Jersey City Rising [Archive] - Page 14

JCMAN320

June 23rd, 2011, 03:48 PM

Thank you so much for the well wishes Newak-guy. I'm so happy that hrs doing well now and hopefully continues to do well. Got more news to post on the rebranding of bar here that is an instituion for many in JC:

Pint, Formerly Star Bar, Officially Celebrates Grand Opening and Rebranding
By Melissa Surach • Jun 22nd, 2011 • Category: Featured, Food

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/gallery/grand-opening-of-pint/img_3137.jpg
Photos: Rafael Cruz

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Brewers, politicians and beer lovers donned their finest formal apparel last Friday for the grand opening of Pint, which was formerly known as Star Bar. The rebranding of Jersey City’s only gay and craft beer bar is meant to reflect the bar’s reputation for microbrews and its diminutive size, as owner Wolf Sterling explained to JCI. At 6’7”, he towered over the crowd in the tiny “pint-sized” bar that holds less than 50 people, many of whom were wearing tuxedos for the affair.

At approximately 7:30 pm, the political odd couple of At-Large councilman Ray Velazquez and Ward E councilman Steve Fulop got behind the bar and cut the ribbon with Sterling, both giving speeches lauding the bar’s success, its impact on the neighborhood and its generosity (the opening was also a benefit for the Hudson Pride Connections Center, and it also regularly holds fundraisers for other local nonprofits).

Velazquez, the only openly gay City Council member on Council, said the bar supported not only the city’s LGBT community, but the entire Downtown neighborhood, helping it thrive in recent years.

“What we need from good business owners is to be good neighbors,” he said. “That’s what makes a city prosper.”

Fulop, who has recently had a number of heated exchanges with Velazquez, said they were putting “politics aside” to “get together to support a business.”

“It’s not a bar in Jersey City; it’s a bar for Jersey City,” Fulop said of Pint. “It’s another destination for beer lovers.”

The bar itself has been around in various incarnations since 1911, and is one of the oldest still in existence in Jersey City.

“This neighborhood used to be Dutch, then Jewish, then Puerto Rican,” Sterling said in his ribbon-cutting speech. “I’m proud that we can all stand here and represent the diversity of Jersey City — that this is the most diverse bar in the city, at least I hope it is.”

He thanked the staff for helping turn it around from a “getting stabbed” bar to a “getting a beer” bar, referring to the spot’s former divey life. When this writer was growing up in Jersey City, it barely had a floor and served as a prime spot to buy forties to go as a teenager.

Part of Sterling’s behind-the-scenes renovations included building custom coolers for the expanded beer selection of 14 rotating drafts and 40 bottles, since the old cold box was 60 years old. He also expanded the liquor selection to about 50 new choices. New Jersey Beer Company, which will have a dedicated line along with Abita, debuted their newest beer at Friday’s event – the 1776 Abbey Single — after a long hiatus.

The bar also got a facelift; wood paneling now covers the walls, which are lined with tap handles around the perimeter. The look, which kind of evokes a grandpa’s living room, is meant to be a replica of how the bar looked just after World War II — Sterling described it as “a cool, retro, neighborhood feel.”

Sterling said he’d love to expand the bar into a neighboring business and open Jersey City’s first brewpub, but current zoning restrictions make that a long-term project.

“Those plans still exist but won’t happen in the near future,” he said.

Overall, Sterling said he hopes that Jersey City government, and both councilmen in attendance, will work to create a friendlier environment for the city’s small businesses.

“I commissioned a study last year which documented more than 45 percent of Pint’s customers didn’t frequent the Grove Street area before they started frequenting the bar. More than 60 percent of our customers enjoy a meal at a nearby restaurant at least once a week before or after visiting the bar,” he said. “That’s a significant economic benefit to the area, and part of what I hope will be an ongoing trend to develop the potential of Jersey City.”

Councilman Velazquez agreed that Pint and other local favorites keep people hanging out in town rather than getting on the PATH and spending their money elsewhere.

“We don’t have to be New York’s Sixth,” he said, referring to the city’s unofficial nickname of being New York City’s Sixth Borough. “They can be New Jersey’s second.”

THE DETAILS

Pint | 34 Wayne Street | pintbar.com | 201.367.1222

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/06/22/pint-formerly-star-bar-officially-celebrates-grand-opening-and-rebranding/

Nexis4Jersey

June 24th, 2011, 10:37 AM

STT757

June 26th, 2011, 10:29 AM

After Reading the Bayfront plans i must say i'm impressed , and a future extension of the HBLR to Newark is being considered aswell? As for Canal Crossing , that plan also looked impressive. But they really need to upgrade the surround highways and roads bordering both developments , otherwise traffic will go from bad to NYC bad.

The ROW in Newark is gone, they built homes over the right way and didn't leave any space. It's a shame because that part of Newark, Ironbound, could have used a Lightrail link. The light rail could go to Newark Airport.

Nexis4Jersey

June 26th, 2011, 10:13 PM

The ROW in Newark is gone, they built homes over the right way and didn't leave any space. It's a shame because that part of Newark, Ironbound, could have used a Lightrail link. The light rail could go to Newark Airport.

Well they could build across the Newark Bay , then snake there way through the Port , and then run along the Street to Penn station. Airport Traffic is not high enough to warrant an expansion of that size. But Newark is , and the PATH Capacity issues are proof enough of this...

Newarkguy

June 27th, 2011, 08:53 AM

Possible HBLR routes in Newark's downneck Ironbound district...(my thoughts)....Elevated over East Market street. Or over and or along Raymond Boulevard. Perhaps street running along Ferry street, but busineses will be hurt by elimination of parking. Lafayette street/Wilson ave seems better, it serves the heart of the area without the Ferry street bottlenecks.

arcman210

June 27th, 2011, 10:13 AM

Highly unlikely that Newark will ever be connected to Bergen County with a light rail. The PATH and NJ Transit are more efficient and faster, there's just too big of a gap distance wise between Newark and Jersey City for a slow moving light rail to make any sense. That being said, the Ironbound probably wont get a light rail either because a couple of bus routes serve it's purpose fine. The new light rail line in Newark was primarily to establish a connection between Penn and Broad St stations, and also to give NJPAC a rail link to both stations.

If anything, the Elizabeth light rail link would have made the most sense.

Nexis4Jersey

June 27th, 2011, 11:59 AM

STT757

June 28th, 2011, 07:28 AM

Well they could build across the Newark Bay , then snake there way through the Port , and then run along the Street to Penn station. Airport Traffic is not high enough to warrant an expansion of that size. But Newark is , and the PATH Capacity issues are proof enough of this...

First of all a new bridge from the Southern tip of Bayonne over Newark Bay to Elizabeth port would have to be very high in order not to interrupt shipping traffic, the bridge would be too cost prohibitive. Second Newark Airport served 34 million travelers last year, the airport is more of a draw than anything in Downtown Newark.

Marv95

June 28th, 2011, 08:19 AM

Nexis4Jersey

June 28th, 2011, 08:41 AM

Guess you forgot there's a sports arena that should have had a light rail station by now thanks to the NERL. But somehow they find money to extend the HBLR to 440.

The Cost of extending it less then a Mile to 440 , is more then there promised Bergen - Passaic LRT. They can't seem to find the $$$ on that either , both NERL and BPLRT extensions would service a decent amount of ppl and judging by the amount of stations per line its the best bang for your $$$. The 440 extension should be paided for by the developer , it should also only cost 50 million.....

JCMAN320

June 28th, 2011, 09:01 AM

I personally don't get it either. Maybe it's because we (Jersey City) are directly connected to NYC and there really has been a push by JC to get the Westside redeveloped.

They are currently building the new Social Security building on the site of the former West Coast Video. They were driving piles and now in the process of laying the concrete foundation so it should be substantial. Several luxury apartments have opened up around the area of the Westside light rail stop. Also NJCU has now started the clean up on the site of it's new West Campus. The Westside is bulding up slowly but surely so maybe thats why were getting the extension?

STT757

June 29th, 2011, 10:24 AM

Guess you forgot there's a sports arena that should have had a light rail station by now thanks to the NERL. But somehow they find money to extend the HBLR to 440.

The Prudential Center has a maximum capacity of 17,500. If the venue would sell out to the maximum every night of the year it would only equate to 6 million visitors. Newark Airport handled 34 million travelers last year, plus there are around 11,000 employees who travel to the airport everyday for work.

We all know the Prudential center does not sell out every night, there's not an event every night. I would be surprised if the arena saw half a million visitors per year. You cannot even compare Newark airport to the Prudential center in terms of it's economic impact and the traffic they generate.

Marv95

June 29th, 2011, 11:20 AM

The Prudential Center has a maximum capacity of 17,500. If the venue would sell out to the maximum every night of the year it would only equate to 6 million visitors. Newark Airport handled 34 million travelers last year, plus there are around 11,000 employees who travel to the airport everyday for work.

We all know the Prudential center does not sell out every night, there's not an event every night. I would be surprised if the arena saw half a million visitors per year. You cannot even compare Newark airport to the Prudential center in terms of it's economic impact and the traffic they generate.

Actually it's drawn over 4.5 million since it opened and ranked 3rd in the nation in non-sports revenue(see the Newark thread). Not comparing it to the airport but just saying don't discredit it as being a draw.

My beef is there should have been a light rail station underneath it when Mulberry St. was closed as part of the Broad Street extension since there's plenty of folks west/northwest of town who go to events. Have it terminate at the Federal Building instead of the Airport, serving the Morris County/suburban folks who work there. They say lack of money was a problem yet they find the funds for 440 when West Side Ave. serves its purpose as a terminus well enough.

66nexus

June 29th, 2011, 04:08 PM

First of all a new bridge from the Southern tip of Bayonne over Newark Bay to Elizabeth port would have to be very high in order not to interrupt shipping traffic, the bridge would be too cost prohibitive. Second Newark Airport served 34 million travelers last year, the airport is more of a draw than anything in Downtown Newark.

I completely disagree. Newark airport is a transportation base. Not that NJpac/the Rock aren't the strongest destinations but they are indeed destinations (as in, people come from elsewhere to see them) People going to the airport are simply on their way to their final destination. Overall, there are far more people working downtown Newark than the airport.

Plus, Newark airport is already connected via rail. The Rock is 'kind of' connected via rail but it should be better connected. I think a light rail would've been ideal.

Extending the light rail to NY would be more of an impact b/c it connects NY/NJ.

66nexus

June 29th, 2011, 04:18 PM

Actually it's drawn over 4.5 million since it opened and ranked 3rd in the nation in non-sports revenue(see the Newark thread). Not comparing it to the airport but just saying don't discredit it as being a draw.

My beef is there should have been a light rail station underneath it when Mulberry St. was closed as part of the Broad Street extension since there's plenty of folks west/northwest of town who go to events. Have it terminate at the Federal Building instead of the Airport, serving the Morris County/suburban folks who work there. They say lack of money was a problem yet they find the funds for 440 when West Side Ave. serves its purpose as a terminus well enough.

Did they actually acquire the necessary dollars yet?

JCMAN320

July 2nd, 2011, 10:43 AM

New restaurant brings dressed-up bistro fare to Downtown Jersey City

Published: Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 4:28 PM
By Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/9750868-large.png
Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal Duck dressed in a candied orange rind is served with risotto, green beans and onions, an upscale riff on soul food. -- ADAM ROBB / FOR THE JERSEY JOURNAL

Cityside Bistro opens at 70 Greene St. in Downtown Jersey City gallery (11 photos)
http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/06/cityside_bistro_opens_at_70_gr_10.html

Cityside Bistro officially opened its doors for lunch and dinner last week, anchoring 70 Greene St. in Downtown Jersey City with its first restaurant two years after the residential complex completed construction.

The new bistro -- a first attempt at fine dining from the owners of O'Hara's Downtown on First Street -- combines an eclectic collection of design elements with a moderately priced, modern-American menu prepared by executive chef Gregory Moylan, a Jersey City native, and former sous chef at nearby Marco & Pepe.

So, while flatscreen televisions are mounted over the bar, a waterfall wall flows opposite it, and blown-up photographs of neighborhood landmarks like the Colgate clock fill the walls, nothing overshadows Moylan's menu of dressed-up bistro fare.

Seafood dishes dominate most categories. Quail eggs sink into crabcakes, red snapper arches over a bed of clams, and shrimp spiral up from a shellfish stew, making dishes hearty and elegant, something Moylan learned working for David Pasternak and Mario Batali at their Hell's Kitchen seafood spot Esca.

Instead of attending culinary school, Moylan, a graduate of Bayonne High School, opted to work his way up through the industry working for some of New York's greatest chefs.

"I started when I was about 15 years old as a busboy," Moylan explained, working his way up as a dishwasher, prep cook, then working on the line.

Moylan was a line cook for April Bloomfield at her iconic West Village gastropub the Spotted Pig, where "attention to detail, attention to detail, attention to detail" was drilled into him, giving the tunnel vision and discipline that makes his new position such a pleasure.

"She's scary, but one of the best," Moylan told us of working for Bloomfield, saying of his work now, "this is second nature to me, it's no problem."

Of the many lessons Moylan learned in Bloomfield's kitchen was how to work with fats, and it's especially apparent in his execution of a hearty duck a l'orange entree, which turns the classic French dish into upscale soul food, sharing a plate with green beans tossed with stewed onions piled beside a cheesy risotto.

But right now, with no menu in the window or a working website yet, what draws most passersby to Cityside Bistro's open doors is the lengthy bar that wraps around the restaurant's front room. Holding court on high chairs that first week were local hospital executives and bankers, upstairs residents, even Peter Mocco, the former North Bergen mayor and Liberty Harbor North developer, there talking up his plans to reopen the legendary Sandbar in the coming weeks.

Those at the bar figured out something few patrons dining outside behind secluded topiary may have discovered -- the full menu is available at the bar as well.

http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/06/cityside_bistro_opens_at_70_gr_10.html

http://citysidebistro.com/

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Also Hudson Greene Market is open at the base of 77 Hudson. It is an independent organic store of the Whole Foods type.
http://hudsongreenemarket.com/

JCMAN320

July 2nd, 2011, 11:25 AM

Tribeca Whole Foods Begins Delivery Service to Downtown Jersey City
By Jon Whiten • Mar 23rd, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2011Value_PATH_300x620.jpg

While there has long been chatter about a Trader Joe’s or a Whole Foods possibly coming to Jersey City, so far the rumors have been just that: rumors. And even as more local options for fresh, organic food have cropped up over the past few years, one Whole Foods location is looking to better serve its Jersey City customers, and perhaps pick up some new ones, by expanding delivery to the Downtown area.

The Tribeca Whole Foods, which already provides delivery service to all of Lower Manhattan, added Downtown Jersey City to its delivery options last week. The move was pushed by several employees at the store who live in Jersey City, including marketing team leader Steven Marion.

“Jersey City is our closest neighbor and easiest to get to outside of Manhattan, so we are excited to include Downtown Jersey City,” he tells JCI. “On trash days, I see Whole Foods bags outside my neighbors’ homes, and it only feels natural to help provide an easier way to help them get quality product delivered to their front doors.”

The delivery service runs from 8 am to 8 pm every day, and it comes with a $14.95 delivery fee. All shopping has to be done at the Greenwich Street store, and the delivery window is four hours. The delivery area (see below) is bordered by 12th Street at the north, the Turnpike Extension at the west, Mill Creek at the south and the Hudson River at the east.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/wholefoodsdeliveryzones.png

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/03/23/tribeca-whole-foods-begins-delivery-service-to-downtown-jersey-city/

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Great news. I noticed a year or two ago Whole Foods began advertising on some of the buses in Jersey City and now they are delivering. To me it seems like they are testing the market. Hopefully we will get a store eventually so everyone can enjoy it not just the downtown residents.

stache

July 2nd, 2011, 12:44 PM

Yes it makes a great deal of sense to open a Whole Foods there in particular.

JCMAN320

July 2nd, 2011, 12:52 PM

Yea it definately does. We have a bunch of your "garden variety" supermarkets just in Downtown alone with Pathmark, Shoprite, C-Town, and A&P. Coversely we also have had two co-op food stores open recently along with Morton Williams down on the River Market in Newport.

We have a few indpendent organic food stores that have opened throughout Downtown but it seems that residents throughout the city want Whole Foods.

stache

July 2nd, 2011, 03:23 PM

Morton Williams is pretty good but kind of expensive.

JCMAN320

July 2nd, 2011, 07:05 PM

I haven't tried it yet. Is it more expensive than Whole Foods?

stache

July 2nd, 2011, 09:00 PM

A little cheaper. Whole Foods used to have good prices on certain items but not so much any more.

JCMAN320

July 6th, 2011, 06:45 PM

Yea I Know what you mean about the prices. Thanks I'll check out Morton Williams soon!

Park & Sixth, closed in Hoboken, celebrates reopening of Jersey City location with 20 percent discounts

Published: Wednesday, July 06, 2011, 4:24 PM
By Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/9770536-large.png
Adam Robb/For The Jersey Journal
Park & Sixth owner Brian Dowling plans on being as much a fixture at his new location as at his last. -- ADAM ROBB / FOR THE JERSEY JOURNAL

Park & Sixth Comfort Food's grand re-opening in Jersey City gallery (5 photos)
http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/07/park_sixth_comfort_foods_grand_4.html

Last week, the original Hoboken location of owner Brian Dowling's Park & Sixth Comfort Food closed its doors, weeks after its Grove Street spin-off shuttered for renovations. Yesterday, the Jersey City location reopened, with expanded seating, later hours and a bar now displacing its deli counter.

For the patience Dowling's loyal patrons have afforded him this last month, Park & Sixth will be holding a customer appreciation day tomorrow, offering 20 percent off all orders and purchases.

And after studying Tuesday's opening-day crowds' reactions, Dowling is confident there's still something for everyone on the new menu, which features a dozen signature sandwiches filled with Park & Sixth staples like the house roast beef and braised brisket, as well as an expanded burger menu featuring custom Pat LaFrieda blends at bargain prices, like a 1/2-pound short rib burger only $9.50.

"You can come in here and have a beer and a burger," Dowling said, of his near future plans for the space, a liquor license in the works, though ultimately he hopes to remain a restaurant and not a bar, staying open six nights a week until 11 p.m.

Once a license comes through, Dowling plans to expand the menu to include dinner entrees, and, in time, a Sunday brunch.

Then he expects to serve dishes like meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes, steakhouse fare -- Dowling dry-aged beef himself in Park & Sixth's previous location -- and more luxe variations on the garlic shallot mac and cheese, the current alternative to the sandwiches and salads on the new menu.

"My mac and cheese is different; I'll do one with saffron and andouille sausage, I'll do one with crab meat," Dowling explained, elaborating on future specials, recognizing Jersey City is as competitive a market for mac and cheese as Hoboken is for fresh-made mozzarella.

"In Hoboken it's on every corner, it's a tought mutz town, and we held our own," Dowling added, saying his homemade mozzarella, which he now has down to a science will still be readily available for sale even if its not on display. He previously sold 100 pounds a week in his Hoboken store and finds the neighborhood lacking for it.

So why with its high sales did the Hoboken location close shop?

Dowling sold the property at 534 Park Ave. because there was no opportunity to expand and the longevity of the brand took precedence over the address.

"It killed me to close the store, but I had seating here and not there, and I couldn't get seating there. I couldn't get a liquor license there because it was between two schools," Dowling said, adding he is however going to work to continue serving Hoboken, already offering local delivery.

"It may just take an extra 10 minutes."

Park & Sixth is located at 364 Grove St. in Downtown Jersey City. Call (201) 918-6072 or go to parkandsixth.com for information. The new menu is posted on Facebook, too.

http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2011/07/park_sixth_closed_in_hoboken_c.html

JCMAN320

July 9th, 2011, 10:50 AM

New Latin-Caribbean Restaurant Opens in McGinley Square
By Jon Whiten • Jul 6th, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/coconut.png

This holiday weekend saw the grand opening of Coconut, a new Latin-Caribbean restaurant and grill, on Montgomery Street in Jersey City’s McGinley Square.

The restaurant is the brainchild of DJ/producer Wilson Santos, who is Coconut’s manager; the owner is Carlos Santos. Its menu features a mix-and-match grill selection as the main offering; you can choose one grilled meat (skirt steak, mango shrimp and plenty of others), two homemade sauces (including Guava BBQ, Argentinian Chimichurri and more) and a side dish for $12.95. Coconut offers starters, salads, tropical fruit smoothies and sandwiches as well, and the restaurant is BYOB. There’s also a take-out lunch special for just $5.

We haven’t been to the space yet, but the pictures on the restaurant’s Facebook page detail a warm and comfortable-looking interior, as well as a new, colorful mural painted on the side of the building.

THE DETAILS

Coconut Latin-Caribbean Grill | 681 Montgomery Street | 201.333.3064 | coconutrestaurant.com | Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 11 am to 9pm

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/06/new-latin-caribbean-restaurant-opens-in-mcginley-square/

JCMAN320

July 9th, 2011, 11:05 AM

Heights Biz Group Looking for Artists to Create New Batch of Murals
By Jon Whiten • Jul 7th, 2011 • Category: Arts, Blog

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/centralavemural.jpg

The Central Avenue Special Improvement District (CASID) is once again reaching out to Jersey City’s artist community to receive proposals for new murals along the Heights’ main thoroughfare.

The group was behind two new murals that popped up along Central Avenue last year, from Megan Gulick and Richard La Rovere (seen at right), bringing the total number of murals on the strip to five. And now it is looking to create more.

“These murals have been vivid, imaginative and exciting additions to the avenue landscape and the Heights neighborhood, and capture Jersey City’s abundant creative spirit,” the open letter to artists from district manager David Diaz reads. “With such a rich artistic tradition in Hudson County we are eager to receive your creative and beautiful mural proposal(s) which may become Central Avenue and Jersey City’s newest public art landmarks.”

The CASID has issued a Request for Proposals for new ideas for murals to be unveiled around the time of this fall’s Studio Tour in October. Applications are due August 1, and there is no cost to apply. You can download all the information you need and the full application here: http://www.jcheights.com/pdf/CA_Art_2011_murals_RFP.pdf

http://www.centralavesid.org/

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http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/07/heights-biz-group-looking-for-artists-to-create-new-batch-of-murals/

JCMAN320

July 9th, 2011, 11:13 AM

From Waterbugs to Tang Soo Do: The Past, Present, and Future of 143 Columbus
By Jennifer Weiss • Jul 8th, 2011 • Category: Arts, Lead Story

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/143forfront.jpg

This story also appears in the Summer 2011 issue of NEW magazine.
Current photos by Steve Gold | Old photos provided by Lex Leonard

When Paul Del Forno and Larry Perlaski bought the building at 143 Columbus Drive with partners in 1985, it was full of sewing machines. The late-1800s four-story brick building was a furniture warehouse in the days when trains, not cars, passed by on elevated tracks (giving the thoroughfare its earlier name of Railroad Avenue). Then furniture made way for clothing; seamstresses once worked long hours there, and an “operators wanted” sign still hangs by the front door.

“Jazzy City Dance & Fitness,” another, newer sign, is a remnant of the building’s next chapter, when it was mixed-use, housing work spaces and small businesses like Jazzy City.

But the era that put 143 Columbus on the map in the city’s arts scene began when Lex Leonard and two friends from the local arts community rented space there in 2003. They had the fourth floor, a walk-up with an open layout, big windows and high ceilings – around 1,500 square feet to do whatever in for less than $2,000 a month.

Newly single and in his early 30s, Leonard had been trying to decide whether to start focusing on work or head in a more “interesting, bohemian” direction.

He chose interesting.

Before long, he had invited a cadre of Native American craftsmen to join them. The seven men arrived late one night, trudging up the four flights of stairs in flannel shirts and cowboy hats. Leonard built tables with wood he’d scrounged from 111 First Street, and the men sat at them to paint and make jewelry. The 10 guys often ate meals together, trading stories and drinking beer.

“That was the beginning,” says Leonard, who moved last year from Jersey City to the West Village. “That was a prophetic period, a flash of what the rest of 143′s history was to be.”

Leonard and his friends formed the Waterbug Hotel, a collective named after a bug that would appear from time to time, usually in the kitchen doorway. The first big event took place during the 2003 Artists Studio Tour, and the next seven years brought art, performances, booze and intrigue with a rotating cast of characters. There were bands, gallery shows, workshops, outdoor festivals, parties and a weekly poetry open mic that ran for four years.

Eight or nine guys would share the fourth floor at any given time, though the group grew as big as a dozen. It was like a fraternity. They hung tapestries on the walls and affixed sheets to the ceiling to divide the space. Leonard, a carpenter by hobby, built walls, a stage, a DJ booth and a bar.

Poet and writer Aaron Middlepoet Jackson spent almost a year there in ’03/’04 and hosted the weekly open mic, which after its first year moved a few blocks away to Rolon’s Keyhole Bar. He met his wife, Jan Tompkins (aka DJ Lady Jay) at one of the numerous parties, which often included a live performance element, like a Middle Eastern dancer or percussionist, and usually lasted all night.

“It was a combination of real creative-energy people who were trying to find their way and kooky, crazy, freaky people, and it was the perfect blend at the right time,” Jackson says. “I told people we had a loft with eight people and we did poetry readings and naked art classes in our living room – and that’s really what went on.”

Over the years, Leonard expanded his influence over the building, bringing in new tenants as renters on the lower floors moved out. He collected money for Del Forno Real Estate, and says he had an open-door policy: You could be in your 20s or your 60s, and it didn’t matter where you were from.

