sitting in his office, surrounded by Halloween kitsch and posters of building designs, the mayor of Harrison talks like a man who has been selling an idea for a long time. After 15 years, his vision to transform this long-forsaken industrial town into a bedroom community for single, young professionals is finally taking shape.

A flurry of development is under way in this 1.2-mile-long town along the Passaic River, across from Newark. A 275-unit upscale apartment building was fully leased within seven months of its 2011 opening. On the heels of that success, other developers have broken ground on residential, retail and commercial projects in a redevelopment zone that circles the town’s New Jersey PATH station.

Nine developers have pledged $650 million over 10 years to transform 275 acres of abandoned, deteriorating manufacturing buildings into the next outpost on New Jersey’s Gold Coast. In all, a third of Harrison will be rebuilt, adding 3,000 units of housing to a town with 14,500 residents. When the work is finished, a community that was once a bustling manufacturing hub will depend on commuters looking for affordable, chic housing.

“What alternative do we have? It’s going to create jobs, I hope,” said the town’s mayor, Raymond McDonough, a retired plumber who has been mayor for nearly 18 years. “It’s going to create tax revenue for the town.” The amount of taxes the town can collect, however, will be limited by a 30-year tax abatement granted to the developers.