“I wanted to create this bohemian enclave, and whatever you can imagine happens in those scenarios, that’s kind of what happened,” Leonard says. “There were these orgiastic events going on – a lot of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll would be the metaphorical way to describe it. I compared it to Andy Warhol’s Factory, but without the fame, without the money, and to some of my critics, without the culture.”

He started the Laissez-Faire Society, a private social club whose late-night parties attracted a diverse group, from artists and musicians to local politicians and members of law enforcement, even reputed gang members.

What made it interesting also made it chaotic at times, says Chelo Mercado, who now runs the Grassroots Community Space on Coles Street, an organization Leonard also helped launch.

“I liked that kind of free-for-all, liberated feeling, that on any given night you were going to walk into a mixed bag of fun,” Mercado says. “Regardless of how mixed-up it may have looked at the end of the night, it was always something to do. It was a beacon, a source for just all-out good times.”

The bohemian party vibe at 143 would soon be accompanied by a slightly more professional one, as Leonard opened his eponymous Lex Leonard Gallery on the building’s second floor. Its inaugural show, during the 2006 Studio Tour, included photography and graphic design by John Palmer, Lego sculpture by Eric Sophie, paintings by Carla Criqui, Miguel Hernandez and Maria Rubio, and sculpture by Nyugen Smith. Smith, who became an important curator at the gallery, Palmer and several other artists also had studios there.

For a time, the third floor became the gallery’s annex, another host to regular art events.

The next year saw the launch of Toy Eaters Studio, described at the time as “an adaptable multi-purpose event space,” and founded by musician and actress Christian Ahlgren-Williams along with musicians James Black and Chris Brooks. Black had been a part of what he calls the “artist flophouse” on 143′s fourth floor, and was the host, after Jackson, of the Waterbug open mic.

“We were talking about how there’s so much art going on in Jersey City and not really a good venue for artists and bands to perform,” says Ahlgren-Williams. “There are some places bands can play, but we wanted to add another venue for those kinds of performances and the arts in general.”

With Leonard’s blessing, they took over the first floor. They hosted two solo shows by Thomas John Carlson, now director of the Jersey City Art School, plus a group show Carlson curated called People Places Things with work by artists from across the river. Long before Barcade, they rented a dozen vintage video games and invited people over to play them. They hosted cultural events of all stripes: Melissa Surach’s BabyHole comedy night, late-night parties, the Home Field Advantage experimental jazz series, movie nights, and performances by local and touring bands like Lebanon, Shellshag, the Casualties, the Meltdowns and Water Under Water.

“We made that building loud,” says Black.

The authorities noticed. Facing complaints for noise, potential fire hazards and an unlicensed bar, and feeling for other reasons that it was time to go, the group left town suddenly in 2008.

Meanwhile, the building continued to pulse under Leonard. One of the last big parties was a fundraiser for Haiti soon after the January 2010 earthquake. Singers, DJs and breakdancers performed and nearly $2,000 was raised for Wyclef Jean’s Yéle Haiti foundation.

That was the same year Leonard decided to leave, citing disagreements with tenants and money issues as the main reasons.

He moved to Manhattan, launched a new art collective called L’Orange Carpet and got a public relations job with the Boy Scouts. It was finally time to try that other path.

TODAY, many of the events at 143 Columbus happen during daylight hours. Where Toy Eaters once hosted parties, percussionist Pat Catino opened JC Studios, a sleek new rehearsal space for bands. Local acts Devi, Hoodless, and Jimmy Lopez’s World Sound Traveler are among its regulars.

Catino decided to launch his business after leaving a full-time job; he lived Downtown but would go to Manhattan to practice, and felt the neighborhood needed a music studio.

With Mercado, he also runs Downtown Live, an organization that works to bring music, arts and fitness programs to the building. In mid-April, the space played host to the latest show in the multidisciplinary performance series Art in Motion, which featured dance, music, visual arts and poetry; about a month later, it hosted the finals of the weekly slam poetry competition JC Slam.

“We have a chance to make a strong impression on the arts scene here,” says Catino.

Rich Ahlers started his Tang Soo Do Academy through Downtown Live, teaching the Korean martial art three nights a week on the second floor of 143. This is Ahlers’ first studio, and on class nights, the space resounds with his shouts in Korean as his students practice their defensive stances and swift high kicks.

“I’d rather be a part of something than spending $5,000 on a storefront,” Ahlers says.

Keyboardist Bill Donohue rents rehearsal and recording space in the building’s basement. And on the fourth floor, the new web-based business Soar Nation sells concert tickets, albums and clothing, with a cut of the profits going to the customer’s choice of several charities – to prove that it’s possible to practice consumerism while also helping people, says co-owner Yan Akaev.

Akaev moved to the Heights recently from California, where he ran an artist collective with friends, and says the arts community was the biggest draw of Jersey City. When he tells people he’s at 143, they usually know of the building and its lore.

“I’ve heard stories about crazy four-story parties,” he says.

He and friends fixed up the space, installing new wood floors and building new walls to create separate offices. As of April, the walls were mostly blank white except for a splashy graffiti tag by an artist from Sacramento. Akaev, who doesn’t do blank walls, says soon the whole place will be covered; when our photographer stopped by in May, he had begun to make slow progress towards that goal.

Mercado misses the fun late nights of 143′s past, but sees benefits to a calmer scene moving forward.

“We’re still welcoming all different types of artistic outlets,” Mercado says. “We’re open to collaborating with the right groups and helping their idea or endeavor to grow. The future has yet to be written.”

That future could bring big changes. Del Forno says his company has approvals to build a mixed-use building on the parking lot next door with almost 60 condos or apartments. If that moves forward, 143 Columbus could be converted to residential loft or office space, he says. Del Forno, who is also trying to redevelop other parts of that block, says the project will not happen immediately because of the economy.

Del Forno says he regrets that strict construction and zoning rules prevent artists from convening in huge, affordable spaces more often.

“It’s basically killing the artist community,” he says. “Artists have the choice of condos or houses,” the prices of many of which have risen beyond their reach. “All the places to live and work are disappearing.”

Del Forno has two buildings now where he says he would love to have a group of artists pool their money and rent workspace. One is the colossal red brick building at 190 Columbus, where last year’s 4th Street Arts Mac & Cheese fundraiser was held, and the other is a 141-year-old church a block-and-a-half from Hamilton Park on Pavonia Avenue.

Leonard himself was eyeing a building similar to 143 in Chelsea, envisioning a new gallery and art cooperative. The rent was three times what he was paying in Jersey City and while he tried to get a group of artists together, he couldn’t make it work.

“143 is a great institution. That was a great place,” says Leonard. “Maybe it will happen again, maybe not.”

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/08/from-waterbugs-to-tang-soo-do-the-past-present-and-future-of-143-columbus/

JCexpert558

July 10th, 2011, 05:41 PM

Hey JCman do u know whether the metropolitan tower that was gonna built like 4 years ago is still on? and im assuming steve koolhaas's tower has been cancled right?

JCMAN320

July 10th, 2011, 07:48 PM

It is approved for the site of the Pep Boys behind the new Monaco the developer is just waiting on the economy. Rem Kolhass I'm not sure at all to honest. The warehouses down there were recently all landmarked and the JCRA really has a vison for that area the economy is just slowing everything up. The Powerhouse getting its westside catherdral window closed up temporarily to stabalize it. Hopefully the PANYNJ will be moving the substation soon.

JCexpert558

July 10th, 2011, 08:20 PM

thanks and yeah i dont where i got steve from lol.

JCMAN320

July 16th, 2011, 01:14 PM

Anytime!! This story is just the beginning. Saint Peter's College is just getting started on building on it's Student Center behind the freshman dorms on Montgomery St and Glenwood Ave. I believe Saint Peter's is also having a hand in this project as well:

Jersey City may seize over 50 properties via eminent domain to redevelop McGinley Square

Published: Saturday, July 16, 2011, 10:31 AM Updated: Saturday, July 16, 2011, 10:56 AM
By The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/hudson_voices_impact/photo/9800525-large.jpg
Journal file photo
McGinley Square in Jersey City.

In today's Jersey Journal, more than 50 property owners were stunned to learn earlier this month that the Jersey City plans to seize their properties via eminent domain to redevelop portions of McGinely Square.

City officials say eminent domain is the only options they can utilize to give McGinely Square a makeover and they are "reluctant" to use it. The redevelopment plans may include ground-floor commercial, retail, and restaurant and will permit larger entertainment venues such as theaters and bowling alleys, a city spokesman said.

"Nobody wants to sell," said Claudia Collazo, who lives on Storms Avenue with her husband and two children, "It's not good."

The McGinely Square Redevelopment Plan is scheduled to go before the Planning Board on Aug. 9. The council is scheduled to vote on the plan at its Aug. 10 meeting, with a final vote scheduled for Aug. 31.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2011/07/daily_poll_should_municipaliti_8.html

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Residents in JC's McGinley Square get eminent domain letters from city
Hudson Reporter
Jul 15, 2011 | 1057 view

JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND - Is Jersey City gearing up to use eminent domain laws to redevelop the McGinley Square area? Home owners in the area known as McGinley Square East fear that is the case after receiving letters from the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development & Commerce's Division of City Planning earlier this week. The area is home to St. Peter's College.

In the letters, city Planning Director Bob Cotter wrote: The Jersey City Division of City Planning has completed a study of the McGinley Square East Study Area, which includes property you own.This study has determined that the entire study area, including your property, meets the criteria as an 'area in need of redevelopment.' This will designate your property as subject to taking by eminent domain (condemnation) for redevelopment purposes and will authorize the City of Jersey City and/or the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency to acquire ownership by purchase of the property referenced above by condemnation (against the owner's will)."

On Thursday, July 14, the city held a meeting for residents who received copies of this letter.

According to one city official, there are approximately 52 properties that are tentatively affected by the McGinley Square East Study Area plan.

Plans for the area include a development project that, if approved, would be a joint project between a private developer and St. Peter's College. - E. Assata Wright

Read more: Hudson Reporter - Residents in JC s McGinley Square get eminent domain letters from city

http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_stories_home/14716478/article--Residents-in-JC-s-McGinley-Square-get-eminent-domain-letters-from-city---?instance=up_to_the_minute_lead_story_left_column

tbal

July 19th, 2011, 12:50 PM

109 Columbus, which had been stalled since work on its foundation was completed in 2006, is finally going vertical. Structural steel is going up for the building, which will be a 5-story mixed-use building. It appears that the current plan is to build it and then sell or rent the entire building out to another entity.

JCMAN320

July 19th, 2011, 08:54 PM

Nice Tbal I have to go down and check it out! That is a crucial hole down there that I am happy to see is getting filled.

Jersey City Officials Say Eminent Domain is Off the Table for McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan; Public Meetings Scheduled for This Week and Next
By Jon Whiten • Jul 18th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

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A week after a letter sent to McGinley Square homeowners said Jersey City was reserving the right to take their homes via eminent domain for an in-the-works redevelopment plan, city officials say today that eminent domain is off the table for the plan, and they have scheduled public information meetings about it for this week and next.

The letter, sent to 52 area homeowners by Planning Director Bob Cotter, had said that the city and/or the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency would have authority to obtain their properties “by condemnation (against the owner’s will).” City spokesperson Jennifer Morrill told us Friday that the Healy administration “does not favor the use of eminent domain and is reluctant to use it,” but was “required by law to advise the public of the potential use whenever seeking to designate an area in need of redevelopment.”

Still, the thought of eminent domain caused a firestorm among residents and sympathetic Jersey City activists, who quickly organized against the idea. And at a rare Sunday meeting in City Hall yesterday, Cotter told homeowners that there would be no eminent domain used and that, instead, the developer would have to negotiate with them individually to buy their properties. When asked this afternoon if eminent domain is “completely off the table,” Morrill confirmed that it was.

The redevelopment plan calls for a mixed-use residential, dormitory and retail development with public plazas and improvements to the McGinley Square plaza. City officials say it may also include ground floor commercial, retail and restaurants and will permit larger entertainment uses such as a theater or a bowling alley, and may also include a hotel and office space. (The plan area is seen at the top of this story.)

The redevelopment plan is currently in draft form, and is slated to go before the Planning Board on August 9. If approved, it will be presented to the City Council for introduction at the August 10 meeting, and for a vote on August 31.

Anyone with questions on the plan is encouraged to attend one of the two meetings. They are scheduled for Thursday, July 21 and Wednesday, July 27 at 6:30 pm each evening in City Hall’s council chambers (280 Grove Street, 2nd Floor).

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/18/jersey-city-officials-say-eminent-domain-is-off-the-table-for-mcginley-square-redevelopment-plan-public-meetings-scheduled-for-this-week-and-next/

JCMAN320

July 19th, 2011, 09:01 PM

Restored Wetlands Area in Lincoln Park Now Open to the Public
By Jon Whiten • Jul 19th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

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http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DSC01288.jpeg

The public can finally get a glimpse at the massive wetlands restoration project in the western part of Lincoln Park, as the Lincoln Park Nature Walk is now open. The project covers 31 acres on a former landfill site, and is expected to increase bird and fish populations in the Hackensack River. It was funded in part by a nearly $10.6 million federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant doled out in 2009 as part of the federal stimulus package.

The talented Jersey City photographer and filmmaker John Dunstan provided some shots of the newly opened area to JCI, and West Bergen-Lincoln Park Neighborhood Coalition president Charlene Burke shared more details in an email.

“Parking is available in the Dog Park parking lot. The netting that creates a fencing barrier to the water is there to hinder the geese dining on the young Spartina grass as it establishes itself. Once established, they will be removed,” she wrote in a Tuesday morning email to the neighborhood group. “Keep your eyes open for the shorebirds and egrets along the banks of the island. And chances of finding an intact seashell in the sands on either side of the walkway are pretty good. So far I’ve found three. So bring a camera, you can never tell what you might see.”

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/19/restored-wetland-area-in-lincoln-park-now-open-to-the-public/

Nexis4Jersey

July 21st, 2011, 04:42 AM

Whats going on at the Corner of Essex Street and Van Vorst Streets? I saw some Construction Equipment there....

I asked several people about phase 2 of Liberty Harbor North & they said it would start up later this year or Early 2012.

JCMAN320

July 21st, 2011, 03:42 PM

That site on Van Vorst is going to be a luxury rental building being done by Fields Development. It was going to be condos but due to market conditions its lux rental.

Great news to hear about Liberty Habor gearing up for Phase 2. The Conrad Hotel on Marin Blvd is going to be part of that. JC coming out of its short slumber nicely!

JCMAN320

July 21st, 2011, 06:15 PM

Boys & Girls Club to Get New Building; Residential Towers Planned for Current HQ
By Matt Hunger • Jul 20th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

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The Boys & Girls Club of Hudson County is moving, but not all that far. The Downtown Jersey City organization, currently based at 1 Canal Street off of Grove and Grand, will be moving just several blocks away to a new building at the corner of Marin Boulevard and the yet-to-be-built Park Avenue.

The City Council today gave final approval to amendments in the Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment Plan that will allow the deal to take another step forward.

The new building “will consist of 422 residential units, 15,000 square feet of retail space and the Boys & Girls Club,” according to city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill. Construction is expected to begin on the new facility this fall, and be completed by 2013.

Gary Greenberg, the executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Hudson County, called the change of homes “an exciting opportunity for the Club to, in relatively short time, move into a 21st century state of art facility” — a vast improvement over the Club’s current digs, which he said were “antiquated and constantly under repair.”

The Club is selling its current location to the developer KRE Group, which hopes to tear it down (but not until after the Club successfully moves) and build two residential towers.

“The details for the project are currently being discussed with the Planning Division,” Morrill tells JCI. “The developer hopes to present its plans to the Planning Board by September.”

The Boys & Girls Club will use proceeds from the sale to own its portion of the new building, much like a condo owner would in a residential building.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/20/boys-residential-towers-planned-for-current-hq/

JCMAN320

July 21st, 2011, 06:38 PM

Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission approves plans for entrance ramp, outdoor seating

Published: Thursday, July 21, 2011, 3:00 AM
By The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

A church received approval on Monday from the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission to install a new ramp and door, while an Eighth Street building owner got the thumbs up to create an outdoor cafe.

Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, 120 Sussex St., plans to install a metal ramp and new door at the church’s west entrance to allow easier access for the elderly and those with strollers and wheelchairs.

City Historic Preservation Officer Dan Wrieden told the commissioners that neighbors of the nearly 200-year-old church hadn’t expressed concerns about any effect the ramp would have on the building’s historic nature and said it won’t create an eyesore.

“It’s not going to call attention to itself,” Wrieden said, adding that it will blend in with the existing structure.

As for the cafe, 366 Eighth St. owner Mary Badalato was seeking approval for outdoor seats at Carmine’s Pizza Factory since there is currently no seating at the takeout storefront.

“She wants to move her building from its current status of a retail establishment to a restaurant use,” Wrieden told to the commission of the circa-1890 tenement.

The commission approved the application with the conditions that all trash be stored inside, that planters be eliminated, and that it comply with regulations regarding fencing.

Badalato goes before the city Zoning Board tonight for another approval.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/07/jersey_city_historic_preservat.html

JCMAN320

July 21st, 2011, 06:43 PM

Officials to Break Ground on New $2.2 Million Development in Lafayette Next Week
By Jon Whiten • Jul 21st, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

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A new $2.2 million development will take root on Pacific Avenue in the Lafayette section of Jersey City next week, when officials gather for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Pacific Landing project.

The development, located at 317-319 Pacific Avenue, features eight units of affordable housing and commercial space that will house the offices of the nonprofit Morris Canal Community Development Corporation, which helped spearhead the project. The commercial space will also serve as a meeting place for community events. The development team is being led by The Metro Company and built by Black Dog Construction, both of Jersey City, while the building was designed by the Perth Amboy firm ASA + Zambrano Architects.

The project, which will contain five two-bedroom apartments and three three-bedroom apartments, is being funded by several sources, including the state Department of Community Affairs, BCB Bank, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and Jersey City.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/07/21/officials-to-break-ground-on-new-2-2-million-development-in-lafayette-next-week/
The official groundbreaking ceremony is slated for Wednesday, July 27 at 11 am.

JCMAN320

August 10th, 2011, 02:32 PM

JCMAN320

August 12th, 2011, 01:34 AM

JCMAN320

August 24th, 2011, 11:38 PM

Four Years After Buying the Building, Tom Parisi Opens The Brightside Tavern in Downtown Jersey City
By Laryssa Wirstiuk • Aug 15th, 2011 • Category: Featured, Food

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Fresh on the heels of his successes with café and gelato shop Tommy 2 Scoops, restaurateur Tom Parisi is launching a larger, more ambitious food venture on the outer edge of the Van Vorst Park neighborhood, at the corner of Bright and Monmouth Streets.

Parisi doesn’t claim to be a foodie, but he sure knows how to throw a party. Famous among friends for his appearance on Amateur Night at the Apollo – he made it through an entire performance of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” – Parisi loves a good piano or karaoke bar.

He has also been known to throw extravagant parties at his three-bedroom penthouse in Downtown Jersey City.

“At some of these parties, I could sit back and watch the energy in the room,” Parisi says. “Throwing a party was always my thing.”

Now his newest business, The Brightside Tavern, will allow him to host parties every night.

Parisi purchased the 100-year-old building in 2007 and began construction in 2009. The building has a rich history – it was once called the Jersey City Saloon, then the Blue Castle gay bar, and later Booney’s – but more recently, it was a decrepit building in need of a renovation.

“The building was ready to fall apart. The steps were crumbling and asking for a lawsuit,” Parisi says. “It took us two years just to figure out the building’s potential. Waiting worked out because the economy wasn’t good at the time.”

During that waiting period, Parisi opened Tommy 2 Scoops almost by accident, without any experience in the restaurant industry. No stranger to Jersey City’s real estate market (he manages close to 90 apartments in the city), Parisi purchased 177 York Street as an investment building and saw potential in the storefront commercial space.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to do a simple ice cream store,’” he says. “There was nothing simple in the way it worked out. I always wanted to do a restaurant, but Tommy 2 Scoops gave me the confidence and practice I would need to open The Brightside Tavern.”

Parisi approached 141 Bright Street – which had 70 feet of unused space stretching back along Monmouth Street – with the same sense of imagination and vision. He and his team restored the original façade and standing interior, and then built out to utilize all the unused space.

“We restored the original façade and the interior exposed brick with the assistance of the Historic Preservation Commission,” he says. “It blends right into the neighborhood and those corner stores.”

Working with Ron Russell at Jersey City’s LWDMR Architects, Parisi created an impressive front dining room that seats about 40, an upstairs casual dining area that seats about 35, and a rectangular bar with three large LCD screen televisions, tin ceilings, and large mirrors that make the space seem endless. The Brightside Tavern will also offer outdoor seating on Monmouth Street.

“I wanted to open a place that offers three difference experiences. You have fine dining, casual dining, and a bar. The bar area gives you the Cheers feeling with its rectangular shape,” Parisi says. “The space was just untapped. It was just a matter of putting it together and the challenges of putting the kitchen in the basement, which allowed us all this extra room.”

Retired designer Ed Bajbek, a friend of Parisi’s, helped him design the interior, which has a very warm, elegant feel. Meanwhile, restaurant consultant Justin Finn helped him develop the concept of the restaurant, which will serve popular American food.

“We’re going to have typical American food with its own twist: fried pickles, bar pies, calamari, and nachos prepared in a special way. All types of burgers: beef, duck, short rib, and lamb. The chef is a Culinary Institute of America graduate, and he has a nice style,” says Parisi. “Obviously I’m going to have some Italian dishes for my Italian heritage. Something to please everyone.”

The Brightside Tavern will feature a separate bar menu and serve brunch on Saturdays and Sundays to offer an alternative to the long lines at the Brownstone Pancake Factory just a few minutes away.

“The entrees will be between 11 and 20 dollars,” Parisi says. “I don’t want people to think twice about coming here. It’s not just for special occasions, but coming here is going to feel like a special occasion.”

Born in Brooklyn, Parisi raised a family and worked as a carpet salesman in Central New Jersey before moving to Jersey City in 1993.

“I was lucky enough to buy apartments in Jersey City,” he says. “I believed in Jersey City.”

The Brightside Tavern is slated to open to the public today — Monday, August 15.

“It’s a labor of love,” says Parisi, who last week hosted a special sneak peek for friends, neighborhood residents and others. “I think the neighborhood is really excited about it.”

THE DETAILS
The Brightside Tavern | 141 Bright Street | 201.435.1234 | thebrightsidetavern.com

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/08/15/four-years-after-buying-the-building-tom-parisi-opens-the-brightside-tavern-in-downtown-jersey-city/

JCMAN320

August 24th, 2011, 11:57 PM

Famed Stuvesant statue to be moved to The Beacon in Jersey City
Published: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 2:55 PM Updated: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 2:55 PM
By The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

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Jersey Journal file photo
The famed Peter Stuyvesant statue will be moved to The Beacon tomorrow, where it will be restored.

Tomorrow morning, the statute of Peter Stuyvesant by famed sculptor J. Massey Rhind will begin the next leg of its journey home to Bergen Square.

The Peter Stuyvesant statue will be moved from Burns Brothers on Tonnelle Avenue, and will be stored in an old ambulance garage at the former Jersey City Medical Center, now called The Beacon.

This space will be the temporary home for the statue during restoration and until a new base can be constructed to accommodate the nearly ten-foot likeness of the last Governor-General of Bergen Village, which eventually became Jersey City.

In January 2010, the statue was removed from its original location, on Bergen Avenue in front of School 11 in Jersey City, to become the centerpiece of a new park outside the original village walls of Bergen.

However, in response to the massive public outcry blasting the move, Mayor Jerramiah Healy vowed to return the statue to its rightful place in Jersey City, the original location within Bergen Square.

“The statue of Peter Stuyvesant is an important part of Jersey City’s history and pride,” said Healy in a release. “Restoring the statue and returning it to its original location is vital to preserving our history. It is also my hope that, together with the efforts of my administration, the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, the Jersey City Board of Education and Hudson County Community College, we can accomplish this.”

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/08/famed_stuvesant_statue_to_be_m.html

JCMAN320

August 25th, 2011, 12:06 AM

Barcade, a combination beer bar and video arcade, has ribbon cutting in downtown Jersey City

Published: Monday, August 08, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Stephanie Musat/ The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

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STEPHANIE MUSAT JOURNAL PHOTO
The Barcade, a combination tavern and video game room, which has opened in downtown Jersey City.

A room with 34 video game machines is paradise for any kid circa 1989.

Add a rotating selection of 25 different kinds of beer, and you have Barcade, a new establishment that hopes to attract those same kids, now grown up, and their younger cousins (21 and older), lured by the games people played when there were still new episodes of “Saved by The Bell.”

“It’s great to play these original, old-school games and have a beer at the same time,” said Katrina Spiratos, who was trying to avoid Pinky in the Ms. Pac-Man game, while at the same time balancing a tumbler. “Plus, it’s only a quarter. Can you believe that? Just a quarter.”

The Barcade, at 163 Newark Ave., held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. The Jersey City Historic Downtown Special Improvement District supplied the giant scissors as Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy welcomed the bar into the neighborhood.

The mayor said the only game he recognized was pinball.

“Many young people are going to like this place,” Healy said. “It’s popular in Brooklyn, and now it’s here. I can see it being very popular for the young people here.”

The Barcade is a transplant from Brooklyn where the original concept had a dual focus: a rotation of American craft beer and an equally eclectic lineup of classic arcade games.

Co-owner Paul Kermizian said he thought the Brooklyn model would fit well in the Downtown Jersey City scene. Since its opening three months ago, it seems he was right.

The reception has been “better than good,” Kermizian said.

The bar has 34 video game machines and boasts a rotating 25-beer tap. As soon as one beer runs out, a different type is put in, Kermizian said.

The addition of the bar is a sign that the area is beginning to form an identity, said Nikol Floros, executive director of Jersey City Historic Downtown Special Improvement District. Since the bar opened, Barcade has sponsored several events and participated in HDSID programs, Floros said.

“They are adding to the community in many ways,” Floros said. “It’s a great addition.” The Barcade is open from Sunday to Thursday from noon to 2 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to 3 a.m.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/08/barcade_a_combination_beer_bar.html

JCMAN320

August 25th, 2011, 02:59 AM

Hound shop in Jersey City caters to particular pooches

Published: Monday, June 06, 2011, 1:30 PM
By Rich Bockmann/For The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

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Rich Bockmann/For The Jersey Journal
Donovan and Elizabeth Cain outside their "Hound About Town" shop. The store specializes in the equivalent of organic food for dogs.

Down the block from the dog run at Van Vorst Park, the sidewalk outside Hound About Town is often packed with pooches with particular palates. The walls of the small shop at 218 Montgomery St., are filled with natural, human-grade food supplies for those pet owners who pay just as much attention to the foods they feed their four-legged friends as those they eat themselves.

"It's kind of like the human organic movement, but for pets," said co-owner Donovan Cain who, with his wife Elizabeth, opened the store in April.

When Elizabeth rescued her mutt, Wiley, from North Shore Animal League America nine years ago, she began to research dog foods, and found that many commercial brands contain grains and human-food byproducts with poor nutritional value.

"The inspiration [for the store] was drawn from raising Wiley," she said. Health problems such as diabetes and cancer in pets, said Donovan, have been linked to poor diets.

The store stocks dog and cat food brands such as Fromm and The Honest Kitchen, and the owners are knowledgeable about animals' food-allergy symptoms and can make dietary recommendations accordingly.

In keeping with the popular movement of living and eating local, Donovan said the collars the store carries are made by small manufacturers in New England. "We're a small business and we try to support other small businesses," he said.

Once their small business gets established with its suppliers, the Cains will attempt to reach all corners of the Jersey City canine community with a second location at Hamilton Square they plan to open in late July.

"It's about servicing the neighborhoods," Donovan said. "It's a very walkable neighborhood and almost all our customers are pedestrians. Some of our customers' biggest complaints are having to carry a 30-pound bag of dog food on the PATH."

Elizabeth said some dogs can be very picky eaters, and despite the inconveniences, some owners just can't say no to their pets.

"One thing I really love about being here is that dogs will walk by and check the place out and put the brakes on," Elizabeth said. "They're our best sales people!"

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/06/hound_shop_in_jersey_city_cate.html

JCMAN320

August 25th, 2011, 03:05 AM

DeBragga & Spitler Set to Leave the Meatpacking District for Jersey City
By Laryssa Wirstiuk • Jun 6th, 2011 • Category: Featured, Food, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/themes/mimbo2.2/images/debraggafeatured.jpg

Even though it is now better known for its trendy nightclubs and high-end clothing boutiques, Manhattan’s Meatpacking District is still home to a handful of meat companies. But there will be one less when one of the largest and most renowned leaves the cobblestone streets of Gansevoort Market for a warehouse in Jersey City.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Gansevoort Market housed about 250 slaughterhouses and packing plants. When DeBragga & Spitler moves, only seven meat companies will remain.

“There are a lot of companies that moved out of the Meatpacking District; business has been tough, a lot of consolidation,” says Marc Sarrazin, DeBragga partner and president (at left in photo, with partner and chief operating officer George Faison). “Working in Manhattan is not very easy.”

So the company, which was founded in the early 1920s, is relocating to Jersey City. It will occupy a 25,000-square-foot warehouse on Amity Street, just west of the Turnpike extension and Downtown Jersey City. It will join several other food-service companies that already call Amity Street home, including Woolco Foods Inc., Rajbhog Foods Inc., and Tristar Food Wholesale. DeBragga hopes to occupy the new space before October 1.

“We looked at a number of different opportunities and options. In terms of the type of facility that we needed, the fact that this warehouse is close to New York City is what we liked best. It’s close to the pier and close to Newark Airport,” says Sarrazin. “At the end of the day, we needed to find a place that had the right infrastructure and the right loading docks. This place happened to have the space we needed.”

As Sarrazin points out, doing business in New York City has its challenges. Many of the buildings in the Meatpacking District were built half a century ago, which means they aren’t equipped to handle new technologies and business practices. In addition, not all these warehouses were designed for food companies, which sometimes require refrigeration and other specific types of storage.

DeBragga partner and COO George Faison says that the Amity Street warehouse is much better suited to the company’s needs.

“The difference between the new building and the old building is night and day,” he says. “The facility in New York is structured for different types of businesses doing business different ways. It’s not as operational as the new facility that we will finally have when we move to Jersey City.”

Built 25 years ago, the new home of DeBragga was designed to be a food manufacturing facility. It has high ceilings — three times as high as the current warehouse’s height — and the loading dock makes it easy for trucks to load and unload goods, without the hassle of New York City traffic.

Sarrazin and Faison searched for space in Secaucus, Moonachie, Newark and even Bergen County. They haven’t been the only business owners scouting out these locations — several other food-service companies have recently moved their headquarters from New York City to Secaucus, West New York, and Passaic.

The partners don’t seem too concerned about the change in commute. Faison, who lives in Millington, New Jersey, is familiar with Jersey City. In 1984, he founded D’Artagnan, which was based on St. Paul’s Avenue near Journal Square until the company moved to Newark in 1996.

“It will be like coming home again,” he says.

Sarrazin, however, lives on the other side of the river, in Westchester County.

“My commute might be a little more complicated, but the advantages of the move for my business fully outweigh my discomfort,” he says. “I’m more worried about getting my employees there.”

Though location and infrastructure were main factors in the decision making process, cost was also a very important consideration. The cost of the new building, including all taxes, utilities, and real estate, is much less than what the company has been paying to do business in New York City.

Moving to Jersey City may also present them with new business opportunities. Though Faison and Sarrazin intend to continue servicing their New York City clientele, they hope to gain some Jersey City customers.

“We definitely have a few restaurants that we’re planning to target,” Faison says. “There are many in Jersey City that we want to work with.”

Unlike some Jersey City-based companies that say they are based in New York City, DeBragga’s owners say they won’t be ashamed to admit to their clients that they are now based in Jersey City. Though being located in the Meatpacking District once held a lot of prestige for meat companies, the neighborhood no longer signifies what it once did.

“We are New York’s butcher encompassing the tri-state area. We intend to maintain that reputation,” Sarrazin says. “But we would be very proud to say that we’re in Jersey City.”

And Jersey City seems to be proud to welcome DeBragga as well.

“So far we’ve had good cooperation from Jersey City, and we hope to be long-standing tenants,” Sarrazin says. “I received a phone call from the mayor’s chief of staff, who wanted to help us. They’re going out of their way, and we appreciate it.”

Photo via DeBragga.com

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/06/06/debragga-spitler-set-to-leave-the-meatpacking-district-for-jersey-city/

tbal

August 29th, 2011, 03:07 PM

Here are some pics from Sunday 8/21 (sorry for the delay!). As you can see, many massive footings are still under construction. Hopefully we'll see vertical construction soon:

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JCMAN320

August 30th, 2011, 09:42 PM

Great photos tbal!! Happy to see that area going vertical!!

Entrepreneurial Learning Garden for Jersey City Students Coming to Vacant West Side Avenue Lot
By Jon Whiten • Aug 23rd, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Photo1.jpg
Left to right: Dawn Niles, Stephen Stamos, Katie Monteiro, Paul Clark and Corrado Vasquez of the West Side Community Alliance clean up the vacant lot (Photo by umojaphoto.com)

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Over the weekend, volunteers descended on a vacant, trash-strewn lot on West Side Avenue between Boyd and Virginia Avenues to take initial steps towards the eventual construction of an urban entrepreneurial garden for PS 24 students.

The project is being organized by the West Side Community Alliance (WSCA), City Green, the Board of Education, New Jersey City University, Honeywell and St. Joseph’s College.

Project creator and WSCA events chair Dawn Niles says the lot will become “a garden for students and their teachers to use to grow vegetables and flowers for sale next year to local merchants and restaurants.” The project is being helped along by City Green, a nonprofit that has developed gardens and related learning opportunities for several other Jersey City schools.

“Fifth through eighth grade students on the West Side will have an opportunity to learn more about urban gardening, nutrition, composting, sustainability and what it takes to be an entrepreneurial small business,” Niles says.

The raised gardens will be constructed early next spring, and the first harvest should be available for local markets and merchants soon thereafter.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/08/23/entrepreneurial-learning-garden-for-jersey-city-students-coming-to-vacant-west-side-avenue-lot/

66nexus

August 30th, 2011, 10:44 PM

^That's a good idea. I think green-space stands out more in urban areas and gardens are excellent for beautifying as well as neighborhood benefits (by way of vegetables and such). I think NJ should do more to promote this statewide in urban areas.

JCMAN320

August 30th, 2011, 11:28 PM

Yes and the fact that it will be sold to local merchants and restuarnts is genius. It will give the students a better sense on what it takes to nuture a garden and also the feeling and sense of accomplishment by growin produce and seeing actually end up in a restaurant or even on their own plate. With Christie I doubt he will spend money to promote any of this in urban areas. Cities like Jersey City, New Brunswick, Hoboken, Newark, and Paterson will need to do this themselves.

JCexpert558

September 6th, 2011, 04:18 PM

meant to post this but was too lazy lol
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/03/new-jersey-back-in-the-running-for-an-f1-grand-prix/

Malcontent

September 8th, 2011, 09:13 AM

Anyone have some background on this? This story was posted on another forum, but I could not find where it came from. Is this deal still moving forward? This would be huge for JC.

The race is on to bring proton therapy cancer treatment to the region.

Manhattan-based Tessler Developments says it is near a deal with Jersey City officials to build a proton therapy center on a roughly 2.5-acre parcel. The plans would also include commercial space and about 1,000 market-rate apartments, some earmarked for those undergoing treatment. Construction could start in 2013.

Tessler and Jersey City officials say there is a tentative agreement to sell the land for $15 million.

The project comes as another effort to bring proton therapy to the New York City area moves forward with the involvement of some of the area's most prestigious medical centers, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the NYU Langone Medical Center.

CloseTesser Developments

A rendering of the proposed proton therapy center, which also would include office space and apartments.
.The treatment involves using a proton beam to precisely deposit a cancer-treatment dose near a tumor or affected area with less scattered radiation to the rest of the body, said Dr. Glen Gejerman, co-division chief of urologic oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center. It has so far been studied on brain tumors and on lung, pediatric and prostate cancers.

The controversial therapy is supported by some doctors who say it targets tumors more effectively than conventional radiation and is safer on surrounding tissue and organs.

Others have been critical, saying the relatively new therapy hasn't been subjected to enough peer-reviewed research.

In Jersey City, officials hope the project—situated near Jersey City Medical Center, the New Jersey Turnpike and a light-rail station—would help transform the area into a medical powerhouse that can compete with nearby Manhattan's cutting-edge medical offerings. Supporters say it could create about 500 construction jobs and more than 2,500 full-time jobs when combined with other growth.

"It's something that puts the city on the map in the world of science," said Jamie LeFrak, a local businessman and a volunteer board member with LibertyHealth System, the Jersey City hospital's parent.

Jersey City Medical Center's chief executive, Joseph Scott, said the therapy would have no affiliation with the hospital, but he would welcome it as a neighbor.

Proton therapy is expensive and hard to find. There are nine centers nationwide and seven being developed, not including the Jersey City and Manhattan sites, where construction hasn't started. Not all insurance covers the procedure.

The nearest facility to New York City is at the University of Pennsylvania, though a center in Somerset, N.J., should open early next year, said Leonard Arzt, executive director of the National Association for Proton Therapy in Silver Spring, Md.

There has been a rush to build treatment centers. While only 1% of cancer patients received this treatment last year, that number is expected to grow to 2% to 3% in the next five years.

The New York City location, proposed for West 57th Street in Midtown, has received contingent approval, according to the New York State Department of Health. Construction could start next year.

The Jersey City deal still faces multiple hurdles.

It needs approval from the Jersey City Council, which has to transfer the land to the city's redevelopment agency, which would then finalize a purchase contract.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy said he is optimistic.

This is "important for the city, so we should get the requisite number of votes," he said. "We'd like to put this on the tax rolls ASAP."

It still must be licensed by the state Department of Health and Senior Services as an ambulatory care center. No application has been submitted, the agency said.

Yitzchak Tessler, Tessler Developments' owner, said he's requesting licensing. To help fund construction, he said he has lined up $250 million in private investments he declined to specify. He said he has signed contracts for $90 million worth of equipment and software

Malcontent

September 8th, 2011, 10:04 AM

Apparently there are renderings of the proposed center in the WSJ today.

JCMAN320

September 8th, 2011, 01:49 PM

The renderings show two green glassed buildings about 10 storeys tall. Would look great next to the medical center!!

Malcontent

September 8th, 2011, 02:46 PM

Awesome!!! Can anyone post it; I don't have access to WSJ.

Malcontent

September 8th, 2011, 02:49 PM

Actually, just saw it on the link below. This would be great if it goes through.

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/tessler-developments-strikes-tentative-deal-to-bring-cancer-center-to-jersey-city (http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/tessler-developments-strikes-tentative-deal-to-bring-cancer-center-to-jersey-city)

JCMAN320

September 9th, 2011, 04:06 PM

Awesome!!! Can anyone post it; I don't have access to WSJ.

This article is from the Jersey City Independent today:

Jersey City Says it Has Found a $15M Buyer for City-Owned Land Behind Medical Center
By Matt Hunger • Sep 9th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/protoncenter.jpg

Jersey City may soon be home to a proton therapy cancer treatment center — one of only a handful in the country — pending City Council approval of a $15 million land deal for the property behind the Jersey City Medical Center.

The property in question has been the subject of debate and controversy since April, when Ward E councilman Steven Fulop began to question whether the city could actually receive $15 million for it, as it had estimated in its 2011 budget. A few months later, a state official said the city was “highly unlikely” to fetch the full price.

But now it appears that it may, with the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) having lined up Tessler Developments as the designated developer for a massive complex that would include not only the region’s first proton therapy center, but also commercial space and about 1,000 market-rate apartments, some earmarked for those undergoing treatment.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the procedure is somewhat controversial in medical circles:

The treatment involves using a proton beam to precisely deposit a cancer-treatment dose near a tumor or affected area with less scattered radiation to the rest of the body, said Dr. Glen Gejerman, co-division chief of urologic oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center. It has so far been studied on brain tumors and on lung, pediatric and prostate cancers.

The controversial therapy is supported by some doctors who say it targets tumors more effectively than conventional radiation and is safer on surrounding tissue and organs.

Others have been critical, saying the relatively new therapy hasn’t been subjected to enough peer-reviewed research.

The City Council will vote next week on a resolution transferring the land to the JCRA, after which plans and engineering drawings would be submitted to the city’s Planning Division for approval, a process city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says will take between 9 and 12 months. She said the city expects construction to start by the end of 2012, or early 2013 at the latest.

The administration is still hoping to include the $15 million in this year’s not-yet-passed budget, but Morrill says they are still “working with the state” on that.

Fulop, who has criticized the land-sale process, says that he and his colleagues haven’t yet seen any plans for the site.

In addition to City Council and Planning approval, the project still also must be licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services as an ambulatory care center. No application has been submitted, the agency tells the Wall Street Journal.

But Yitzchak Tessler, Tessler’s owner, tells the paper he’s requesting licensing. To help fund construction, he says he has lined up $250 million in private investments, as well as signed contracts for $90 million worth of equipment and software.

Rendering of the proposed development courtesy of the JCRA

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/09/jersey-city-says-it-has-found-a-15m-buyer-for-city-owned-land-behind-medical-center/

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This would be great! Right next to the JCMC, which has been winning awards left and right last few years, it will be a medical hub. Coupled with Saint Peter's College last year being designated the National Micro-Plasma Research Center with scientists coming to work at SPC, Jersey City can now begin to add medical business and research as one of our big draws and business along with the financial sector!

JCMAN320

September 9th, 2011, 04:27 PM

Jersey City moves to expand boundaries of Restaurant Row

Published: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jjournal-news/photo/9883904-large.jpg
ALEX GOODLETT/JERSEY JOURNAL
Joseph Castro, co-owner of Bar Majestic, a tapas eatery on Grove Street in Jersey City, says the proposed change to expand the boundaries of Restaurant Row is a good idea.

The Jersey City City Council last night introduced a measure to expand the boundaries of the so-called Restaurant Row along Newark Avenue.

The move is one of a series of proposals intended to make Jersey City “more business friendly,” said Mayor Jerramiah Healy, whose administration pushed for the change.

“Not only will this improve the quality of life for our residents, but it will also be an additional marketing tool for Jersey City as a destination for commercial and residential development,” Healy said in a statement.

Restaurants in the Newark Avenue Restaurant Row, which now encompass a triangle-shaped area along Newark Avenue from Grove Street to Jersey Avenue, are exempt from state liquor laws that prohibit one licensed establishment from being within 520 feet of another.

“You can’t have a Restaurant Row if every restaurant has to be 520 feet away from the next one,” a city official said.

The new boundaries, if adopted after an upcoming public hearing, would include some restaurants along Grove Street near City Hall, those on Grand Street between Grove and Barrow streets and those along Newark Avenue south to Division Street.

The proposed change is long overdue, said Joseph Castro, co-owner of Bar Majestic, a tapas eatery on Grove Street across the street from City Hall.

Expanding the boundaries will hopefully spur business owners to open restaurants in the area and make it a true Restaurant Row, Castro said at last night’s council meeting.

“We need another dozen restaurants before it’s visible to anyone walking past,” Castro, 37, said.

The measure is supported both by Healy and his political foe Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop.

“Encouraging people to spend their dollars in Jersey City is a positive. I think this will be a seamless natural progression benefiting both the ward and city,” Fulop said last night.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/08/jersey_city_moves_to_expand_bo.html

Jersey City More than Doubles Downtown Area Designated as ‘Restaurant Row’
By Matt Hunger • Aug 31st, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food, News, Politics

In an effort to lure more restaurants — and eaters — to Downtown Jersey City, the City Council has passed into law this week a massive expansion of the Downtown Restaurant Overlay Zone, better known simply as “Restaurant Row.”

The zone currently applies to Grove Street from Newark Avenue to 1st Street, Newark Avenue from Grove Street to Jersey Avenue, Jersey Avenue between Newark Avenue and Columbus Drive, and Columbus Drive’s north side between Jersey Avenue and Grove Street.

Under the plan (see below or click here for a PDF of the map http://www.scribd.com/doc/63656511/Map-of-Old-and-New-Restaurant-Row-Zone-in-Jersey-City ), the Newark Avenue coverage area will expand by 4.5 long blocks, past Division Street to the west, while the Grove Street area will also expand by more than 4 blocks, down to York Street and east to Marin along some parts. The Jersey Avenue area will expand 1.5 blocks across Columbus Drive, stopping halfway between Wayne and Mercer Streets. The Columbus Drive area will expand to include the south side of the street east of Barrow Street, and there will be new slivers of the zone on Grand Street between Grove and Barrow Streets, as well as the east- and north-facing parts of the Grove Pointe development.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-shot-2011-08-31-at-11.22.43-AM1.png

Mayor Healy touts the change, unanimously approved by the City Council Wednesday morning, as “one of several upcoming initiatives by my administration to make Jersey City more business-friendly.”

By being part of the Restaurant Row, establishments with liquor licenses are exempt from the law that normally forces them to be at least 520 feet apart. (That law can also be trumped by specific redevelopment plans if the wording of the plan allows — that’s why, for example, Bar Majestic and The Merchant on Grove Street are allowed to be so close together.)

There have been puritanical worries about the Restaurant Row designation since the middle of the last decade, when establishments like LITM led a successful fight to extend by three hours how late restaurants and bars there could serve alcohol, from 11 pm to 2 am (midnight to 3 am on weekends).

Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, who represents Downtown, says this latest change “is a great thing,” and that it doesn’t promote a no-holds-barred party zone, but rather a destination for food and drink.

“The ordinance is careful not to promote a bar culture, but rather [that of] a working restaurant and kitchen,” he says.

Meanwhile, the mayor says that the Restaurant Row expansion, coupled with the recent loosening of restrictions on sidewalk cafes, are all part of a broader plan to create a thriving commercial district Downtown.

“Not only will this improve the quality of life for our residents, but it will also be an additional marketing tool for Jersey City as a destination for commercial and residential development,” Healy says.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/08/31/jersey-city-more-than-doubles-downtown-area-designated-as-restaurant-row/

JCMAN320

September 9th, 2011, 04:34 PM

In the Region | New Jersey
Rentals Fly Off the Shelves

By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Published: September 1, 2011

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/09/04/realestate/04NJZO/NJZO-articleInline.jpg
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times
Apartments at Monaco Towers in Jersey City have been renting at a fast pace despite the premium prices.

THE bidding wars are going on constantly in Summit and Short Hills, and other expensive suburbs. In Jersey City, units at two brand-new 50-story towers are being snapped up at the rate of more than 100 a month — even though prices are at the top of the scale.

lBut it isn’t the home-sale market that has had a miracle recovery, during this season of credit downgrades and job anxiety. It’s the rental market — which is experiencing nearly frenzied demand.

At Monaco Towers, the new high-rise structures in Jersey City, “we’ve been leasing at the fastest pace I’ve ever experienced in my entire career,” said Carl Goldberg, the managing partner of one of the state’s largest real estate firms, the Roseland Property Company.

It doesn’t hurt that Roseland is offering an incentive — two free months’ rent with a 14-month lease — yet that is apparently the company’s practice with new buildings, particularly when they are as large as Monaco Towers, with a total of 540 apartments.

“Still, the rents are as high as residential rents have ever been, up to $41 per square foot for the premium units, and people are eating it up,” Mr. Goldberg said. “We rented 370 apartments in three months,” from mid-May to mid-August, he said in a telephone interview.

According to the Monaco Web site, monthly rates start at $2,500 for studios, and range up to $7,500 for three-bedroom penthouses.

Such good business at the high end bodes well for projects like Palmer Square in Princeton, where a cluster of 58 “ultraluxury” rentals in two buildings is set to open in October and November, as part of a development of condominium town homes all priced well above $1 million. One-bedroom one-bath rentals with a den are to start at $3,750; rents will range up to $5,500 for the largest two-bedroom two-bath units, according to David Newton, the vice president of Palmer Square Management.

But, high end or low end, the rental market is “very tight, very hot,” said Martin D. Brady, the vice president for sales of the Marketing Directors, which markets both for-sale and rental projects. He said newer buildings in Hudson County had occupancy rates above 95 percent, most of them 96 to 98 percent.

“We rented 348 homes at 225 Grand” in Jersey City, an Ironstate Development building, “in under 10 months,” Mr. Brady said. “At the Berkshire,” another Ironstate property, in Hoboken, “we rented 90 homes in under four months.” Also, he said, all 44 apartments at the URSA Development Group’s 1100 Jefferson building in Hoboken were leased within three months.

The Monaco project, which was granted city tax abatements to encourage development, was originally supposed to be three towers, two of them condominiums. The condo part of the plan was abandoned two years ago, during construction; the third tower is on indefinite hold.

In sharp contrast, towns like Summit in Union County or Short Hills in Essex County, are almost entirely made up of single-family houses, and there is very little new building, so rentals are always a scarce commodity. Right now, said Susan Hughes Hunter, a broker for Lois Schneider Realtor, any time a home is available for rent, it seems to spark a bidding war.

Mary Jo Herr, a sales associate with Ms. Hunter’s agency, listed a house for rent last month on Oak Hill Road in Short Hills, a three-bedroom two-bath colonial, at $4,200 a month. The owners were moving to Shanghai, but were uncertain their move would be permanent, Ms. Herr said.

“The listing was on the market for one day, and they got a full-price offer,” she added. “The first night, there were two other offers for more, and calls continued to come, some offering a longer-term lease.”(She said the owners opted to stay with the first bid.)

“There are lots of reasons why people are renting,” she explained. “Some get foreclosed on, and wouldn’t get financing to buy a new home. Also, job transferees used to come here and buy, and then sell when they left in two or three years. But they don’t buy anymore; in this uncertain economy, they rent.”

One of Ms. Herr’s colleagues, Macy Egerton, said she had recently been making bids on rentals on behalf of clients who had not yet been able to sell their house in a town north of Summit, but had already enrolled their child in a private school in Summit for this fall.

She had scoured the listings and tried to pounce on each new one, Ms. Egerton said. “But with every house we found, and liked, we just couldn’t act quickly enough.” After some weeks, when Ms. Egerton found an excellent rental, she decided to mount a full-scale effort.

“Another family who wanted to live in the house had agreed to pay a year’s rent in advance. So my client offered to pay $50 over the monthly asking price and take a two-year lease. We won.”

Some houses in desirable towns are being offered either for sale or for rent, with owners taking whichever is the better deal presented, said Ms. Hunter, who is the vice president of the Lois Schneider agency.

Recently, her agency had clients who already live in Summit and were looking for a rental house to live in for 10 months, with their 25-pound dog, while their own house was being renovated. “They lost out on two high-end rentals, both of which were on the market as for-sale too,” Ms. Hunter said. “They finally came to terms on one in Summit, for $1,000 more per month in rent than was asked.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/realestate/rentals-fly-off-the-shelves.html?_r=1

JCMAN320

September 9th, 2011, 04:50 PM

Jersey City Planning Board OKs city council's McGinley Square redevelopment plan

Published: Wednesday, August 10, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

The Jersey City Planning Board last night approved a recommendation that the City Council adopt the controversial McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan.

The plan envisions mixed-use commercial, retail and restaurants, and will permit larger entertainment uses such as theaters and bowling alleys.

It made waves last month when the city warned 52 property owners in the area that it might seize their properties using eminent domain.

Those plans were later scrapped in the face of community opposition, though property owners in McGinley Square expressed concern last night that their properties might yet be seized.

“I cannot sleep at night,” said Assunta Folcarelli of Mercer Street. “I don’t want them to come take my home. There’s no other place for us to go.”

Donna Dequina, meanwhile, said even without the threat of eminent domain, the plan still leaves property owners in “real-estate limbo.”

If the redevelopment does not have a “sunset provision” requiring it to be completed by a certain date, she said, property owners won’t be able to sell their houses because prospective buyers won’t want to buy land that may be seized later.

Still, the Planning Board voted 8-1 to send the plan to the council for its approval.

Planning Board Member Orlando Gonzales said the redevelopment would be a “great thing” for the city.

“We have someone who is willing to dump hundreds of millions of dollars in Jersey City,” he said. “In these times, you’d think we should be very grateful for that.”

Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, who also sits on the Planning Board, was the only “no” vote.

The plan is scheduled for an introductory vote on the council tonight.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/08/jersey_city_planning_board_oks.html

Jersey City Completely Pulls Eminent Domain from McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan
By Matt Hunger • Sep 9th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News, Politics

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Screen-shot-2011-09-09-at-7.59.49-AM.png

A developer’s rendering of the proposed new-look McGinley Square. The shot above is Montgomery Street looking east from Bergen Avenue; the shot below at right is a proposed pedestrian mall that would run east-west from Jordan Avenue to Tuers Avenue, in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Screen-shot-2011-09-09-at-8.06.22-AM.png

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By changing the designation of the area covered by the McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan, Jersey City officials have, for once and for all, taken the issue of eminent domain off the table.

The use of eminent domain in the plan has been a vocal sticking point between residents and the city ever since letters warning about its potential use first arrived at homeowners’ mailboxes without any warning from city officials, despite the fact that no one said they wanted to use it. Even after Planning director Bob Cotter assured upset residents and activists that eminent domain would not be used, and it was written out of the plan, its specter still loomed, since the area was designated “in need of redevelopment.”

But by changing that to “in need of rehabilitation,” city officials have completely eliminated eminent domain as a legal option.

“If an area is in need of rehabilitation, eminent domain cannot be used; if it is in need of redevelopment, eminent domain can be used,” city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says. “This re-designation takes away the city’s ability to use eminent domain.”

An ambitious development proposal is waiting in the wings for the City Council to approve the redevelopment plan; the council is expected to take it up at its next meeting, on September 14.

The proposal calls for 370,000 square feet of new retail space, 230,000 square feet of new office space, five residential towers, a 150-room hotel and an entertainment center featuring a new movie theater. It would also expand McGinley Square park and create two new pedestrian-only thoroughfares, which the developer envisions as being lined with retail shops, restaurants and bars. (One would run from Tuers to Jordan Avenues in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets, and the other would run from Nevins Street to Monticello Avenue between Storms Avenue and Orchard Street.)

Assuming things go as the developer plans, this multi-phase project would break ground next August, with the bulk of the development completed by the summer or fall of 2016.

As Morrill notes, recent state-approved changes to Jersey City’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) map mean that the developer will be able to apply for tax abatements if it so chooses.

“When we overlaid the McGinley Square area with the UEZ map, we determined that the vast majority of the area is in a UEZ zone,” she says. “In order to be able to get a long-term tax abatement, an area must be in need of redevelopment or in a UEZ zone.”

“We believe this change is fair and appropriate to accommodate the issues of the residents while further enhancing the community and businesses in the area,” Morrill adds.

Ward E councilman Steven Fulop says the changes to the plan show that citizens who want government to work for them can succeed.

“It is a win for the community, and speaks to what an organized community can do,” he says. “This is the way it should have been from the start: a plan that will improve the area without the risk of eminent domain.”

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/09/jersey-city-completely-pulls-eminent-domain-from-mcginley-square-east-redevelopment-plan/

66nexus

September 9th, 2011, 06:28 PM

Those renderings are beautiful.

Nexis4Jersey

September 11th, 2011, 10:58 PM

Construction is starting to pick up on the corner of Essex Street and Van Vorst...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6069/6138489910_44f89c07d2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6138489910/)
DSCN3143 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6138489910/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6076/6137944129_fb73a8e23f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6137944129/)
DSCN3144 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6137944129/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Newarkguy

September 14th, 2011, 01:21 AM

stache

September 14th, 2011, 07:01 AM

Actually quite a few people make that kind of $. Otherwise they wouldn't be making these expensive buildings. I should add, many corporations give housing subsidies for employees.

Nexis4Jersey

September 14th, 2011, 06:11 PM

7500 a month for rent!!? Who the hell has 90,000?! No wonder JC population didnt grow much despite the building boom....only single or millionaire couples with little poodles substituting kids can afford to live there.:o

I wouldn't pay more then 1800$ for any Urban area in this region , if i have it right i should be making between 50-80k by the end of the decade , but i wouldn't fork over 7500$ for a apartment that should only go for 1500-2000$... Ive seen many of these apartments and there tacky and cheap....not worth 7500$

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2011, 01:03 AM

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2011, 01:09 AM

Quick Bite | Jersey City
Touches of the Mediterranean

By TAMMY LA GORCE
Published: August 12, 2011

The tiny cafe Two Aprons, in Jersey City, draws a laid-back neighborhood crowd for breakfast and lunch. The croissants ($1.75 for plain), baked on the premises, are especially popular, and so are the Turkish cheese panini ($7), made with imported kashkaval cheese, a cured beef called pastirma, roasted pepper paste, onions and peppers, according to the owner, Vecdi Bilgin. But at dinnertime, the place can bustle a bit. Chalk that up to the chicken.

“We do rotisserie chickens — all natural, no hormones or antibiotics — that we make available in the evenings,” said Mr. Bilgin, 47, of Jersey City. “It’s a signature thing. People come out for them.”

When they do, they often end up eating the slow-cooked birds ($13.75 for a whole, $8.75 for a half) somewhere else because Two Aprons, occupying only 300 square feet, has just two tables. But Mr. Bilgin said that did not diminish what he called the “perfect neighborhood ambiance.”

“People come here and they start chatting with each other,” he said.

The lunch menu is also available at dinner.

The Mediterranean-inspired fare at the cafe, which opened in 2007, pays homage to several cultures in that part of the world.

The croissants are French, of course; there is a Turkish meatball wrap ($7.25) in addition to the Turkish cheese panini. The mozzarella ciabatta sandwich, with tomato, basil pesto and olive oil ($7.25), is Italian. There is also a Greek salad ($4 for medium, $6 for large) and an Egyptian panini, with feta, olives, tomato, red onions, green peppers and parsley ($6.25).

“I’m Turkish, but I like the idea of not confining myself to one kind of food,” Mr. Bilgin said. “I’m a bit international, and so are my customers.” TAMMY LA GORCE

Two Aprons, 201 Warren Street, Jersey City; (201) 333-8768 or 2aprons.com. Open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/nyregion/two-aprons-offers-mediterranean-fare-in-jersey-city.html?_r=2

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2011, 01:36 AM

In Jersey City, Wall Street found a temporary refuge after Sept. 11

Published: Sunday, September 11, 2011, 9:00 AM
By Sarah Portlock / The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger

http://media.nj.com/business_impact/photo/9983951-large.jpg
(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)
Lunch crowds fill the Harborside Financial Center in Jersey City in mid-August.

In the days immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, thousands of Wall Street professionals were swarming the streets along the Jersey City waterfront — workers displaced when their companies were forced out of Lower Manhattan.

Companies scrambled to find temporary office space. Desks and computers were delivered by the hundreds to the area.

At least 33 companies that had leased more than 10,000 square feet apiece in the now-damaged or destroyed buildings relocated to New Jersey or added employees to existing office space in the state, according to a March 2002 report by the real estate advisory firm TenantWise.com. Firms moved in with other companies or into available space in not only Jersey City but also Morristown, Florham Park, Iselin, Rutherford, Piscataway and other towns. In the months that followed, however, many firms began returning across the Hudson River. Keeping an address in the financial capital of the world was considered an important symbol, and some companies didn’t want to be seen as abandoning the city they called home.

In the past 10 years, Jersey City never saw any long-term office boom as a direct result of Sept. 11, according to real estate professionals familiar with the area.

Some major financial companies still have a presence along what’s known as the Gold Coast — but many were here before or had already been considering the move. Overall vacancy rates for the Hudson waterfront jumped to 13.7 percent in 2002 from 4.9 percent the year before, and got as high as nearly 16 percent in 2005, according to data from the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. In the second quarter this year, vacancy rates for the Hudson waterfront were 6.7 percent — the lowest since the overall year average in 2001.

http://media.nj.com/business_impact/photo/9984081-large.jpg
(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)
Dan Frohwirth, director of real estate at the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation, in his Jersey City condo living room that overlooks NYC skyline on Thursday, August 11, 2011.

The tragedy did have one significant impact, however: it exposed Jersey City and its attributes to a wider swath of the region’s population, said Dan Frohwirth, director of real estate at the Jersey City Economic Development Corp.

“People finally realized that we were here,” said Frohwirth, who has watched the activity unfold in his 15 years on the job.

“It made an impact in a strange way — it wasn’t the obvious way,” he added.

Interest Rising

In recent years, as companies re-evaluate their real estate portfolios and consider ways to cut costs, Jersey City is starting to take hold again as a desirable location to consolidate operations because of its lower operating costs, one-stop proximity to Manhattan via PATH train, easy accessibility for employees who live in New Jersey, and financial incentive packages offered by the state.

And at $30.78 per square foot, average office rents in the area are about one-fourth less than the $39.38 rents in downtown Manhattan and less than half of midtown rents of $65.35, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Interest in the area is “absolutely exploding again,” said Carl Eriksen, a senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis who focuses on the New Jersey waterfront office market. “We’re running out of space quickly down there.”

If demand continues, the economy turns around and job creation picks up, real estate brokers said Jersey City’s waterfront could see new construction in the coming years.

“We’re at a tight enough vacancy rate — under 10 percent vacancy — and that’s when landlords think about building,” said David DeMatteis, associate director with Cushman & Wakefield in East Rutherford. “It would take a very strong credit company with a long-term commitment, but I think you’re going to see over the next five years, at least one or two new buildings added to the mix.”

http://media.nj.com/business_impact/photo/9983945-large.jpg
(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)
The 9-11 memorial at ICAP in downtown Jersey City.

Some Stay

Not everybody who came to Jersey City immediately ended up making the move back to Manhattan, however.

ICAP, which handles derivatives trading between large banks and is based in London, had offices in the World Trade Center’s north tower, and quickly relocated more than 700 employees to office space in Midtown Manhattan and Jersey City. A little over a year later, having looked at “many locations” in Manhattan and Jersey City, the company decided to move its regional headquarters for the Americas — and all 1,100 employees — to a renovated building in the Harborside Financial Center, said spokesman Guy Taylor. The company plans to stay in the area “for the foreseeable future,” he said.

In 2005, the company dedicated a memorial to employees who died on Sept. 11 on a small plaza outside the building.

Other firms that were here before Sept. 11 have added to their existing operations or are planning to in the future.

•Goldman Sachs has one of the largest corporate presences in Jersey City, with more than 4,500 employees in its 43-story tower on Hudson Street that opened in 2004. The company initially relocated 3,000 employees here, and brought over an additional 1,500 employees three years later. The firm also owns land adjacent to its building and continues to review plans for growth in Jersey City, said spokeswoman Gia Morón.

• Next year, Fidelity Investments, based in Boston, will relocate some employees from its Manhattan and existing Jersey City offices to a new location in the Newport section, said spokeswoman Jennifer Engle. The company first came to Jersey City in 2002, but had been discussing plans before Sept. 11.

• In May, Merrill Lynch renewed its lease for its building on Greene Street, where it has been since 2000. The company has also leased space nearby on Hudson Street since 1992, but no decision has been made on the company’s long-term future at either building, said spokesman T.J. Crawford.

The LeFrak Organization, which built and owns most of the residential and office properties in the Newport area of Jersey City, has about 20 sites ready for office, residential or other new development, said principal Jamie LeFrak. The company is waiting for the right time and place to start building.

“The Jersey City waterfront really travels hand in hand with the New York metropolitan area and the financial services industry,” LeFrak said. “Everything from new construction to residential rents to who occupies the neighborhood rises and falls with the fortunes of the New York area’s leading industry.”

Sarah Portlock: (973) 392-5994 or sportlock@starledger.com

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/09/in_jersey_city_a_place_of_refu.html

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2011, 02:32 PM

Changes Afoot at Satis: Weekday Daytime Hours Begin Tuesday; Fall Menu & Ciao Bella Gelato Coming Next Week
By Jon Whiten • Sep 12th, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/themes/mimbo2.2/images/satisfeatured.jpg

Satis, the bistro/cafe/gelateria that opened late last year in Paulus Hook, has been open for weekend brunch almost since day one, but weekday diners who hoped to dine at the well-regarded Washington Street spot could only opt for dinner beginning at 5:30 pm.

Starting tomorrow, that’s all going to change as Satis opens for breakfast and/or lunch most weekdays from 9 am to 3 pm (the restaurant is closed Mondays).

“We hope to become a neighborhood gem for casual dining during the day as well, not just at night. By offering a daily brunch menu, we hope to have customers come in for cappuccino in the mornings as well as burgers in the afternoon,” Satis co-owner Mike Garcia tells JCI. “Our menu will be available for customers to order breakfast items like waffles and omelettes for lunch if they like … similar to a diner, but with a smaller and more refined menu that is typical to what we do here.” (To check out the full brunch menu, click here http://www.scribd.com/doc/64683845/Satis-Brunch-Menu-as-of-September-13-2011.)

Weekend brunch hours (11 am to 3:30 pm) remain unchanged, as do dinner hours (Tuesday through Sunday from 5:30 to 10 pm). However, Satis is debuting a new fall dinner menu and fall dessert menu next Tuesday, September 20. The seasonal dinner menu features new entrees like Seared Venison Loin, Boeuf Bourginon, Veal Milanese, Filet Mignon, Spaghetti Squash & “Meatballs” and Paella Negra. And next door in its gelateria, Satis is also bringing in Ciao Bella gelato on Tuesday, September 20.

THE DETAILS

Satis | 212 Washington Street | 201.435.5151 | www.satisbistro.com

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/12/changes-afoot-at-satis-weekday-daytime-hours-begin-tuesday-fall-menu-ciao-bella-gelato-coming-next-week/

First link about it opening:
http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2010/12/07/satis-brings-bistro-flair-and-european-flavors-to-paulus-hook/

JCMAN320

September 15th, 2011, 02:40 PM

Subway & Turkish Food Spot Coming to Newport Centre Food Court; Adidas & Other New Retail Stores Opening Soon in Mall
By Jon Whiten • Sep 13th, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/newportcentre2.jpg

The food court at Downtown Jersey City’s Newport Centre mall will welcome two new dining options this fall: a Subway sandwich shop and the HD Iskender Grill, an “authentic Turkish food concept” featuring “prime quality meat prepared on vertical rotisseries and presented in wraps, sandwiches and plate options of your choice.” The Jersey City location of the latter will be one of the first to open in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the mall says it has signed on a handful of new retailers, including a more than 3,000-square-foot Adidas store that will open next to Armani Exchange and a 1,500-square-foot Things Remembered store near Sears. Both those stores are expected to open before the holiday season, as is a two-level, 20,000-square-foot H&M location.

And already open is a branch of Pandora Jewelry (on the second floor near the Disney Store), which offers hand-finished and modern jewelry.

“We are excited to bring fresh, new stores and eateries to Newport Centre to continue to expand on the great shopping environment we already offer,” the mall’s director of marketing and business development Jill Daniel says in a statement. “Shoppers will be sure to enjoy our newest arrivals that will also include the recently announced two-level, 20,000 square foot H&M store expected to open in time for the holiday season.”

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/13/subway-adidas-other-new-retail-stores-opening-soon-in-mall/

JCMAN320

September 18th, 2011, 11:24 PM

NY REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL SEPTEMBER 16, 2011
Jersey City's Hamilton Park Lifts Appeal

By MAYA POPE-CHAPPELL

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-BE722_BLOCK_D_20110915172535.jpg
Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal
The Downtown Coop began selling organic fruit and vegetables at Jersey City's Hamilton Square building late last year.

Amy Ertel lives in a four-family brownstone near Hamilton Park, a historic neighborhood in Jersey City that is centered on a park of the same name. Two years ago, she collected $1,800 a month in rent for each of her two-bedroom apartments. Now she's collecting $2,100.

"I'm getting a premium on my apartments now," said Ms. Ertel, a mother of two and the president of the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association. "The buzz has definitely picked up."

Since the $3.2 million renovation of Hamilton Park—the five-acre green space at McWilliams Place and Eighth Street that re-opened last year—there has been a resurgence of activity in the surrounding area. Nearly a dozen businesses have opened within the past 1 ½ years, most on the ground level of Hamilton Square, a 125-unit condominium across from the park. The building, developed by Eric and Paul Silverman, opened in 2009 in place of an old hospital.

Sawyer Smith, sales director for Hamilton Square where he also owns a home-furnishings store, Smith & Chang General Goods, has lived in the neighborhood on and off for 10 years.

"There weren't many kids or families," recalled Mr. Smith, who has lived at Schroeder Lofts, a Silverman condominium, since it opened in 2007. "The park was kind of rundown. There was hardly any retail."

But now, he said, "you've got a lot of families who are staying, renovating their townhouses, as well as more affluent single and younger couples." The change, he said, "is a clear indication that the neighborhood had come full circle."

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-BE720_BLOCK_D_20110915172738.jpg
Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal
Jersey City's Hamilton Square building.

The renovated park and the transformation of the historic district into a more family-friendly place are what prompted Mary Suliburk and her husband Dave to open Downtown Coop at Hamilton Square late last year.

"It's sort of the Holy Grail if you have kids," said Ms. Suliburk as she stood behind the register at the store, which sells organic and locally sourced foods.

The couple moved into one of the historic row houses near the park three years ago and have three children.

Mr. Suliburk, who works at the co-op and has a full-time job in digital marketing, said, "Everything you need, whether it's food, gifts, activities for the kids, you name it, it's all within a few blocks of where we live. We rarely leave the neighborhood."

Also new at Hamilton Square this year are a flower shop, a gym and a clinic called Tribeca Pediatrics. By early October, a combination pet-supply store and children's boutique and a bakery are slated to have moved into the vacant spaces at Hamilton Square.

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-BE721_BLOCK_D_20110915172635.jpg
Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal
The area's Hamilton Park, bottom, re-opened last year after a renovation.

The Silverman brothers have been active in Jersey City since 1981, and often provide start-up capital as well as financing for improvements and marketing support for the retail spaces that occupy their mixed-use buildings. They tend to select retailers who cater to the more-affluent and well-educated residents who occupy their condos.

"My brother Eric and I understand the many ingredients it takes to build a neighborhood," said Paul Silverman. "We try to revitalize a worn out or underutilized neighborhood [and] make it all walkable so that you can buy your bottle of wine and flowers for the party."

Steven Samuel, who lives in a historic row house near the park with his wife and 1-year-old daughter, said he prefers a more diverse mix of retailers catering to others besides the affluent. "While all these new businesses are nice, they don't appeal to my budget," said Mr. Samuel, a neighborhood resident for almost 15 years.

The Silvermans are in the process of renovating an old nursing school that now houses a growing Montessori school and a nonprofit arts organization. They also have plans to build more residential and retail spaces on a vacant parcel between Hamilton Square and the Montessori school, and in the place of a parking garage at Erie and Ninth streets, a block from the park.

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-BE702_NYBLOC_D_20110915192103.jpg

"I always thought the neighborhood had so much potential," said Michael Gondevas, a Jersey City native who opened his restaurant, the Hamilton Inn, near the park last year. "Now it's living up to that potential."

Mr. Gondevas said he plans to work with the Silvermans to transform a defunct Vespa store into a brick-oven pizzeria to open in the spring.

Kathleen Bauhs, who has lived about a block from the park for 25 years, said she's thrilled with the changes to the area. However, there's one thing, she says, that's not as attractive as it used to be.

"The new dog owners are not as good as the old dog owners," Ms. Bauhs said, holding three poodles on their leashes at Hamilton Park. "They don't pick up the poop."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903927204576572793704761026.html?m od=googlenews_wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle

Malcontent

September 20th, 2011, 10:08 PM

They just cleared the lot south of the Marin St. light rail station. I think that site is owned by the development company that built 225 Grand. Hopefully we will see some construction soon.

JCMAN320

September 20th, 2011, 10:21 PM

They just cleared the lot south of the Marin St. light rail station. I think that site is owned by the development company that built 225 Grand. Hopefully we will see some construction soon.

I passed their on my bike on Sunday night. I believe might be the Conrad hotel site; although I'm not 100% sure.

Malcontent

September 20th, 2011, 11:25 PM

The Conrad site is south of the this lot. It was cleared out almost a year ago. This lot is adjacent the light rail station. I am pretty sure it is owned by Applied and is slated to become another luxury apartment building. From what I read, 225 Grand was a success. Hopefully they will start construction on this next building quickly.

Nexis4Jersey

September 21st, 2011, 12:13 AM

The area south of Marin is part of the second phase of Liberty Harbor North , which i guess is now going through.

JCMAN320

September 22nd, 2011, 12:06 PM

Good to see. Also I've noticed that the retail spaces are finally starting to become rented out along Grand St and on the inner half of the development as well. Thx for the clarification Malcontent.

Here is an article on two popular food trucks from Jersey City combining to make a restaurant on Mercer St. across from City Hall:

Popular Jersey City Food Trucks Lucinda Creperie and The Krave Partnering to Open Storefront Restaurant
By Laryssa Wirstiuk • Sep 22nd, 2011 • Category: Food, Lead Story

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kraveriefeatured.jpg

For food trucks and pop-up restaurants, 2011 has been a banner year. Bon Appetit just named San Francisco’s Mission Chinese Food – a food truck turned pop-up restaurant turned fusion brick-and-mortar eatery – one of the best new restaurants of the year.

The story is much the same locally, with food trucks having become some of the most popular dining options in Downtown Jersey City — not only for the lunchtime work crowd, but now for the after-work dinner crowd as well.

Two seemingly different Jersey City food trucks are riding this wave of success and popularity by partnering to open Kraverie at 24 Mercer Street, the former location of Cuban restaurant Ria’s Café.

Even the most unobservant residents of Downtown Jersey City have probably seen the bright yellow Lucinda Creperie truck parked in locations like Van Vorst Park, the Grove Street PATH Plaza and Harborside.

For many food truck owners, a restaurant is the ultimate goal. Natasha Usher – co-owner of Lucinda Creperie and Lucinda Burrito and Taco Truck with her husband Chris – always wanted to open a creperie.

“I wanted to do crepes, but we bought the taco and burrito truck first so that we could start right away,” she says. “The lady who sold us the truck showed us how to operate the truck and taught us the laws of operations. This gave us the experience we needed to do the crepe truck.”

Within five months, Lucinda Creperie was serving crepes to hungry residents and workers.

Around the same time, a neon green truck known as The Krave began serving Korean BBQ while parked in many of the same locations.

The Krave co-owner Charles Heo and his business partners — all graduates of New York University’s class of 2007 — saw potential in Jersey City.

“The city is still in its beginning stages of development, and we wanted to grow with it,” Heo says. “We could’ve worked in New York, but we chose Jersey City to bring new opportunities here.”

For Heo and his business partner Taejin In, partnering with the Ushers seemed like a natural progression. Both trucks park in the same commercial garage and share utilities.

“We had been looking for a location for a few months,” Heo says. “We were doing a street fair, and the parking lot owner on Montgomery Street stopped by our truck and told us about someone who was looking to sell a restaurant at Grove and Mercer Streets.”

A storefront location will give both The Krave and Lucinda the opportunity to offer customers more reliable and consistent service. In a food truck, they often have to deal with obstacles like parking availability, weather and mechanical problems.

“It hurts to know that someone is craving our food but that something happened to our truck,” says Usher. “Now, we’ll be able to serve lunch, dinner, and hopefully breakfast seven days a week.”

Heo agrees, and says he’s glad the store won’t be as dependent on mother nature as the truck is.

“Even the weather has affected our business,” he says. “One day is lost to rain. In the winter, there are blizzards. The snow covered our parking space so that we couldn’t even park.”

The Mercer Street location seems ideal for the two trucks, since it is close to where they currently operate.

“Telling people that we’re opening a storefront location just two blocks from where we park the truck means that our customers will come there,” Usher says. “If we go somewhere far like Journal Square then we will have to start from scratch.”

The fact that the Mercer Street space already had a kitchen was a major selling point, and Heo says the decor will be “cozy, New York City hip” rather than ultra-modern.

“The store will be able to seat 30-40 people, and there will be outdoor seating,” he says. “We’re also going to do brunch on weekends.”

There will be table service, as well as a bar.

“We can’t sell liquor, but there will be bar seating,” Heo adds.

The Kraverie will feature a menu with favorite items from both trucks, including some dishes – like a crepe with Korean BBQ meat – that fuse the two very different cuisines. It will also serve special new items that aren’t currently available at either truck.

“What I want to do with Kraverie is have a completely new menu but still rotate things at the truck,” Heo says.

Operating both the trucks and the restaurant will mean that all the business partners will be clocking a grueling 70-80 hours per week.

“We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” Usher says of the workload. “I work with my husband all the time so learning how to delegate tasks and let other people help you run your business is going to be a challenge.”

As everyone has worked on renovating the space, Usher and Heo have been spreading word of the new restaurant to current customers.The Krave announced the new spot on Twitter last month, and word quickly spread among Jersey City foodies.

“It’s already spread so fast that people were asking me about it without me having told them,” Usher says. “I’m amazed how quickly it spread. Most of our regular customers already know about it.”

Heo and Usher expect to open the doors of The Kraverie in early November.

Photo: Jennifer Weiss

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/22/lucinda-creperie-and-the-krave-two-popular-jersey-city-food-trucks-partnering-to-open-storefront-restaurant/

JCMAN320

September 22nd, 2011, 12:14 PM

This article is from the Jersey City Independent today:

Jersey City Says it Has Found a $15M Buyer for City-Owned Land Behind Medical Center
By Matt Hunger • Sep 9th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/protoncenter.jpg

Jersey City may soon be home to a proton therapy cancer treatment center — one of only a handful in the country — pending City Council approval of a $15 million land deal for the property behind the Jersey City Medical Center.

The property in question has been the subject of debate and controversy since April, when Ward E councilman Steven Fulop began to question whether the city could actually receive $15 million for it, as it had estimated in its 2011 budget. A few months later, a state official said the city was “highly unlikely” to fetch the full price.

But now it appears that it may, with the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) having lined up Tessler Developments as the designated developer for a massive complex that would include not only the region’s first proton therapy center, but also commercial space and about 1,000 market-rate apartments, some earmarked for those undergoing treatment.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the procedure is somewhat controversial in medical circles:

The treatment involves using a proton beam to precisely deposit a cancer-treatment dose near a tumor or affected area with less scattered radiation to the rest of the body, said Dr. Glen Gejerman, co-division chief of urologic oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center. It has so far been studied on brain tumors and on lung, pediatric and prostate cancers.

The controversial therapy is supported by some doctors who say it targets tumors more effectively than conventional radiation and is safer on surrounding tissue and organs.

Others have been critical, saying the relatively new therapy hasn’t been subjected to enough peer-reviewed research.

The City Council will vote next week on a resolution transferring the land to the JCRA, after which plans and engineering drawings would be submitted to the city’s Planning Division for approval, a process city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says will take between 9 and 12 months. She said the city expects construction to start by the end of 2012, or early 2013 at the latest.

The administration is still hoping to include the $15 million in this year’s not-yet-passed budget, but Morrill says they are still “working with the state” on that.

Fulop, who has criticized the land-sale process, says that he and his colleagues haven’t yet seen any plans for the site.

In addition to City Council and Planning approval, the project still also must be licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services as an ambulatory care center. No application has been submitted, the agency tells the Wall Street Journal.

But Yitzchak Tessler, Tessler’s owner, tells the paper he’s requesting licensing. To help fund construction, he says he has lined up $250 million in private investments, as well as signed contracts for $90 million worth of equipment and software.

Rendering of the proposed development courtesy of the JCRA

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/09/jersey-city-says-it-has-found-a-15m-buyer-for-city-owned-land-behind-medical-center/

------------------

This would be great! Right next to the JCMC, which has been winning awards left and right last few years, it will be a medical hub. Coupled with Saint Peter's College last year being designated the National Micro-Plasma Research Center with scientists coming to work at SPC, Jersey City can now begin to add medical business and research as one of our big draws and business along with the financial sector!

Proton Center Development in Downtown Jersey City is ‘Put on Hold Indefinitely’
By Jon Whiten • Sep 14th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

The $15 million sale of land behind the Jersey City Medical Center to Tessler Development in order to pave the way for the region’s first-ever proton therapy cancer treatment center is off the table, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) announced this afternoon.

As we reported earlier today, the land sale was apparently contingent on the developer being granted a long-term tax abatement for the market-rate housing units on the site. But the JCRA says that wasn’t what derailed the deal. Instead, Tessler’s concerns for “market conditions” and the “uncertainty for construction financing” were the primary cause for tabling the project, according to a release sent out by the JCRA.

“The agency worked diligently to bring this matter to a swift conclusion so as not to delay the city from making decisions regarding its budget,” JCRA executive director Robert Antonicello says in a statement. “The agency has been directed by the mayor’s office to revisit the site for alternative solutions.”

City officials have put the $15 million projected land sale into the proposed 2011 budget; no word as of yet how this will change that document. We’ll keep you posted.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/14/proton-center-development-in-downtown-jersey-city-is-put-on-hold-indefinitely/

Malcontent

September 22nd, 2011, 06:36 PM

I talked to a construction worker at the site south of the Marin St light rail station. He told me they are beginning soil remediation. It might be a long time before they start any construction. :(

Nexis4Jersey

September 22nd, 2011, 07:48 PM

I talked to a construction worker at the site south of the Marin St light rail station. He told me they are beginning soil remediation. It might be a long time before they start any construction. :(

I would have to say given the sites size , 1 year to clean it up and 2 years to build. Its a small site ,and I don't think there was a big spill on that site....

JCMAN320

September 26th, 2011, 06:09 PM

That whole section West of Marin Blvd, South of Grand St, and East of Jersey Ave. was at one point all water part of the Morris Canal big basin. Later it was filled in and used by the railroads as a coal depot. I think some people forget that most of the JC Waterfront was nothing but railyards cutting the city off from the Hudson River and New York Bay. Alot of these sites along the waterfront have had to be remediated before development.

Getting back to my point, I don't think it has much to clean up considering it was railyards and coal depot. Its not like it was a chromium producing facility like the ones that use to dot the Hackensack Riverfront with those sites having significant deep soil cleanup.

JCMAN320

September 27th, 2011, 09:35 AM

JCMAN320

September 27th, 2011, 04:56 PM

Guttenburg Italian Restaurant GP’s Opening a New Location in Jersey City Next Year
By Jon Whiten • Sep 26th, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/gpslocation.jpg

After 34 years in its Guttenberg location, GP’s Restaurant is expanding and opening a second location in Downtown Jersey City. Owner George Politis signed the lease last week for the new location, on McWilliams Place on the ground floor of the Hamilton Square development, on the corner of what would be Pavonia Avenue.

“I am looking forward to becoming part of the Downtown community,” says Politis, a third-generation restauranteur whose family has owned and operated restaurants in Hudson County since 1934. “Tradition, quality, service and value are the trademarks of our restaurants — valet parking too.”

The new restaurant, which is slated to open in the first few months of 2012, is the result of lobbying done by Eric and Paul Silverman, the developers of Hamilton Square.

“Eric and I met George in 2007 and have been trying since then to get him to open in Hamilton Square,” Paul Silverman says. “Our persistence has paid off and we are already hungry thinking about his delicious food and great service.”

Politis says the menu won’t be quite as traditional Italian as the Guttenberg location, but it will definitely be similar.

“I will be taking a portion of what I do now with the food and incorporating smaller, lighter and more contemporary ingredients,” he says.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/closeup.jpg

THE DETAILS

GP’s Hamilton Park | 236 Pavonia Avenue | 201.861.6588 | Opening Winter 2012

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/26/guttenburg-italian-restaurant-gps-opening-a-new-location-in-jersey-city-next-year/

--------------------------------------------------

Here is the the website to their Guttenburg location:
http://www.gpsrestaurant.com/

JCMAN320

September 30th, 2011, 08:46 AM

Jersey City's Washington Street Powerhouse may become new retail, entertainment space
Published: Friday, September 30, 2011, 8:00 AM Updated: Friday, September 30, 2011, 8:18 AM

By Steve Strunsky/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger

http://media.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/photo/10093866-large.jpg
Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger
The Powerhouse has been largely abandoned since the 1930s. But under a deal approved by its co-owner, the Port Authority, the brick-and-steel building will be deeded over to Jersey City and redeveloped into an arts/entertainment/retail complex anchoring the city's Powerhouse Arts District.

JERSEY CITY — From 1908 to 1929, rail cars would roll through towering iron doors into the huge brick building near the Jersey City waterfront and unload coal to generate electricity for the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad linking New York and New Jersey, now known as the PATH.

Since then, however, the Romanesque Revival structure has been largely abandoned, a colossal eyesore amid luxury skyscrapers built more recently by Donald Trump and others on one of the richest stretches of New Jersey’s Hudson River Gold Coast.

But the Washington Street Powerhouse may finally be re-energized. Under a plan recently authorized by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency will deed its 55-percent stake in the Powerhouse to Jersey City, the building’s co-owner. Along with a private partner, the Cordish Company of Baltimore, the city plans to redevelop the building into a retail, entertainment and gallery space anchoring the city’s Powerhouse Arts District, an area of warehouses and cobblestone streets where zoning encourages artists to live and work.

In return for receiving full control of the 180,000-square-foot behemoth, Jersey City will give the Port Authority a lot just north of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail tracks, where the agency will relocate an electrical substation that feeds the PATH system.

Port Authority Commissioner Jeffrey Lynford, an appointee of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, said to fellow commissioners at a recent meeting that he was "very happy" the agency could be involved in preserving the Powerhouse, .

The Port Authority has also authorized spending $10.5 million on plans to build the new substation, estimated to cost $159 million when constructed begins in 2015. Officials said the 30,000-square-foot substation will be built largely underground, with the Port Authority controlling development rights above it.

Bob Antonicello, executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, said the deal was the culmination of five years of negotiations with the Port Authority. Antonicello said the city has already spent $2 million stabilizing the Powerhouse, including patching a leaky roof.

"This building is really an icon, representing the kind of grit and spirit that the city was all about," Antonicello said. "So it was really important to save it."

State officials seem to agree. Last month, the New Jersey Historic Trust set aside $250,000 to stabilize a pair of the building’s monumental 1,300-square-foot arched windows. On its website, the trust praised the Powerhouse as, "impressive not only for its size, but also its architectural detail including round headed Romanesque windows, brick arcades, corbelled brick tower, and steel smoke stacks."

Mayor Jerramiah Healy welcomed the deal, but cautioned that the development of the powerhouse is still years away.

The developer, Cornish, converted a similar building on Baltimore’s waterfront into a hive of restaurants, shops, music venues and other uses, known as the "Power Plant Live!" In a statement, company president David Cordish said, "The Powerhouse would be transformed by Cordish in a similar fashion to the Power Plant in Baltimore City: World class retail/entertainment as the focus, with possibly some additional use."

The Port Authority acquired a share of the Powerhouse when the agency took over the Hudson & Manhattan in 1962 and transformed the subway into what is still known as the PATH.

Plans to tear down or redevelop the building have come and gone, some thwarted by economic downturns, some by the red tape that had always bound the building’s divided ownership. In addition to the old Central Railroad of New Jersey Station at Liberty State Park, the Powerhouse is one of the few remaining examples of Jersey City’s heyday as an industrial and railroad town.

"It’s a monument to industrial architecture," said City Planner Robert Cotter. "It’s important to keep this here."

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/jersey_citys_washington_street.html

JCMAN320

September 30th, 2011, 08:55 AM

Jersey City City Council receives revised McGinley Square plan

Published: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 3:02 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jjournal-news/photo/10083950-large.jpg
JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
A revised redevelopment plan for McGinley Square was presented to the Jersey City City Council last night.

Jersey City planners last night presented the City Council with a revised McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan that includes a dozen changes made to address concerns from the community about the initial proposal.

The new plan does not permit the council to seize properties in the area via eminent domain, as had previously been contemplated. City officials dropped any plans to utilize eminent domain days after residents expressed anger about possibly losing their homes.

Some of the changes to the initial proposal include a requirement to pay “special attention” to the relationship of proposed buildings to existing structures such as the Jersey City Armory. The council is scheduled to advance the new plan at its meeting tonight.

Other changes include a requirement to preserve a bronze plaque marking the location of Revolutionary War heroine Jane Tuers’ house, and a “strong recommendation” to use local artists to design bike racks, benches and other street furniture.

City Planner Bob Cotter said that extra community input, elicited after the ferocious response to the initial proposal, has improved the plan.

“They brought things to our attention that we did not know,” Cotter said.

The McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan includes ground-floor commercial, retail and restaurants, and will permit larger entertainment uses such as theaters and bowling alleys.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/09/webhed_jersey_city_city_counci.html

City Council Pushes McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan Forward
By Matt Hunger • Sep 28th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Screen-shot-2011-09-09-at-7.59.49-AM.png
A developer’s rendering of the proposed new-look McGinley Square. The shot above is Montgomery Street looking east from Bergen Avenue; the shot below at right is a proposed pedestrian mall that would run east-west from Jordan Avenue to Tuers Avenue, in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan was unanimously introduced by the City Council last night, finally paving the way for “the shovel to hit the ground,” as council president Peter Brennan put it.

The ambitious plan to redevelop McGinley Square began inauspiciously when residents in the area received letters warning that their property might be seized via eminent domain to acquire land for the project’s developers. The angry and shocked residents demanded the city drop eminent domain from the redevelopment plan.

The city listened and said it was changing course, although the mayor maintains it was never his intention to utilize eminent domain, but the specter of a land grab hung over the deal until the area’s designation was changed from in need of “redevelopment” to in need of “rehabilitation,” legally eliminating the possibility of eminent domain.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the council thanked the residents for their input.

“This is not a perfect plan, but … it went 360 degrees from where it started,” Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson said. “It’s because people like you said ‘enough is enough’ and ‘we want some say about what will happen to us.’”

At-Large Councilman Ray Velazquez, with a nod to the $15 million land sale that recently fell apart for the property behind the Jersey City Medical Center, said he was glad the project was finally moving forward.

“I don’t want anything to happen with these investors, so let’s not waste any more time,” he said.

And Ward B Councilman David Donnelly, calling the area the “gateway to the rest of the city,” noted that he was happy to see new development finally moving away from the waterfront and to the rest of the city.

A public hearing and final vote on the plan is scheduled for the October 12 council meeting. After that, the developer of the site would be able to begin its work.

The developer’s proposal calls for 370,000 square feet of new retail space, 230,000 square feet of new office space, five residential towers, a 150-room hotel and an entertainment center featuring a new movie theater. It would also expand McGinley Square park and create two new pedestrian-only thoroughfares, which the developer envisions as being lined with retail shops, restaurants and bars. (One would run from Tuers to Jordan Avenues in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets, and the other would run from Nevins Street to Monticello Avenue between Storms Avenue and Orchard Street.)

Assuming things go as the developer plans, this multi-phase project would break ground next August, with the bulk of the development completed by the summer or fall of 2016.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/09/28/city-council-pushes-mcginley-square-east-redevelopment-plan-forward/

macmini

October 1st, 2011, 09:42 PM

I'm sure McGinley Square will end up being just like the redevelopment of Journal Square a bunch of hype and nothing ever happens. Oh wait I mean they will knock down some buildings and leave nice big empty lots for every one to look at.

stache

October 2nd, 2011, 12:51 AM

Try to be more cheerful.

Ninjahedge

October 3rd, 2011, 02:44 PM

I can see where he is coming from though.

JC is a bit of hit-or-miss. It has some really nice areas, and some really REALLY bad areas.

They are also kind of weird with the development. The industrial area is too spread out and has wide expanses of dead space between buildings that just do not go very well with the flow. Instead of sitting areas and parks, you just get further distances to walk from the office to the mall food court....

As for the power plant... That is a tough one. That may make a good shopping area, but I am not sure how they could get what thy need in there. It is also on the outskirts of the developed area and near the tracks, so i am not sure how it would fit in...

As for Barcade? Awesome.... Although I see spending $8 on a beer.... AND not being able to get there w/o driving now that I am no longer in Hoboken... :(

JCMAN320

October 4th, 2011, 04:36 PM

Jersey City seeking $18 million federal grant for bridge to link Downtown with Liberty State Park
Published: Monday, October 03, 2011, 10:31 PM Updated: Monday, October 03, 2011, 10:31 PM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10107140-large.jpg
Andrew Miller/The Jersey Journal
City officials are pursuing an $18 million extension to Jersey Avenue over Mill Creek in Jersey City. Photographed on Monday, October 3, 2011.

Jersey City has applied for an $18.4 million federal grant that would fund an extension of Jersey Avenue across Mill Creek, giving Downtown motorists a shortcut to Liberty State Park and Liberty Science Center.

Jersey Avenue now ends just south of Jersey City Medical Center, with only a pedestrian bridge traversing Mill Creek. The expansion project would connect the street to Audrey Zapp Drive, which leads into Liberty State Park.

The project, which has been explored several times in the past, could take up to three years to complete, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill. Preliminary plans that date back 20 years show a bridge design, she said.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/10/jersey_city_seeking_18_million.html

Don31

October 5th, 2011, 11:30 AM

An idea that's years overdue....

Ninjahedge

October 5th, 2011, 12:32 PM

Won't happen without "stimulus".

Nexis4Jersey

October 9th, 2011, 07:20 AM

Only part of Liberty Harbor South is getting de-contimated....

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6162/6224716787_7c75bd78f7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6224716787/)
DSC07118 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6224716787/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6033/6224716087_d36dbbabba_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6224716087/)
DSC07114 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6224716087/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Nexis4Jersey

October 9th, 2011, 08:05 PM

So i went to Jersey City Again today and snapped some new pics...

Whats this plot of land going to be?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6177/6228402510_28823a3447_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228402510/)
DSCN3916 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228402510/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

A New park under construction in Newport...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6168/6227884747_50cb6d5823_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227884747/)
DSCN3917 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227884747/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6098/6227885473_dee7e2f94a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227885473/)
DSCN3918 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227885473/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6228/6228406536_e55ac959f7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228406536/)
DSCN3923 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228406536/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6103/6227890565_a6ba41468b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227890565/)
DSCN3926 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227890565/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

New Traffic Lights going up along Washington & Bay Street / Washington & Morgan Street...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/6227921559_830c464eca_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227921559/)
DSCN3969 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227921559/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6044/6228440328_6efb410e93_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228440328/)
DSCN3970 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228440328/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6092/6228441892_e94dd4d904_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228441892/)
DSCN3972 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228441892/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6096/6228442688_e04d4d94d5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228442688/)
DSCN3973 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228442688/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6213/6228443696_1228414bd6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228443696/)
DSCN3974 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6228443696/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

66nexus

October 9th, 2011, 09:19 PM

Thought this was interesting.

http://www.fxnetworks.com/untitledjerseycityproject/ (http://www.fxnetworks.com/untitledjerseycityproject/)

tbal

October 9th, 2011, 11:54 PM

Excellent photos, nexus! To add to these, here are a few more:

Demo work has been completed at 294 Newark Ave; the Applied Co's (which is cleaning up the site pictured above in Liberty Harbor) is scheduled to begin construction on a massive 5-story, 50-unit building that will wrap around the four-story building in November:

14207

Progress continues at 109 Columbus, making it's way to the second floor:

14208

Also, at the Cast Iron Lofts site, it looks as though they are leveling the earth at the first floor before they pour concrete and begin to go vertical:

14210

14209

Nexis4Jersey

October 10th, 2011, 09:43 AM

I guess Jersey City is starting to pick up again , hopefully the large scale redevelopments like Liberty Harbor North 2 , Canal Crossing and Bayfront get built this decade.

JCMAN320

October 13th, 2011, 07:13 PM

Great pics Nexis and Tbal. Nexis that is going to be a residential tower; when it get builts who knows. That new park at Newport will be large for the area and I saw them putting sod down for a very large sweeping great lawn. McG Sq plan gets stamp forawrd:

Jersey City Passes McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan, Clearing the Way for Massive Overhaul of Area
By Matt Hunger • Oct 13th, 2011 • Category: Blog, News, Politics
Photos: Steve Gold

City Hall’s council chambers were packed last night with supporters of the McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan, including throngs of construction workers lining the back wall and a handful of representatives from St. Peter’s College, who all greeted the unanimously passed plan with loud applause.

The months-long plan went through numerous revisions, including a change in development classification after an uproar about potential eminent domain use, before ultimately being passed last night.

“This gives the true sense of how Jersey City residents get together and communicate with each other,” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan said. “It seemed doomed to failure at the beginning.”

The plan got off to an inauspicious start when letters were sent to residents and businesses located within the designated plan area alerting them to the possible use of eminent domain to acquire their property, resulting in a very vocal public backlash. The city has since said these letters were sent out erroneously, but the damage had already been done. Residents in the area and across the city coalesced over what they considered an abuse of government power. Despite the city’s verbal assurances that eminent domain was off the table, most notably by planning director Bob Cotter, it wasn’t until the plan was designated as in need of “rehabilitation” rather than “redevelopment” — a designation that eliminated the possibility of eminent domain — that the issue was settled.

Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez called the process “a learning experience,” adding that it was “rewarding” that “the people of Jersey City were heard.”

Supporters who spoke at the meeting included the president of St. Peter’s College, Eugene Cornacchia, who described the area as the “historic seem holding the city together,” and that this plan “provided the revitalization it deserves. This plan is good for Jersey City.”

Patrick Keller, the president of the Hudson County Building Trades Union, said many of the construction workers in attendance “have been out for a year, two years, with loss of benefits. These are men and women who want to go back to work.”

Council President Peter Brennan added that the plan will not only provide jobs, but redevelop an area that many think could use a facelift.

“We’re creating jobs and not just on the waterfront, but also the inner city,” he said. “Now we can develop an area that needs developing.”

The developer’s proposal for the area calls for 370,000 square feet of new retail space, 230,000 square feet of new office space, five residential towers, a 150-room hotel and an entertainment center featuring a new movie theater. It would also expand McGinley Square park and create two new pedestrian-only thoroughfares, which the developer envisions as being lined with retail shops, restaurants and bars. (One would run from Tuers to Jordan Avenues in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets, and the other would run from Nevins Street to Monticello Avenue between Storms Avenue and Orchard Street.)

Assuming things go as the developer plans, this multi-phase project would break ground next August, with the bulk of the development completed by the summer or fall of 2016.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/10/13/jersey-city-passes-mcginley-square-east-redevelopment-plan-clearing-the-way-for-massive-overhaul-of-area/

spiridondon

October 17th, 2011, 01:16 PM

but toronto has the cn tower

66nexus

October 17th, 2011, 01:38 PM

^Ummmm....wha....?

scumonkey

October 17th, 2011, 02:25 PM

read any of the 8 posts by spiridondon and you'll have the same reaction...

66nexus

October 17th, 2011, 04:46 PM

I did just that and had some lol's:D

JohnFlint1985

October 18th, 2011, 08:20 PM

JCMAN320

October 19th, 2011, 08:16 AM

As far as I know not yet.

Nexis4Jersey

October 22nd, 2011, 09:38 PM

What is proposed for the Piers along the Hudson River in Newport , will they be parks or high rises?

JCMAN320

October 23rd, 2011, 12:13 PM

The long pier in front of Newport Tower 7 has no concrete plans. The northern most one will have a park and the residential building the Ellipse at the beginning of the pier.

JCMAN320

October 24th, 2011, 06:01 PM

Jersey City’s Zoning Board Rejects Demolition of the Harsimus Stem Embankment
By Matt Hunger • Oct 21st, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/EntranceRenderingWeb.jpg

Good news for Jersey City residents who value open-space and historic preservation: a developer’s plan to demolish the half-mile Harsimus Stem Embankment that runs along 6th Street in downtown Jersey City was unanimously rejected by the Zoning Board last night, 5-0.

While developers have often found a welcome home in Jersey City — bringing with them jobs, growth, and even sometimes controversial tax abatements — this time the city board has decided open space is too valuable. Instrumental in making this happen was the Embankment Preservation Coalition, whose members argued their case through 21 separate hearings on the issue over the course of the past year, defending one of the last open spaces available in the city.

A Municipal Landmark, the Embankment is also part of the National Historic districts of Hamilton Park and Harsimus Cove and is on the State Register of Historic Places. As recently as the early ’90s the area was still used for railways, but in the time since wildlife has flourished, making it one of the greener — and unexpected — inner-city parks in Jersey City.

The move is part of recent efforts made by the city to keep its historic districts intact, preferring instead to push development through redevelopment and rehabilitation projects further into the city where it is more welcome and needed, including most recently the McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan.

“We thank the members of the Zoning Board of Appeals for their service and for listening to almost 100 hours of testimony in 21 meetings over the course of 13 months,” said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill. “We appreciate their intelligence, independence and integrity. The City remains steadfast in its determination to preserve the Embankment, which will one day be a world class attraction, similar to or greater than the Highline in Manhattan.”

She added, “The city remains steadfast in its determination to preserve the embankment, which will someday be a world class attraction similar to or greater than the Highline in Manhattan.”

According to the coalition’s website, “The Embankment and streetscape will be a linchpin in a network of walkable, bikeable greenways within the City of Jersey City, and beyond. From north to south along Jersey Avenue, a main boulevard, the Embankment will serve as a midpoint in a series of parks, including Hamilton Park, Van Vorst Park, and Liberty State Park. From east to west, the Embankment will join the Hudson Waterfront Walkway with the Hackensack Meadowlands, via the Bergen Arches.”

Images by Cassandra Wilday, Demetri Sarantitis and Jason Gould

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/10/21/jersey-citys-zoning-board-rejects-demolition-of-the-harsimus-stem-embankment/

JCMAN320

October 28th, 2011, 01:32 PM

Saint Peter's College in Jersey City breaks ground for school's first-ever student center

Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 3:00 AM Updated: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 11:53 AM

By Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jjournal-news/photo/10188166-large.jpg
CHARLES HACK JOURNAL PHOTO
PARTICIPATING IN yesterday's groundbreaking ceremony, inset, for Saint Peter's College's student center are, from left, Rev. Stephen M. Hess, Venny Jean Turner, president of Student Government Association; Kathleen M. McKenna, chairman of the Board of Trustees; Eugene J. Cornacchia, college president; Thomas P. Mac Mahon, chairman of Students at the Center; Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Michael Fazio, vice president for advancement and external affairs.

Officials at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City broke ground yesterday on a six-story student center near McGinley Square.

The 90,000-square-foot Mac Mahon Student Center on Glenwood Avenue between Bergen Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard slated for completion in 2013 will be a place for the students at the college to meet, study, and hang out with friends.

The Mac Mahon Student Center is named for Thomas P. Mac Mahon of the Class of ‘68.

The retired CEO of LabCorp, one of the world’s largest clinical laboratories, Mac Mahon chairs Students at the Center, the fundraising entity that is raising money to build the center.

So far, $47 million has been raised. The $35 million student center is one of several capital projects the fund will pay for, college officials said.

“I am just delighted that in some small way my name and my ability to raise some money over the last five years will be attached to Saint Peter’s College,” Mac Mahon said yesterday.

The center will include a courtyard, meeting areas, a new fitness center, study areas, computer lounge, space, new restaurants, a campus store, club room and media rooms for a radio station and newspaper.

“Facilities matter to our students,” said college President Eugene J. Cornacchia.

An event space on the sixth floor will be available for the public to rent.

Darshani Basit, 22, a communications major who graduates this year, said the center is sorely needed. As things stand, students can only gather inside the cafeteria or library, she said.

The student center is part of the McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan that was recently approved by the Jersey City City Council. That plan also calls for parks, plazas, housing units, new retail stores, supermarkets, restaurants and a hotel.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/10/saint_peters_college_in_jersey.html

-----------------
Picture from the JCI:
http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/studentcenter.jpg

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/10/24/groundbreaking-for-the-first-ever-student-center-at-saint-peters-college-this-wednesday/

JCMAN320

October 28th, 2011, 01:42 PM

Jersey City's McGinley Square neighborhood has a new Key Food supermarket on Monticello Avenue
Published: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Adam Maher/The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10185832-standard.jpg
Andrew Miller/The Jersey Journal

Hoping to increase the availability of fresh food, gourmet meals, and organic ingredients in household kitchens in Jersey City’s McGinley Square neighborhood, 64-year-old Mike Aziz and his son, Mike Jr., 36, have opened a new supermarket at 113-115 Monticello Ave.

The new Key Food Supermarket began a soft opening two weeks ago. A grand opening is scheduled for tomorrow and an official ribbon-cutting is planned for Nov. 4.

“We plan on having multiple food vendors present this Friday, with free food giveaways, samples, and many sales,” store owner Mike Aziz Jr. said in a phone interview.

The Key Food is the third supermarket the family has owned and operated in Jersey City.

“My father used to own the C-Town supermarket in Journal Square, and the old Jersey City Twin City supermarket as well,” Aziz said.

The family also owns Gourmet Fresh, an organic, gourmet food supplier in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Mike Aziz Sr. lives in Union County and Mike Aziz Jr. lives in Carroll Gardens.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/10/jersey_citys_mcginley_square_n.html

JCMAN320

October 28th, 2011, 01:45 PM

Controversial Incentives Lure Goya Foods Facility — and Revenues — to Jersey City
By Matt Hunger • Oct 27th, 2011 • Category: Lead Story, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/goya.jpg

Goya Foods will construct a new warehouse and distribution plant in Jersey City with significant subsidies sweetening the deal, including an $80 million Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit from the state and a 20-year tax abatement from the city — perks that do not sit well with some residents and policy experts, despite Goya’s promise of revenues and job creation.

James McCann, the company’s outside counsel, says Goya chose Jersey City over a number of other potential suitors for its new warehouse and distribution center and that the company’s development will turn 40 acres of land currently not in use into a more profitable source of revenue.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy, a supporter of the project, says Goya will be a boon to the city.

“Clearly the state thought this a worthy investment, as the New Jersey Economic Development Agency approved $82 million in Urban Tax Hub credits as an incentive to keep Goya in New Jersey,” he says. “Our city is desperately in need of blue-collar jobs and construction jobs, both of which will be created by this project.”

Healy added that Goya will be contributing significantly to the city’s tax coffers.

“There is a misunderstanding among many in the public that a tax abatement means no taxes. However, this is a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), and Goya will be making substantial payments to the city.”

But when Healy points to the Urban Transit Hub tax credit as an endorsement by the state, others see it as a misuse of a credit that is intended for encouraging development close to public transportation to spur the use of mass transit. And while the new Goya facility will in fact be located on County Road just a half-mile from the Journal Square PATH station, Deborah Howlett, the president of the New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), points out that the company is also building a 400-car parking lot. “So I’m not sure how much transit is going to be used by employees,” she says. (Disclosure: JCI co-founder Jon Whiten is now NJPP’s Director of Communications and Technology.)

This kind of tax incentive, Howlett argues, is big government spending by a different name.

“Do they really need taxpayer help to build if they’re looking to expand their operation? ‘If you don’t help us, we’ll move’ is always the argument,” she says of big companies who essentially hold governments hostage with the threats.

“That’s fraud,” she says, “because companies don’t choose where they do business based on taxes or tax incentive. It’s helpful, but not the primary reason.”

Rather, she explains, it is a combination of where the CEO “wants to be” and other geographical advantages — []such as the proximity to a railway that can help distribute their goods, a fine reason for being near a rail system, but not one that is supposed to earn a company a transit tax credit subsidy.[/b]

“In what are supposed to be austere times, the government says it can’t fully fund education and has to cut social programs, that the government is too big,” Howlett continues. “But this is the government spending money. What we see is this isn’t about reducing spending, it’s a choice about how to spend money. They’re inappropriately spending on corporations and not people.”

Another fallacy of the project, according to NJPP, is that this move is a serious win for jobs. On paper, Goya points to 150 new construction jobs that will be needed to complete the two-year building project, along with jobs brought in from other warehouses.

“Approximately 225 to 500 jobs will be coming from other facilities to Jersey City, some from Secaucus and some in Bethpage, Long Island,” McCann said at Monday night’s caucus meeting.

However, only nine new jobs would be created, says Howlett, with Jersey City’s jobs mostly coming as transfers from Secaucus and Bethpage.

But city officials think some Long Island workers won’t want to make the move to Jersey City, which would create some openings.

“Goya feels that there would be attrition from their Bethpage, Long Island facility creating employment opportunities for Jersey city residents,” city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says.

The administration has reason to be excited. While opponents of tax abatements have criticized the city for giving a gigantic food corporation a tax break, Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan noted that the tax revenue from the land is currently approximately $300,000. After the move, the revenue will be significantly more on a tract of land that is otherwise unused. Through the abatement formula, Goya will be paying $806,400 per year for the first six years, $892,950 for the six years after that, and $979,500 for the remaining eight years of the 20-year agreement.

Morrill stated that without the agreement in place, Goya would pay approximately $1.3 million in conventional property taxes if it moved to Jersey City. However, she added that “the city would keep only roughly $600,000 of that, as through standard taxation the County and [Board of Education] receive a portion.”

At the meeting, Yvonne Balcer, a resident and consistent critic of the city’s policy on abatements, said the added revenue was not enough.

“It’s not a ratable,” Balcer said. “And it is absolutely wrong for me to subsidize a corporation that makes money. We’re transferring businesses, not producing new jobs. … That’s not worth it. You don’t bring businesses in to do that.

“If that was Secaucus taking our jobs,” she adds, “there would be a busload of people on their way to Trenton screaming about it.”

The council voted 8-0-1 last night to introduce the tax abatement bill; Ward B councilman David Donnelly abstained from the vote. Donnelly said he’s unsure about voting in favor of the tax deal considering Goya has donated to his employer, the United Way of Hudson County.

Photo of Goya product by Dwight Burdette.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/10/27/controversial-incentives-lure-goya-foods-facility-and-revenues-to-jersey-city/

tbal

October 30th, 2011, 12:51 PM

What I'd really like to know is what counts as a "job". If a single worker spends one week at the construction site pouring concrete for a sidewalk, does that count as a job? That construction worker is off looking for a new "job" a week later in this scenario. I wish politicians would be required to reveal how many man-hours of work a construction project would generate. Obviously, this would make it much less appealing to give these companies huge tax credits if politicians were required to reveal some 'real' numbers. I'm guessing that a typical project that is marketed as having the potential to create 1,000 construction jobs really creates no more than 50-100 full-time jobs in terms of man-hours worked per week for each 12 month period of construction.

Not to go off topic, but if you look at the Gateway project in New Brunswick, for example, I bet that at any single point in time there were no more than 20-30 workers onsite. It was said that that project would create several hundred construction jobs.

JCMAN320

November 1st, 2011, 11:23 AM

Thats a very good question Tbal. Most of new developments only bring construction jobs and very few bring new permanent jobs to the buildings; most of them are just moved from other locations and consolidated at the new one.

This article is about the Powerhouse Art District in JC, similar to that of DUMBO in BK, getting ready for a Toll Brothers project in Spring of 2012 that residents there say is out of context with the area. The existing warehouses are now landmarked but this new development will use the facade of the former Manischewitz building for its new exterior.:

Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, No Stranger to Change, Braces for Toll Brothers’ Towers
By Matt Hunger • Oct 31st, 2011 • Category: Arts, Featured, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/WarehouseDistrict.jpg

In the crenulate, 19th-century cobblestone streets — the few remaining in Jersey City — some of the bland brick warehouses in the area known as the Powerhouse Arts District are still in use. Others have been converted into living spaces and artist studios, a nod both to the trendy residents with money who have moved to the neighborhood and the earlier pioneering artists who made it popular.

But soon both the warehouses and the more recent residential buildings in the area will be overshadowed, literally and figuratively, by three 30-story buildings after the city’s planning board approved a Toll Brothers’ development proposal almost four years in the making. And in a neighborhood that has been the site of dramatic change over the past thirty years — from squatting artists to city-mandated work/live allocated housing to prime real estate along a city’s waterfront that has spurred economic development for the rest of the city — the realities of long-term best intentions and the very real need for shorter-term growth are often the distorting lenses that split the difference between unconscionable action and logical progression.

“They went in for variances for buildings four times the height and double the density, and they knocked out all of the affordable housing [stipulations in the redevelopment plan] and turned it into cash payment for the city’s affordable housing fund,” says Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association President Stacy Nusbaum Woods of the drastic changes that override the PAD redevelopment plan first adopted in 2004.

Woods describes the plan as an essential document created to maintain the integrity of an area that, along with city assistance and forward-thinking residents, was already on the road to revitalization.

In particular, the group says restrictions on new construction that limit in height and mass to “support the existing fabric of the PAD” are paramount, as is considering the “adaptive reuse of existing warehouses.” Perhaps most importantly, the plan was to include affordable housing for artists in the area “when possible,” 10 percent of the total housing a nod to many of the residents who helped make the current development possible.

First submitted back in 2008, Toll Brothers’ plan was put on hold by a lengthy legal battle that ascended the judicial chain of command when the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association (PADNA) sued the city over the drastic variances granted to the developers. In the suit, PADNA argued the proposal was “inappropriate” for the neighborhood and that keeping the character and uniqueness of the area should be at the heart of city planning.

“When you already have a neighborhood with character, with things that distinguish one city from another,” says architect and former PADNA president Jill Edelman, “that is what gives them richness, that is what makes them valuable. If a portion of one city makes it look like another, there’s no reason to choose one over another.”

But an appellate court judge thought otherwise, deciding instead that a city’s development ultimately hinges on whatever the current administration sees as best. And that’s the way it will remain for the time being, as shortly after the decision, the group’s last hope for legal intervention was squashed when the New Jersey State Supreme Court decided not to even consider the case.

At the time, city attorney Bill Matsikoudis told the Jersey Journal, “the Appellate Division’s decision completely vindicated the city’s planning process and also held that a modification to a redevelopment plan does not require a re-blighting, which would be a significant impediment to urban redevelopment.”

Now more than a year after the judge’s decision, the developers are set for the first phase of their 950-unit project that is expected to begin sometime in the spring of 2012, with the second and third phases — plans that would bring a theater and public plaza to the area and two additional towers — coming shortly after.

But the Powerhouse Arts District’s vocal neighborhood association remains concerned about the consequences to a city when variances are seemingly granted at whim.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/padvtoll1-300x199.jpg

Woods, who has lived in the PAD for five years, said that along with permitting buildings completely out of context with the neighborhood, one of the variances allows the developers to avoid the redevelopment plan’s requirement of including the affordable housing for artists.

“The money that would go towards affordable housing for artists will go into a general fund,” says Woods. “It could go anywhere the city dictates.”

“Our argument was that the redevelopment plan was working, new buildings were being developed, and hundreds of people are living here,” she adds. “You shouldn’t upend [the neighborhood] with spot zoning.”

But most worrisome to Woods is the fear that as presently constructed, the arrangement with the city allows the developers to opt out of the agreement should the risk to profits be too great. After completing the first phase — which is the construction of the first of the three residential towers — she fears that rather than build the proposed theater and plaza on Provost the developers may wipe their hands of the proposal’s public-oriented selling points.

“They could say the market isn’t strong enough and never build the other phases of the development,” argues Woods.

But Bob Cotter, the longtime director of city planning, suggests that taking a broader view of the city as a whole, and the neighborhood specifically, will show a much different undertaking than the one painted by the neighborhood association.

“The nature of my business is the management of change,” Cotter says, maintaining that Woods’ worst-case scenario of the developers abandoning the project after one phase is unrealistic. “There are lots of folks in this world who don’t want to see change, who are afraid of change.”

“We’ve spent the better part of 20 years on and off in the so-called arts district,” recalls Cotter.

In 1984, the Planning Division first had the idea to get the area designated as an historic district, he says, “but the powers that be said they didn’t want to declare it an historic district because it might limit development.”

“Back then, there were a lot more warehouses standing. Over time, some were knocked down [and] some burned down.”

It wouldn’t be until some 10 years after the idea was first hatched that the proposal of turning the area into an official arts district would gain traction, a combination of Cotter’s encouragement for the planning board to promote the area for artists along with the de facto living situation that already found artists illegally residing in the industrial buildings not zoned for residency.

Although zoning could be changed, the buildings’ owners didn’t see the percentage in making the expensive changes to be on the right side of the fire code. The squatting residents did not have the financial means to pay the higher rent that could make up for the expensive changes; after all, that is why they were living illegally in warehouses in the first place.

“Some artists lived there anyway and the city just turned the other way,” recalled Cotter. “We knew there would be hell to pay if we just kicked everyone out.”

But with the skyrocketing property value in the area beginning in the late nineties and early aughts, building owners, reassessing profits based on the new value of the area, started to see things differently. Only then would warehouses be converted, and still the city tried to stand behind the people who made the neighborhood livable, says Cotter.

“We zoned it for 100 percent live/work spaces to allow the artists there to remain.”

But the requirement undercut the developers’ profits and scared away economic growth. “Every time someone looked at doing a project there, even if they were friends of the arts, they couldn’t bank it,” he recalls.

The city “kept watering [the requirements] down” until they reached a point that stipulated the new residential buildings had to provide the current ten percent space for artists, a meager but “realistic” compromise. Soon other warehouses, who watched as manufacturing moved elsewhere, started to take notice, including a mini storage space that had been in the area for over 20 years.

“And that’s pretty much who PADNA is now,” says Cotter. Taking this longer view, he maintains, the changes to the relatively nascent area-as-legal-neighborhood do not appear so drastic.

But as the city will note, the developer’s plan does call for that public plaza and 550-seat theater, sweetening the deal for the public. And the 10 percent artists-oriented low-to-moderate housing requirement is still intact overall if not in the Toll Brothers’ massive towers specifically.

The variance granted to the developers does not leave low-income housing out of the picture completely. Along with the towers, there will be 32 units of “workforce” housing constructed in the PAD, which will be available to residents who earn 80 to 100 percent of the city’s median income. In addition, the developers will pay for the right to bypass the 10 percent affordable-housing requirement, a practice Cotter says is not uncommon among developers. The money will then be available for the city to use toward inner-city affordable housing projects.

“We’re always looking for affordable housing in the inner city and if we can squeeze it out of buildings along the waterfront, great,” he said. “The city is always looking for ways of turning vacant lots into decent housing.”

“Powerhouse Arts District didn’t work out the way the dreamers dreamed it in the 1990s, we just couldn’t get anyone to bank anything,” he says. “This is as good as we could get.”

Still, critics will likely point to the variances given to Toll Brothers as a precedent for the city to bend the rules for economic development.

The Planning Division, he says, is “planning for the entire city, not just one neighborhood.” This is just another “dot” that the city will connect to the rest of the revitalized waterfront.

Photo of 150 and 140 Bay Street courtesy of Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy; “PAD Plan vs. Toll Plan” image courtesy of PADNA

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/10/31/jersey-citys-powerhouse-arts-district-no-stranger-to-change-braces-for-toll-brothers-towers/

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This has been a contensious battle for decades; if anyone has any input or opinions on this debate between the residents and the City Planning department feel free to offer them up.

Nexis4Jersey

November 1st, 2011, 12:34 PM

My pictures from yesterday...General and construction pictures.... Why are there wires still up in the New Developments in Paulus hook?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/6301395340_24a72aa0d7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301395340/)
DSC07579 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301395340/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6104/6300864047_5cab2ae106_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300864047/)
DSC07580 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300864047/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6115/6301407068_177f6887a8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301407068/)
DSC07638 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301407068/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6215/6301412330_246d5f2906_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301412330/)
DSC07656 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301412330/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6045/6301413830_aa0d1d9dfd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301413830/)
DSC07662 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301413830/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6240/6301414298_20e9b326d5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301414298/)
DSC07664 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301414298/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6039/6300885907_3fdf1df964_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300885907/)
DSC07675 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300885907/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6227/6300886677_2aa662f0f1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300886677/)
DSC07678 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300886677/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6211/6300888239_1e79c78a6c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300888239/)
DSC07684 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300888239/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6107/6301419934_d6f506d2fd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301419934/)
DSC07686 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301419934/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6225/6300890059_1b95a588e1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300890059/)
DSC07694 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300890059/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6234/6300893885_69ec82bf49_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300893885/)
DSC07707 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300893885/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6096/6301427874_05b9d085b2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301427874/)
DSC07718 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301427874/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/6300899129_36d2e4bbe9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300899129/)
DSC07730 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300899129/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6215/6300582967_23ef5e8da7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300582967/)
DSCN4223 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6300582967/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKGSyQwwyFw

Malcontent

November 2nd, 2011, 01:02 PM

Nice pics Nexis.

An update on Liberty Harbor. The site just south of the Marin Light Rail Station will break ground this January according to an onsite project manager. This site is being developed by Applied Co; the same developer that brought us 225 Grand.

A new bar called Tilted Kilt will be opening just north of the Marin Station at the base of the 16 Story condo building (I think it is called Gull's Cove). They are taking over the never opened Sawa restaurant.

Nexis4Jersey

November 4th, 2011, 11:56 AM

Some more JC content from last night...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6039/6310709873_d7e528d6a0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6310709873/)
DSCN4271 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6310709873/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6091/6310709635_b172dec0f9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6310709635/)
DSCN4270 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6310709635/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

JCMAN320

November 4th, 2011, 01:51 PM

Awesome pics again Nexus!! Here is a rendering of Hudson County Community College's soon to be Learning Resources Center & Academic Building at the corner of Sip Ave. and Jones St. The college had a groundbreaking for it yesterday. I'll see if I can dig up more details later:

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10220003-standard.jpg

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10220000-standard.jpg

By Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal

http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/hccc_breaks_ground_for_new_bui_1.html

Nexis4Jersey

November 7th, 2011, 01:48 AM

Some more of my JC shots from Yesterday...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6096/6321422214_f6e9606fc2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321422214/)
DSCN4425 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321422214/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6216/6321419806_d6446c877f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321419806/)
DSCN4420 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321419806/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6320896309_a860f271b5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320896309/)
DSCN4419 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320896309/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6117/6321418150_eaaa3348a2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321418150/)
DSCN4417 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321418150/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6239/6320892167_9c6a32d211_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320892167/)
DSCN4408 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320892167/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6224/6320891767_e531910c0d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320891767/)
DSCN4407 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320891767/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6048/6320883065_3011ca68f4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320883065/)
DSCN4373 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6320883065/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6094/6321405376_037394bb9c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321405376/)
DSCN4372 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6321405376/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

JCMAN320

November 13th, 2011, 07:51 PM

Nexis4Jersey

November 19th, 2011, 03:25 PM

A Crane is up along the lastest Essex street project...

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6111/6361264079_6a2072b42a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6361264079/)
DSC08375 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6361264079/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6048/6361263819_3ae4d31478_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6361263819/)
DSC08374 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6361263819/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

ASchwarz

November 19th, 2011, 04:21 PM

Great pics. What is this new Essex Street project?

66nexus

November 19th, 2011, 07:25 PM

Those pics look good w/ 30 Hudson in the front and WTC1 in the back.

Nexis4Jersey

November 19th, 2011, 09:34 PM

Great pics. What is this new Essex Street project?

The Same cookie cutter crap that lines the rest of the block...

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6045/6301413830_aa0d1d9dfd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301413830/)
DSC07662 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6301413830/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

antinimby

November 20th, 2011, 12:45 PM

How come they're not building taller here or not allowed to?

JCMAN320

November 20th, 2011, 12:50 PM

Anti I believe it's due to zoning; the site is in or on the boarder of the Paulus Hook historic district.

ASchwarz

November 20th, 2011, 01:20 PM

Anti I believe it's due to zoning; the site is in or on the boarder of the Paulus Hook historic district.

I thought this Essex Street project was taller, because they're using a crane.

I know nothing about construction, but here in NYC, you usually only see cranes for highrise projects.

JC needs more density overall, so I hope that this specific area allows more highrises.

JCMAN320

November 20th, 2011, 03:37 PM

I agree there are more highrises in the pipeline though. JC is still very dense though; over 16,000 ppl per sq mi with only 15sq miles of land. Were one of the most densely populated cities in America.

tbal

November 21st, 2011, 12:04 AM

150 Essex Street was originally supposed to be a 4-story building (in fact, it's still listed on the JCRA website as "under construction" at 4 stories). It will be 7 stories though. The neighborhood would've been up in arms if they knew several months in advance that this was to be a much higher-density building than originally planned. The mini tower crane was brought in because there simply wasn't anywhere around the site to put a track- or wheel- based crane (streets are too narrow in that neighborhood).

Cast Iron Lofts is probably the highest-density building under construction right now in JC (at 155 units). I have a feeling that it wouldn't have been approved during the boom (since it will block many views of people living in the heights), but I think residents sort of forgot about threats to their property value like this and assumed that there wouldn't be any hi-rises built for awhile (and didn't go to the planning board meetings because of this). I know there was a project planned in that same general area around 2001 or so that was supposed to be something like 40 stories (and have its own lightrail station), but it got put on indefinite hold due to clashes between the community and the developer.

It's going to be interesting to see how people in the Heights react once Cast Iron Lofts gets taller (currently at 3 stories above ground level; will top out at 20).

Side note: although it's not yet being marketed on their website, Cast Iron Lofts is being built by the same company that built The Cliffs.

Newarkguy

November 21st, 2011, 06:01 PM

Newark and jersey city better pay attention to the jealous suburban politicians.
As a Republican,I still find this guy repulsive!
Im talking about Steve Lonigan,head of Americans for prosperity. Agroup that fights government wast such as multiple political pensions, duplicate services,and excessive property taxes.

However, he's from Bogota,Bergen County therefore,in his view,cities are evil! Aparently he has. p olitical connections with secaucus,because Now I hear Americans for prosperity commercials bashing Newark for getting Panasonic! The commercials call for ending state grants,tax abatements,and all $$deals to lure suburban companies to the cities.
Steve Lonigan claims moving a company across the state does nothing to help the states taxpayers. He wants Newark's panasonic deal killed,and calls Panasonic's bluff on whether they actually leave the state.

It should be noted that Lonegan is a racist anti Hispanic bigot who outlawed spanish in public(overturned when found to violate 1st amendment rights.) He opressed hispanic immigrants while being Mayor of a town with a spanish name!! (Bogota) LOL.

Newarkguy

November 21st, 2011, 06:12 PM

Expect steve Lonigan to bash Jersey City on "Americans For Prosperity" commercials decrying Goya's move from Secaucus to Jersey City.
He will cry about how unfair and unjust it is dor his precious suburbs to ONLY have 90% of all retail and companies in this state.
He will call for an and to all incentives go move from one part of the state to the cities.

Or maybe he wont. He has a personal hatred towards Newark. If he does not complain about Goya,It WILL prove he's biased against Newark.

Nexis4Jersey

November 21st, 2011, 07:04 PM

Nexis4Jersey

November 24th, 2011, 12:51 AM

some pictures from yesterday

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6392962161_05881e0a43_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392962161/)
DSC08652 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392962161/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6392964135_25e970f018_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392964135/)
DSC08658 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392964135/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6096/6392965145_a237ef1fe3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392965145/)
DSC08662 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392965145/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6232/6392966635_180441a037_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392966635/)
DSC08671 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392966635/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6392966947_5a72475350_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392966947/)
DSC08673 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392966947/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6046/6392967671_bd6df43112_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392967671/)
DSC08678 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392967671/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6392967847_12cbd29b95_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392967847/)
DSC08679 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392967847/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6392968081_a0e0f9d5d5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392968081/)
DSC08680 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392968081/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6392968629_7258fdbdfb_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392968629/)
DSC08683 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6392968629/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaYMYTCU7Cg

JCMAN320

November 29th, 2011, 12:16 PM

Two Boots Pizza Coming to Jersey City
By Matt Hunger • Nov 28th, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food, News

Two Boots Pizza, the indie filmmaker-owned, Louisiana-influenced pizza and po’ boy restaurant, is coming to downtown Jersey City in early Spring. According to owner Phil Hartman, the restaurant is looking to fill the vacancy at 133 Newark Avenue, making it the first Two Boots in New Jersey and the 11th nationwide.

Hartman will be partnering with Aaron Morrill, the owner of the Fizzy Lizzy beverage company, to bring the restaurant to Jersey City. The restaurant is expected to seat 25 in-doors and offer some seating outside during the warmer months. There will also be live acoustic music nights in the restaurant.

http://www.twoboots.com/

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/11/28/two-boots-pizza-coming-to-jersey-city/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tilted Kilt Planning to Open in Jersey City
By Matt Hunger • Nov 28th, 2011 • Category: Blog, Food, News

Provocatively-dressed women in kilts suggesting libation pairings for your pub grub will soon be a Jersey City staple now that pub-restaurant Tilted Kilt has begun to explore opening a branch somewhere in the city.

Although details are still scarce– a manager explained the pub is still in the negotiation stages– the intention is there as is the market.

http://www.tiltedkilt.com/

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/11/28/tilted-kilt-planning-to-open-in-jersey-city/

tbal

November 30th, 2011, 10:46 PM

I apologize for my laziness - these photos are from 11/19...so these projects have advanced some since these were taken.

Cast Iron Lofts
It's sort of hard for me to believe this is finally getting built. And I'm sure that few people driving past it notice it since it's a small building skeleton in a seemingly abandoned wasteland. But I'm sure that as it reaches toward 20 stories, heads will start to turn as people drive by.

Looking Northwest; the Lackawanna Warehouse (new home to Carlo's Bakery) is on the left:
14493

Patriotic banner that has been put up:
14496

View to the Southwest across Jersey Avenue; 18 more stories to go:
14497

View to the Northeast (you can see 700 Grove to the right):
14498

150 Essex Street

View of the mini tower crane:
14495

109 Columbus

Looks like there will be 4 stories of residential above 1 story of retail (instead of 3:2).
14494

JCMAN320

December 1st, 2011, 08:23 AM

Great pics Tbal. I'm going to take pics of the development going on the Westside. Article in the Atlantic how Jersey City is the 10th most artistic city in the Nation!

Jersey City #10 on 'The Atlantic' list of most artistic U.S. cities
Published: Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 4:26 PM Updated: Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 6:21 PM
By The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/hudson_voices_impact/photo/9050832-large.jpg
Jersey Journal file photo
Jersey City makes it into the top 10 of The Atlantic magazines list of most artistic cities in the nation.

Jersey City makes it into the top 10 of The Atlantic magazine’s list of most artistic cities in the nation, beating out such hot spots as Miami and Atlanta.

"Jersey City has a vibrant and diverse artist community, which is something we are proud of and use to market our city," said Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy. "Having a robust arts market, with galleries, music, theater, and art and cultural events adds to the quality of life, and we are pleased to have Jersey City ranked with larger cities such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles as a home for the arts."

The city, which comes in at #10 on the list, is “a source of more affordable housing and work spaces,” according to Richard Florida of The Atlantic.

Florida notes that New York and Los Angeles have the largest number of artists, but for his list he used a different measure that takes into account a ratio that compares a region’s share of artists to the national share of artists.

On this list, Sante Fe, New Mexico comes out on top, with San Francisco, Calif. in second place and New York in third.

Read the article here:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2011/11/most-artistic-cities-america/592/#slide10

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/11/jersey_city_10_on_the_atlantic.html

JCMAN320

December 1st, 2011, 01:12 PM

Thirty Acres: Meet the Chef
By Sharyn Jackson • Dec 1st, 2011 • Category: Featured, Food

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/thanks1.jpg

Kevin Pemoulie got his start in the food business as a pizza delivery boy — now, he owns the pizzeria. In February 2012, he and his wife/business partner Alexandria will open Thirty Acres, a new dinner, lunch and brunch spot on Jersey Avenue and Wayne Street in what used to be Esperanto’s Pizza. The menu, touted as “NEW New Jersey cuisine,” is expected to feature local products, fresh fare and shareable plates, all for around $25 or less.

The chef/owner worked his way up the New York culinary scene via the French Culinary Institute, a stint as sous chef at Craftbar and five years as the chef de cuisine at Momofuku Noodle Bar. Now, Kevin and Alex are setting their sights on the neighborhood they’ve called home since 2010, Downtown Jersey City.

We caught up with Kevin to find out what to expect from Thirty Acres, named after Boyle’s Thirty Acres, an 80,000-seat arena built in 1921 on Montgomery Street to host a boxing match that New York City had rejected.

What inspired you to name the restaurant after a boxing arena?

Basically we wanted to incorporate some aspect of Jersey City history in our name. The story behind the fight and its moving from NYC to JC struck a chord with us. It just so happens to also sound like a pretty good name for a restaurant—suggests a certain freshness, I think.

Why did you decide to open Thirty Acres in Downtown Jersey City?

Since I started cooking professionally, the goal was always to open a place of my own. New Jersey was always an end goal, at least for me. My wife and I chose Jersey City ultimately because we really like it here. We had been in NYC for a while and we never really considered opening there. Jersey City at this particular time is exactly what we were looking for.

What do you think about the current culinary scene here?

I would describe the current scene as “up and coming.” I’ve already noticed a lot of change just since we moved out here and it really seems like it’s about to take off. I think there’s a real desire from the businesses to encourage people to stay in Jersey City to drink and dine. It just seems like prime time to enter into the scene. I really get the feeling JC residents want to stay here and want to support the local spots.

What drew you to the space?

I think we were drawn by the fact that the building was so cool and so nice yet the business seemed to be suffering. We actually just sort of popped in and wound up talking to the previous owners, ultimately finding out they wanted to “sell the business.” That block and Jersey Avenue in general seems like a no-brainer.

What can we expect to see on the menu?

The menu is going to really try to showcase New Jersey products, as well as surrounding areas: eastern Pennsylvania, Hudson Valley, Long Island, New York City. I particularly want to offer a wide selection of raw fish dishes including oysters (not sushi). Also, homemade pasta dishes. We’re probably going to avoid heavy, clunky entree type dishes. It’s not particularly how we like to eat, and we really want to encourage sharing, and being able to taste a number of dishes during the course of a meal. Everything will be seasonally appropriate and will change as often as I see fit. We really want to keep the menus fresh and interesting.

Can you tell us about a few dish ideas?

Basically, how they would appear on a menu:
Raw fluke – charred jalapeno, pickled red onion, cilantro
Fried sweetbreads – w/ white anchovies, roasted tomato, black olives, capers
Homemade garganelli – lamb ragu, cumin, feta cheese, mint

What are your plans for the design of the space?

My wife and I had the “vision” for the space and are taking on the majority of design aspects. We’re working with Brunelleschi Construction and they have been really awesome working with us and contributing design ideas. The look is going to be a rustic sort of look. More “craftsman” style. Wood bar, copper top. We have some great custom iron light fixtures and a lot of repurposed materials: chairs, church pews, fixtures. We are definitely transforming the current space.

What do you hope to achieve with Thirty Acres?

Our long-term goals here are to be a neighborhood fixture. We just want to have a place people can go to and will be happy with what we’re offering. We really love being here and want to show that in our restaurant.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/paper-1.jpg

Details (subject to change):
Thirty Acres has an expected opening of February 2012.

500 Jersey Avenue (corner of Wayne Street)
No Web site yet, but follow the restaurant’s progress on Facebook and Twitter.

https://www.facebook.com/thirtyacres

https://twitter.com/#!/ThirtyAcres

As of now, they plan on serving lunch Monday through Friday from 12 to 4 pm; dinner seven nights from 5:30 to 10 pm (11 pm on Friday and Saturday); and brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm.

Photo of Kevin and Alex Pemoulie and the restaurant’s exterior courtesy of Kevin Pemoulie.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/12/01/thirty-acres-meet-the-chef/

stache

December 1st, 2011, 01:18 PM

Do we really need a post about every single popsicle stand opening in this town?

JCMAN320

December 1st, 2011, 03:28 PM

Sorry Stache just excited that all these new places are opening up here. It just feels like more and more people are discovering our City. Ill try to consolidate them or weed out the less interesting ones.

66nexus

December 1st, 2011, 03:32 PM

PHOTOS: Newport Town Square holiday tree lighting

Published: Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 9:39 PM Updated: Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 9:55 PM

http://media.nj.com/avatars/1834731.png (http://connect.nj.com/user/njojjournal/index.html)By The Jersey Journal (http://connect.nj.com/user/njojjournal/index.html)
Follow

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10308936-large.jpg
Enlarge
(http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_10.html)
Lauren Casselberry/The Jersey Journal (http://connect.nj.com/user/lcasselberry/photos.html)
(http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_10.html)
People enjoy the festivities at the 10th annual Newport tree lighting takes place at Newport Town Square on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. Lauren Casselberry/The Jersey Journal10th Annual Newport Tree Lighting (http://photos.nj.com/4505/gallery/10th_annual_newport_tree_lighting/index.html) gallery (14 photos)

http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10308938-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_12.html)
http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10308939-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_13.html)
http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10308937-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_11.html)
http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10308935-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_9.html)
http://media.nj.com/jersey-journal/photo/10308934-thumb_square.jpg (http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/2011/11/10th_annual_newport_tree_light_8.html)
Newport Town Square in Downtown Jersey City is ablaze with light tonight after the switches were flipped during the 10th park's annual holiday tree lighting.

In addition to residents and visitors, a juggling elf and Santa Claus enjoyed the festivities.

Earlier today, Hudson County officials lit a Christmas tree in the grand rotunda (http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/11/jersey_city_lights_the_county.html) of the historic Brennan Court House in Jersey City.

If you missed today's lightings -- or the one in Rockefeller Center (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/rockefeller_center_christmas_t_3.html) -- you'd better not pout. A number of tree lightings are still to come in Hudson.Check out our list.
(http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/11/hudson_countys_municipalities_2.html)

taken from nj.com

--------------------------

Even though I like Rockefeller center, I actually like this a bit more. It seems more colorful, very good job.

Nexis4Jersey

December 1st, 2011, 04:09 PM

It seems like they put moar work into it , is that the only tree lighting in Jersey City?

JCMAN320

December 1st, 2011, 05:16 PM

Not at all Nexis. On Dec 9th JC is lighting their City Hall tree. Last week the Downtown BID lit theirs at the park around the entrance to the Grove St PATH and Hudson Court House lit theirs yesterday.

JCMAN320

December 2nd, 2011, 08:29 AM

“Purple People” Building Demolished, Redevelopment Plan Coming Soon
By Matt Hunger • Dec 1st, 2011 • Category: Blog, News

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/purplepeoplebuilding-300x192.jpg

The loud sound residents heard along the west side of Jersey City yesterday was the elimination of yet another area of blighted vacancy– in this case, the demolition of the long abandoned Purple People building– part of an ongoing effort by the Healy administration to clean up the pockets of eyesores found throughout the city.

Formerly the home of the Dye Specialty Corporation, the building was purchased by a subsidiary of M.D. Sass, an investment management firm, after it had been left abandoned for ten years following an environmentally hazardous spill and fire. Although the environmental danger was eventually cleaned up by the EPA and DEP, the building remained a troubling sight juxtaposed to the neighboring Hudson Mall.

The demolition of the building was only the first step in an effort to revitalize the area, with a redevelopment plan to be submitted to the city for approval shortly.

This effort follows a series of work undertaken this past year to eliminate unwanted and unsightly areas of the city. First, there was the adoption of the Adopt-A-Lot program, a law that promotes community gardens and that will eventually provide locally grown food for the community. Then the city instituted a financial penalty against absentee, deadbeat landowners whose vacant properties lower neighborhood value and become magnets for crime. The City Council has also approved a number of redevelopment plans that work towards fixing up run-down areas in need of a boost.

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2011/12/01/purple-people-building-demolished-redevelopment-plan-coming-soon/

Newarkguy

December 2nd, 2011, 11:13 AM

It was quite an eyeesore,especially with the collapsed side facing Rt440/Hudson Mall. I do "urban Exploration" from time to time,and found this structure inviting to enter,however, the high traffic,foot traffic and the fact that it had collapsed, made me pass.
Urban exploration is the exploring of abandoned structures. This is usually abandoned factories, old transit tunnels (Newark cedar street subway/raymond blvd ramps) or even abandoned homes, looking for stuff to give you a clue of the old occupants,kind of an "urban archeology" if you may.
Urban exploration is over in NJ, since EVERYTHING worth exploring has been demolished. The golden age being in the 1980s. And early 1990s.
Any remaining abandoned asylums and structures are in full public view and off limits.

stache

December 2nd, 2011, 11:16 AM

You will probably have to look further into Pennsylvania, for example. Plus the internet publicizing these places didn't help.

Nexis4Jersey

December 4th, 2011, 03:21 PM

Pictures from my Jersey City Exploration yesterday....daytime...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6454522593_66d6813974_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454522593/)
DSC08921 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454522593/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6454521985_5577f367f5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454521985/)
DSC08920 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454521985/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6454521101_8cbbf141b6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454521101/)
DSC08918 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454521101/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6454517561_98e5ae7892_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454517561/)
DSC08910 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454517561/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6454517863_4768c76ef8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454517863/)
DSC08911 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454517863/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6454574521_153e2cb626_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454574521/)
DSC09035 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454574521/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6454577793_f8d1cca92a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454577793/)
DSC09039 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454577793/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6454578941_b354d17913_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454578941/)
DSC09041 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454578941/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6454579715_bc92348dc9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454579715/)
DSC09042 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454579715/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Newarkguy

December 5th, 2011, 02:14 AM

Is that Battery park in the foreground?(has to be) did you check out 1 wtc?

Nexis4Jersey

December 5th, 2011, 03:40 AM

Is that Battery park in the foreground?(has to be) did you check out 1 wtc?

It was Battery Park / Battery City. All those WTC 1 pictures are in the WTC 1 thread...

Nexis4Jersey

December 5th, 2011, 03:45 AM

Jersey City @ Night...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6454616377_3468ab69df_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454616377/)
DSC09095 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454616377/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6454618229_27d580a87c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454618229/)
DSC09102 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454618229/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6454623309_5f5e1347eb_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454623309/)
DSC09112 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454623309/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6454624923_a97ba28c7b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454624923/)
DSC09117 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454624923/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6454626969_717a7fe87d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454626969/)
DSC09120 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454626969/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6454628837_6457ac1350_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454628837/)
DSC09123 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454628837/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6454632297_f0a5c3f1eb_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454632297/)
DSC09135 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454632297/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6454638647_22cd91283e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454638647/)
DSC09145 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454638647/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6454639381_4f7862af1a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454639381/)
DSC09147 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454639381/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6454645359_b165dfe899_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454645359/)
DSC09155 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454645359/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6454646365_329b772bc2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454646365/)
DSC09156 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454646365/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6454649025_75d5b05912_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454649025/)
DSC09160 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454649025/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6454651459_57acb89815_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454651459/)
DSC09162 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454651459/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6454655143_b45eb3ecfe_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454655143/)
DSC09167 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454655143/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6454658605_5595fa9213_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454658605/)
DSC09173 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6454658605/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Newarkguy

December 5th, 2011, 03:54 PM

:cool:
It was Battery Park / Battery City. All those WTC 1 pictures are in the WTC 1 thread... Nice pics, I will check the WTC thread.

tbal

December 7th, 2011, 05:32 PM

So unless this is going right behind Harborside 10, it looks like either Harborside 4 or 7 won't get built...in any case, this will undoubtedly be the tallest residential towers in the entire state (~500 units each tower; for comparison's sake, Monaco Towers has 524 units IN TOTAL). I guess they're definitely going aiming to maximize their income from that valuable land!
--------------------------------

From GlobeSt.com: http://www.globest.com/news/12_238/newjersey/mackcali/-316374.html

JERSEY CITY-Mack-Cali Realty Corp. and Ironstate Development Co. have formed a joint venture to develop luxury multifamily rental towers on the Jersey City waterfront. The companies plan to break ground in the fourth quarter of 2012, with residents to take occupancy approximately two years later.

The project will be built on land owned by Mack-Cali within Harborside Financial Center, which is comprised of five state-of-the-art class A office buildings, retail shops, and dining. Phase 1 of the new construction will consist of a parking pedestal to support two high-rise towers of approximately 500 apartment units each.

Mitchell E. Hersh, Mack-Cali president and CEO, commented: "We are thrilled to be working with Ironstate to develop this premier project. It allows us to utilize a portion of the land we already own in a manner consistent with creating a 24/7 ‘city within a city."

The architect on the project is HLW International LLP. Planned on-site amenities include a café, pools, fitness center, and more.
David Barry, Ironstate Development president, says in a statement: “We’re delighted to announce this partnership with Mack-Cali as both companies have long worked towards a common goal of creating a world-class live/work destination in downtown Jersey City. This well-positioned site represents a tremendous development opportunity to introduce quality rental residences to an established waterfront neighborhood already offering broad public transportation options, a vibrant commercial base and complementary retail.”
Categories: Mid-Atlantic (http://wirednewyork.com/regions/midatlantic.html), Multifamily (http://wirednewyork.com/sectors/multifamily.html), Residential (http://wirednewyork.com/sectors/residential.html), Development (http://wirednewyork.com/specialfocus/development.html), Mack-Cali (http://wirednewyork.com/specialfocus/mackcali.html), New Jersey (http://wirednewyork.com/topics/newjersey.html)

------------------------------

From NJBiz.com: http://www.njbiz.com/article/20111207/NJBIZ01/111209867/-1/daily/Mack-Cali-Ironstate-partner-on-waterfront-rentals

Using property the company already owns, Mack-Cali Realty Corp. announced Wednesday it is partnering with Ironstate Development Co. to build two residential towers on the Jersey City waterfront.

The development will be part of Mack-Cali's Harborside Financial Center, currently the location of five class A office buildings, as well as retail shops and restaurants.

"It's all part of the strategic vision, which is to complement a very premiere office development we have down at Harborside, and complemented by our 101 Hudson Street high rise building down there with a full complement of amenities and uses that create this 24/7 work/live environment," said Mitchell E. Hersh, president and CEO of Mack-Cali.

Hersh said the towers were a demand-driven choice for the land, focused primarily for younger professionals, with the majority of the units in the initial phase being one-bedroom and studio apartments. The Harborside development is being designed to offer an affordable choice for the urban work force for both Jersey City and lower Manhattan.

"It's diversifying quite nicely, and it's an epicenter of the urban environment, and our residential product on a comparative basis will be a very good price point compared with what's available in Manhattan," Hersh said of the Jersey City waterfront market.

"From a strategic perspective, this allows us to round out the uses down there," Hersh said. "We now are in full control of making sure every aspect of the urbanization trend is addressed at that development, which is a very significant part of our asset base, certainly in this region."

Familiarity with David Barry, president of Ironstate, factored into the decision to partner with the Ironstate, Hersh said, as well as the company's "interests that are aligned with ours, to say long-term ownership and being part of putting capital into the project, equity into the project."

Groundbreaking for the towers is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2012, with occupancy occurring in 2014. The architect named to the project is HLW International LLP.Hersh said no state incentives will be involved with the residential development.

Malcontent

December 7th, 2011, 07:35 PM

Amazing! Can't wait to see renderings. Does anyone know exactly what road this will be on? I am guessing the block bounded by Washington/Bay/Greene/Morgan???

Nexis4Jersey

December 7th, 2011, 09:32 PM

Harborside is the plot of land next to the LRT stop that is open parking at the moment.

tbal

December 7th, 2011, 10:49 PM

Actually, to be technical, Harborside is the area bounded by Columbus Drive to the South, 2nd Street to the North, the Hudson River to the East, and Washington Street to the West. There are three developable plots of land left; one has already been slated for Harborside 4, which already has necessary construction approvals (as well as a tax incentive I believe), and I can't imagine Mack-Cali would want to build a residential building there since it's so extremely close to the Exchange Place PATH station and light rail station (this is a very strategic piece of land for M-C, and large office tenants tend to be much more sensitive to proximity to mass transit stations than individual renters are).

This leaves the plot of land across Greene Street from Trump (where Harborside 7 was supposed to go) and the huge parking lot behind Harborside 10. I'm going to put my money on the latter of these - renters tend to have a much stronger preference for views than office tenants do), so I'm guessing that they'll build this right behind Harborside 10 (which still has somewhat unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline and is definitely the right size for a dual-tower structure.

tbal

December 9th, 2011, 11:21 PM

While browsing the HWKN Architects website (http://www.hwkn.com/), I stumbled across a mention of a project they are working on called 'J2', and they claim it will be the 'tallest highrise building in New Jersey", with construction slated to start in 2013; they mention on their facebook page that it will be completed by 2015. Based on the name, I'm guessing it will be a reincarnation of One Journal Square ('J' for 'Journal', '2' for 'Square'). If so, sounds like they will really be focusing on a young market segment with the new design.

antinimby

December 10th, 2011, 06:12 AM

^ Those folks are not the same as HLW International. HLW does below average to mediocre stuff.

JCMAN320

December 10th, 2011, 12:57 PM

I have just completely lost faith in that JSQ project starting anytime soon. Everything else is being built up around the Square while that plot is the key that will turn the Square around. Its extremely frustrating going by it all the time!!

Newarkguy

December 10th, 2011, 10:49 PM

Newarkguy

December 10th, 2011, 10:55 PM

stache

December 10th, 2011, 11:09 PM

We just have to wait for the economy to heat back up.

66nexus

December 11th, 2011, 01:26 AM

So much for Newark's Dranoff/NJPAC tower being the state's tallest. I was hoping Newark could momentarily reclaim the title of NJ's tallest before THIS development poped up.

When was the NJPac tower supposed to be the state's tallest residential??:confused:. At 480ft it wouldn't even be taller than already existing 77 Hudson or Trump's tower.

arcman210

December 11th, 2011, 12:36 PM

NJPAC tower doesn't need to be the tallest to accomplish its goal. Never did.

66nexus

December 11th, 2011, 03:03 PM

NJPAC tower doesn't need to be the tallest to accomplish its goal. Never did.

Agreed.

Newarkguy

December 12th, 2011, 12:29 AM

When was the NJPac tower supposed to be the state's tallest residential??:confused:. At 480ft it wouldn't even be taller than already existing 77 Hudson or Trump's tower. Its what the Star Ledger reported in spring 2011. I was confused myself because of the Trump tower, but they came up with some criteria, I will try to find it,but can't copy/paste or or pass along URLs on my android phone.

*update*
Its meant to be Newark's newest tallest, at 44 stories, not NJ's. My bad :eek:
It gets worse! Its actually an article (newark Star Ledger) from late WINTER/SPRING 2010.

stache

December 12th, 2011, 05:29 AM

*slaps Newarkguy's wrist*...

66nexus

December 12th, 2011, 11:33 AM

Its what the Star Ledger reported in spring 2011. I was confused myself because of the Trump tower, but they came up with some criteria, I will try to find it,but can't copy/paste or or pass along URLs on my android phone.

*update*
Its meant to be Newark's newest tallest, at 44 stories, not NJ's. My bad :eek:
It gets worse! Its actually an article (newark Star Ledger) from late WINTER/SPRING 2010.

*slaps Newarkguy's wrist*...

:D:D:D:D lol!

stache

December 12th, 2011, 12:32 PM

Heh -

citybooster

December 13th, 2011, 01:28 AM

Love Newark but enough already...we need details on how tall Mack Cali and Ironstate want to go with these towers....does contemporary design mean another bleh set of towers in the skyline?Or will we have something to finally match the pizazz of 77 Hudson...bland base and all,it's still visually striking.I gather the location will be behind Harborside 10,as the proposed 8 and 9 buildings were changed towards a residential intent some time ago.Any other construction news to get excited about yet?

Nexis4Jersey

December 14th, 2011, 09:07 AM

My Weekly Jersey City photo update...

1.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6508724275_b3090b7301_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508724275/)
DSC09389 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508724275/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

2.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6508729311_3a31d84d5c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508729311/)
DSC09407 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508729311/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

3.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6508732471_2f9a632469_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508732471/)
DSC09422 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508732471/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

4.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6508733365_837246fb47_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508733365/)
DSC09427 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508733365/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

5.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6508734071_da5bdea816_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508734071/)
DSC09430 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508734071/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

6.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6508738349_c79b67d198_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508738349/)
DSC09450 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508738349/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

7.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6508739371_e8e470dd68_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508739371/)
DSC09454 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508739371/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

8.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6508739645_8861358144_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508739645/)
DSC09456 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6508739645/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Newarkguy

December 17th, 2011, 04:09 PM

:D
*slaps Newarkguy's wrist*... ow! (That actually felt nice...) LOL!:D:p:D

Nexis4Jersey

December 17th, 2011, 07:04 PM

* Next Tuesday (after Christmas) with my New camera the Following neighborhoods / sites with be re-photographed in crisp style...

Jersey City Heights
Historic Downtown
Journal SQ
Little India
Five Corners
Newport
Waterfront
Paulus Hook
Liberty Harbor
Liberty State Park
Backside of Newport
Hackensack Riverfront

Nexis4Jersey

December 30th, 2011, 11:31 AM

My New Camera pictures Part 1 - Nikon P500 - 36X zoom

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6600945817_8dcf277d9d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600945817/)
DSCN0087 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600945817/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6600958099_b73598f67f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600958099/)
DSCN0100 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600958099/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6600983063_16fe25462a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600983063/)
DSCN0106 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600983063/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6600996691_da8acbf5e5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600996691/)
DSCN0109 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6600996691/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6601001175_74dc35c6ee_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601001175/)
DSCN0114 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601001175/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6601003227_f6bcb4663b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601003227/)
DSCN0116 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601003227/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6601004151_d310e880be_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601004151/)
DSCN0117 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601004151/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6601006585_85a0bfeeaa_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601006585/)
DSCN0120 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601006585/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6601008675_6356ef9267_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601008675/)
DSCN0122 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601008675/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6601014657_e2b06f5cd2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601014657/)
DSCN0128 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601014657/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6601025969_edf4817dfc_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601025969/)
DSCN0145 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601025969/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Nexis4Jersey

December 31st, 2011, 11:48 PM

Second Batch of Jersey City Photos....

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6601097887_5762d89aa4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601097887/)
DSCN0224 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601097887/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6601101725_63862dba5b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601101725/)
DSCN0228 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601101725/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6601104067_d818bec8e8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601104067/)
DSCN0232 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601104067/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6601111189_c7ed6a1751_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601111189/)
DSCN0240 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601111189/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6601117507_926d1180de_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601117507/)
DSCN0246 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601117507/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6601121653_feb372e7ae_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601121653/)
DSCN0250 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601121653/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6601123627_3067bbeed9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601123627/)
DSCN0252 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601123627/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6601124681_f418fbfabb_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601124681/)
DSCN0253 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601124681/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6601148557_3cde67c37d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601148557/)
DSCN0277 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6601148557/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

citybooster

January 2nd, 2012, 01:04 AM

REALLY great pics,Nexis!Keep it coming whenever you get the itch!

JCMAN320

January 11th, 2012, 10:58 AM

N.Y. / REGION
Fresh Direct Has $100 Million Offer From New Jersey

By CHARLES V. BAGLI
Published: January 11, 2012

New Jersey is aggressively trying to lure Fresh Direct,the online grocer based in Queens that employs 1,800 people,across the Hudson River to Jersey City with a $100 million package of tax breaks,land and other subsidies.

At the same time,New York State officials and the Bloomberg administration are countering with a deal that they hope will keep the company in New York,perhaps at a new headquarters and warehouse at the Harlem River Yards in the Bronx.

The battle over Fresh Direct is only the latest skirmish in the decades-long war for jobs between the two states. In the last two years,New Jersey has pushed harder,offering ever-larger subsidies and incentives to prospective candidates. Companies have long taken advantage of the fighting by playing one state against another to land the most lucrative benefits.

It is unclear how a move west to Jersey City would benefit Fresh Direct's truck deliveries when the bulk of its business is east of the Hudson River. But New York officials,who were reluctant to discuss the matter on Tuesday while negotiations continue,say the company's threat to relocate out of state is genuine.

But New York officials are furious that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is again engaging in what they say is a debilitating war - not only for New York's banking jobs,but also for blue-collar jobs like those at Fresh Direct. The 10-year-old company delivers meat,vegetables and detergent to homes in New York City,Nassau County and Westchester County in New York;Fairfield County in Connecticut;and parts of New Jersey.

Fresh Direct,which expects to add 1,000 jobs over the next five years, declined to comment.

Erin Gold,a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority,confirmed that the state was wooing Fresh Direct. "We're very comfortable with the incentive packages we used to attract companies," she said.

New Jersey's siren call to Fresh Direct comes only eight months after the Christie administration dangled a $200 million incentive package in front of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative to move roughly 3,000 jobs to the New Jersey Meadowlands from the Bronx. Stephen Katzman,co-president of the co-op,told The Herald News in June that Governor Christie had called him offering "pretty much whatever it would take to get us to go there."

That prompted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to accuse New Jersey of trans-Hudson bribery. "I don't like the idea of one state bribing a business to come," the mayor said last spring. "The trouble with that is the next state can do it,too. Anybody can get in that game,and pretty soon,it's a race to the bottom. I don't think anybody benefits."

Many economists and urban planners question the wisdom of giving away tax revenues by the millions for individual companies,instead of investing in public services and transportation that would benefit all companies and citizens.

"You'd think at a time of shrinking budgets the city and the state would clamp down on corporate giveaways," said Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs New York,a nonprofit public-policy group,"particularly when history often shows that these subsides are not the best job creators."

Mr. Bloomberg,responding to the possibility the grocer could leave New York,said,"If we want to get our economy back on track,we need companies like Fresh Direct to expand and create jobs in New York City,not elsewhere."

Mr. Christie,whose budget cutting has been a hallmark of his administration,has provided generous tax breaks for companies moving between states or within the state. Panasonic received incentives worth $102.4 million under the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program after it agreed to move its North American headquarters to Newark from Secaucus. Pearson Education,a publisher,received $82.5 million from the same program to move its operations to Hoboken from Upper Saddle River,even though half its 1,300 employees will relocate to Manhattan.

Still,New York did persuade the produce co-op to renew its lease at Hunts Point for three years and to enter exclusive - at least for now -negotiations over building a modern,refrigerated market in New York. The state,the city and the Bronx borough president,Ruben Diaz Jr., have offered cash and tax breaks worth about $112 million,according to officials involved in the discussions.

If Fresh Direct goes to the Bronx,it may be forced to raise the wages of its delivery drivers under the so-called living wage bill now under consideration in the City Council. The drivers make less than $10 an hour,said Sandy Pope,president of Teamsters Local 805,which has tried unsuccessfully to organize the drivers. "They continue to exploit people and violate workers' rights to join a union," Ms. Pope said. "We'll fight their efforts to get more subsidies."

The Bloomberg administration has tried to eliminate or scale back the subsidy packages for companies threatening to relocate. But officials say the increasingly large packages offered by New Jersey can force New York to raise its bid.

Officials say that Fresh Direct,which has received more than $2.5 million in cash and tax breaks from the city and state in the last 10 years,has outgrown the older brick building it owns in Long Island City and needs to move to a modern building with parking lots in order to grow. New York State officials have been working with the Bloomberg administration and Mr. Diaz to lure the company to the Bronx site. According to three people involved in the discussions,they are offering a subsidy package worth about $50 million.

"They are a home-grown success that we are working hard to keep growing and creating jobs in New York," said Austin Shafran,a spokesman for New York State's economic development agency.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/nyregion/fresh-direct-has-100-million-offer-from-new-jersey.xml

Ninjahedge

January 12th, 2012, 10:48 AM

They have a better chance to EXPAND into NJ than to relocate.

I really do not see how coming to NJ will make it easier for them to service NYC and its boroughs. This is a silly game that ends up costing SOMEONE more money than it is worth (cutting our net proceeds, as a state, to almost nil in hopes of future growth.)

JCMAN320

January 12th, 2012, 05:12 PM

They are already in Jersey City and Hoboken. I think they should expand to all of Hudson County.

Ninjahedge

January 13th, 2012, 09:17 AM

I see no problem with that, but I do not see them moving OUT of their current base of operations.

You keep a hub on each side of the Hudson and you can really do well. I am sure there are enough places on the south of Bergen County not serviced by delivery operations that would welcome something like Fresh Direct...I do not think there is another company that has really succeeded with the prevalence of supermarkets and other stores....

Shifting 100% to NJ would not do them good unless they were promised some other incentive, and all that means is that our margin for benefit will be compromised and may even cost us in the short run for something that may never net community profit in the long run.

Nexis4Jersey

January 14th, 2012, 08:18 AM

Some Jersey City shots i took yesterday...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6693123883_3f0e54a139_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693123883/)
DSCN0794 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693123883/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6693124687_05ab0db5b7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693124687/)
DSCN0796 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693124687/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6693125041_dc42059962_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693125041/)
DSCN0797 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693125041/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6693127319_8644e3808d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693127319/)
DSCN0803 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693127319/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6693128387_b459ebb37a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693128387/)
DSCN0806 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693128387/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6693130231_d601b7ced2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693130231/)
DSCN0811 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693130231/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6693137267_f5be531027_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693137267/)
DSCN0829 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693137267/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6693137999_af1aa8af0d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693137999/)
DSCN0831 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693137999/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6693138355_8029525755_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693138355/)
DSCN0832 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693138355/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6693140453_93156c9357_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693140453/)
DSCN0837 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693140453/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6693140765_14b6e1011b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693140765/)
DSCN0838 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6693140765/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6694387521_848454cf04_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6694387521/)
DSCN0952 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6694387521/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6694386135_fec32aa82a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6694386135/)
DSCN0949 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6694386135/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6694385629_96fb2eaf7d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6694385629/)
DSCN0948 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6694385629/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

futurecity

January 17th, 2012, 05:20 PM

If the US wasn't so decentralized, Jersey city could be a monster employment center. A true extension of the city. Alas, NYC isn't Tokyo. Our major corporations are spread all over the land.

tbal

January 17th, 2012, 05:37 PM

From NJBiz.com (speaking of the NJ Economic Development Corp):

"– The board approved up to $28.3 million in tax credits to 70 Columbus Co. LLC to build a primarily residential high-rise above the Grove Street PATH station, in Jersey City. The 48-story project will include 495 units renting for an anticipated $1,600 to $3,100 per month, and 4,500 square feet of retail space. The developer is a four-way partnership between Panepinto Family Realty LLC; Ironstate Holdings LLC, owned by David Barry and Michael Barry; FJG Columbus LLC, controlled by former U.S. Rep. Frank Guarini; and KimmelLipson LLC."

Nexis4Jersey

January 17th, 2012, 06:13 PM

Where on Grove Street would this be located?

JCMAN320

January 17th, 2012, 10:19 PM

It is the big site behind the Marin Blvd. Grove St. PATH entrance on the corner of Marin and Columbus. This is going to be great cant wait to see updated rendering.

Nexis4Jersey

January 18th, 2012, 12:00 AM

It is the big site behind the Marin Blvd. Grove St. PATH entrance on the corner of Marin and Columbus. This is going to be great cant wait to see updated rendering.

Ah i was wondering what would go there , any word on the site near city hall on Grove Street?

JCMAN320

January 18th, 2012, 01:29 AM

Ah i was wondering what would go there , any word on the site near city hall on Grove Street?

The site I believe youre referring to is the parking lot on the corner of Grove and Montgomery Sts. That site is owned by Silverman Properties I believe; the same people who have done Hamilton Square and the Majestic development on the other corner. It has been slated to be a modern brownstone apartment building with retail on the ground floor since I would say 2006. It would take up the WHOLE site and extend to the buildings on Montgomery and York Sts.

tbal

January 18th, 2012, 01:38 AM

I'm wondering if the work going on in N4J's photo near Warren & York is some sprucing up by the developer who intends on starting construction soon on a new rental building at that intersection.

JCMAN320

January 18th, 2012, 01:48 AM

Well those 3 buildings that front Montgomery St, the last of which is being spruced up in those photos, have been being fixed up over the last few years. Youre right, that site at the corner of Warren and York was approved for a building I believe last year. It would be nice to see it go up soon.

Quite a few lux rental projects have gotten off the ground or are about recently throughout JC; it's great to see and they are helping fill gaps in the streetscape.

lammius

January 18th, 2012, 02:29 PM

JCMAN320

January 18th, 2012, 08:50 PM

That's good news. I hope it'll be a re-design and not just a dust-off of the previous "twin" (err, big brother) for 50 Columbus

It sounds like it just might be one building instead of the previous two tower design.

tbal

January 19th, 2012, 01:33 PM

It seems to me as if they intend on doing the development in phases. So, perhaps 70 Columbus will be one phase and 90 Columbus will be a second phase that begins construction soon after construction on 70 is complete. I'm really wondering how soon construction on the San Remo between Monaco & Marbella will break ground...Monaco is supposedly close to 90% leased already.

ianmac47

January 19th, 2012, 02:11 PM

There is a rendering of the final product of 109 Columbus here:
http://shustermanagement.com/property_management_portfolio_109_columbus.php

Its being marketed as The Grove.

tbal

January 19th, 2012, 10:23 PM

Looks like they beat out another nearby development for use of that name (this other one is to be 6 stories):

http://www.michelswaldron.com/project.aspx?cat=2&id=16

JCMAN320

January 20th, 2012, 05:29 AM

Looks like they beat out another nearby development for use of that name (this other one is to be 6 stories):

http://www.michelswaldron.com/project.aspx?cat=2&id=16

That looks to be on that same site across from City Hall on the corner of Grove and Montgomery thats now a parking lot. I'm guessing Silverman sold the property.

Nexis4Jersey

January 21st, 2012, 04:11 PM

My weekly Jersey City update...

Liberty Harbor phase 2

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6737249053_ca4e774d81_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737249053/)
DSCN1296 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737249053/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6737250175_f6515087ab_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737250175/)
DSCN1297 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737250175/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6737250883_894eafe809_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737250883/)
DSCN1298 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737250883/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

York Street site...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6737080703_8771c8ca33_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737080703/)
DSCN1198 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737080703/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6737081297_89da00656d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737081297/)
DSCN1199 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737081297/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6737081879_d30557f858_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737081879/)
DSCN1200 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737081879/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

A Week later , a floor higher in Paulus Hook...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6737256805_481e253cae_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737256805/)
DSCN1305 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737256805/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6737259751_e49fd83127_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737259751/)
DSCN1308 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737259751/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Some more work along CC...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6737214663_fe5862bf65_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737214663/)
DSCN1251 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737214663/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

General JC pictures

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6737085555_f37fe4db47_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737085555/)
DSCN1206 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737085555/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6737088881_1244250d80_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737088881/)
DSCN1211 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737088881/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6737219543_07a72960dc_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737219543/)
DSCN1259 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737219543/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6737233805_fd4242da90_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737233805/)
DSCN1281 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737233805/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6737231831_ef1d93c953_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737231831/)
DSCN1278 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737231831/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6737253217_fef5e0c15a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737253217/)
DSCN1301 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6737253217/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

JCMAN320

January 21st, 2012, 04:52 PM

Wow that corner on York St. corner building got started quick this week!

Nexis4Jersey

January 30th, 2012, 11:48 PM

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6774404689_95555c036b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6774404689/)
Jersey City in the fog (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6774404689/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6774419803_00f8cbd6a3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6774419803/)
DSCN1383 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6774419803/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

66nexus

January 31st, 2012, 12:14 AM

^I am DEFINITELY liking those fog shots. The permanence of that skyline is made more apparent with the fog surrounding it, as if the buildings are actually rising from it like steel titans.

citybooster

February 4th, 2012, 12:50 AM

Walking through Newport past Aquablu and the park is really coming along,though it appears the park and related projects will only be open to residents and guests.Also,what is that large new L-shaped project already rising six floors right between Aquablu and the park?It's really expansive,just not sure what the project name is,and what it will entail...I'm gathering luxury rentals.

Nexis4Jersey

February 4th, 2012, 06:46 AM

This park?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6103/6227890565_a6ba41468b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227890565/)
DSCN3926 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227890565/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6098/6227885473_dee7e2f94a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227885473/)
DSCN3918 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227885473/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6168/6227884747_50cb6d5823_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227884747/)
DSCN3917 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6227884747/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

JCMAN320

February 4th, 2012, 11:58 AM

The park can't just be for residents; it has to be open to the public. Especially there is access to it from the street and waterfront walkway. The L shaped project has had relatively little news so I'm not sure how tall it will be.

tbal

February 4th, 2012, 03:53 PM

(Sorry for the delay - these photos are actually from last weekend).

The Laguna (the building in Newport mentioned above being built by the LeFrak Organization; it will rise 17 stories and contain 155 high-end units):

Looking South:
14835

Looking East toward Manhattan:
14834

Cast Iron Lofts (20 story building across from the Lackawanna warehouse near the Hoboken-Jersey City border; being built by City Homes & Gardens, which also built the Cliffs and Hoboken Grande):

Looking Southwest:
14833

Newark Ave @ Third Street (5-story building being built by Applied/Ironstate; site work has begun and the new building will wrap around the 4-story building shown):

Looking North:
14831

Looking West:
14832

scrollhectic

February 7th, 2012, 12:04 PM

Jersey City to get a High Line?February 07, 2012 11:30AM

http://therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/high-line-jersey.jpg A rendering of the proposed High Line in New Jersey

A legal settlement that would hand control of an elevated railway known as the Sixth Street Embankment in New Jersey from a Manhattan developer to Jersey City authorities could allow for the construction of the state’s own High Line Park, the Wall Street Journal reported.

While New Jersey officials have long pushed to have the mile-long structure transformed into a landscaped park, the patch of railway has been caught up in a lengthy legal battle spawning from the sale of the prospective park to Manhattan investor Steve Hyman, the Journal said, who wished to build housing at the site. Hyman purchased the embankment from Consolidated Rail for $3 million in 2003; Jersey City then sued Consolidated for selling the land and Hyman sued the city for throwing a wrench in his plans.

“This has been an epic legal struggle,” said William Matsikoudis, municipal attorney for the city. “We’re one step away from a settlement that will provide a world-class amenity for the people for Jersey City.

According to the terms of the settlement, the city would settle with Hyman for $7 million and Conrail would contribute $13 million to settle pending litigation. [WSJ] (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204136404577207602302461274.html?m od=WSJ_NY_RealEstate_LEFTTopStories)

Nexis4Jersey

February 8th, 2012, 08:31 AM

My Jersey City photo update...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6839334955_3ed0f24a26_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839334955/)
DSCN1661 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839334955/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6839335239_d83cfa624f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335239/)
DSCN1663 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335239/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6839335355_017be43219_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335355/)
DSCN1664 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335355/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6839335713_f9b2284c70_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335713/)
DSCN1668 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335713/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6839335805_06ed271775_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335805/)
DSCN1669 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839335805/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6839336399_0a82be61bb_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839336399/)
DSCN1675 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839336399/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6839339501_89b15a59f4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839339501/)
DSCN1689 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839339501/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6839339859_71b6ae29c4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839339859/)
DSCN1691 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839339859/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6839340671_277ff80144_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839340671/)
DSCN1696 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839340671/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6839364567_f8ae1dc8e4_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839364567/)
DSCN1711 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839364567/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6839364761_932499c8aa_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839364761/)
DSCN1712 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839364761/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6839364909_b73eea68bd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839364909/)
DSCN1714 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839364909/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6839367681_c7420d52c8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839367681/)
DSCN1731 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839367681/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Nexis4Jersey

February 8th, 2012, 08:35 AM

Second Batch...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6839368379_958c8ffb2f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839368379/)
DSCN1734 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839368379/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6839368607_57cb98beef_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839368607/)
DSCN1735 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839368607/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6839368981_23957b8714_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839368981/)
DSCN1737 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839368981/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6839369189_2d52d8229a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839369189/)
DSCN1738 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839369189/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6839369419_ec9318a4f8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839369419/)
DSCN1739 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839369419/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6839369985_baa3b52705_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839369985/)
DSCN1742 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839369985/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6839370187_5bbe583a30_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370187/)
DSCN1743 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370187/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6839370411_44d3fbe952_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370411/)
DSCN1744 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370411/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6839370651_14ed8d326f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370651/)
DSCN1745 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370651/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6839370951_cdc4cb26c6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370951/)
DSCN1747 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839370951/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6839371945_49f684e9f2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839371945/)
DSCN1758 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839371945/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6839372045_e945c45a55_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839372045/)
DSCN1759 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839372045/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6839372155_5f32a468b2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839372155/)
DSCN1760 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6839372155/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

Nexis4Jersey

February 18th, 2012, 12:39 PM

My Jersey City Skyline photos from yesterday...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6897272951_3915bd58cd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897272951/)
DSCN1926 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897272951/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6897276573_cb9a3dcd88_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897276573/)
DSCN1942 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897276573/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6897278147_b5c38ed170_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897278147/)
DSCN1950 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897278147/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6897278225_d44a91b4f0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897278225/)
DSCN1951 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897278225/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6897278881_5c67c4dca7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897278881/)
DSCN1953 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897278881/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7202/6897279211_5a23650dd7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897279211/)
DSCN1954 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897279211/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6897279485_2654003e41_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897279485/)
DSCN1956 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897279485/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6897279937_2ce99ffc26_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897279937/)
DSCN1958 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6897279937/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 07:50 AM

14895

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 07:51 AM

14896

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 07:52 AM

14897

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 07:53 AM

14898

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 07:55 AM

14899

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 07:58 AM

14901

JoeSas

February 19th, 2012, 08:01 AM

14902
Looks like there are 2 additional lots next door that could be built up to by same owner as they are all fenced in together.

tbal

February 19th, 2012, 06:56 PM

Wow - looks like Ironstate isn't wasting any time with construction at Newark & Third. I wonder how much of the building will be steel framing (?).

btw - I know I posted it awhile ago, but here it is for those who haven't seen it yet - a rendering of this building:

14904

I have a feeling we'll see a building of similar height and size rise on that former gas station property.

Also, the building that is already up across the street has been nearly finished for almost a year now (or maybe more than a year?). I wonder if the owner is trying to convert to rentals...those units were on the market awhile ago (pretty ugly interiors if you ask me).

Does anyone know if pilings are going in at the Warren@York building yet?

JCMAN320

February 20th, 2012, 01:04 AM

JCMAN320

February 20th, 2012, 02:02 AM

NY REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL / FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Jersey City Is Working to Boost Its Cool

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NY-BM214_NYJCma_D_20120215201505.jpg

By HEATHER HADDON

Jersey City could finally earn its place as the so-called sixth borough.

Just across the Hudson River, the Garden State's second-largest city has gentrified in recent years but had always lacked the night life and street traffic to build a viable entertainment district.

Now, a host of changes are under way or are being considered in hopes of creating a vibrant downtown with an expanded restaurant row and more entertainment and music venues.

"We will be able to create more spaces where music, art, and culture can be enjoyed," said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who is expected to address the developments during his State of the City address Thursday evening.

In a city of 250,000 where some residents recall having to walk blocks just to find a lunch counter, the changes are dramatic.

In December, Jersey City—which has few music venues and dance clubs with DJs—introduced a new class of entertainment license to allow restaurants to host live music.

And the City Council extended an already established restaurant row last summer, and is set later this month to vote to expand it again, this time into the Little India neighborhood.

The zoning measures come as Jersey City's food and culture scene is drawing hipper establishments.

"Without a doubt, it's become more of a destination," said Jelynne Jardiniano, owner of LITM, a restaurant and lounge. "People want to have a reason to stay in their neighborhood."

A former chef for the Momofuku Noodle Bar in Manhattan is opening an eatery in restaurant row this winter that looks to showcase "all that New Jersey has to offer," according to his Kickstarter announcement.

The New York pizza chain, Two Boots, also hopes to open a location in midspring.

And residents say their cool cachet ratcheted up when Barcade—a bar in the hipster epicenter of Williamsburg in Brooklyn—opened an offshoot in the downtown area last year.

"We're 10 minutes from the World Trade Center," said Mas Kuwana, a 31-year-old Jersey City accountant, "there's no reason why we can't compete."

Most of the new developments are taking place near Grove Street, the center of the city's downtown and the location of a PATH station. And the changes the city is seeking come after a long history of decline and rebirth.

Grove Street was once the city's downtown shopping district, but by the late 1950s and '60s, it was nearly vacant. There were few sit-down restaurants, though hardscrabble bars catering to warehouse workers were common.

"Every place you drank was a shot-and-a-beer joint," said Nick Acocella, a Hudson County resident and editor of Politifax, a weekly publication that covers New Jersey politics. "It was a very bad neighborhood."

Artists and others seeking low rent started to move to Jersey City in the 1980s, and the pace increased in the early 1990s. By 2000, Jersey City was joining Hoboken as a place for urbane professionals to settle—though it still had more 99 cents stores than bars and restaurants.

The city established a three-block restaurant row in 1999 near the Grove Street PATH station, and a few eateries followed.

But an old city ordinance restricted the number of eating establishments that could serve alcohol on a block. Restaurant row establishments had to close by 11 p.m. And nightclubs were mostly restricted to commercial areas near highways.

In 2005, the city began allowing restaurants and bars serving food to remain open until 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends. Five restaurants have opened on Newark Avenue since, Ms. Jardiniano said.

Restaurant business plummeted after the recession in 2008 but has since rebounded and has started to attract revelers across New Jersey on weekends, she said.

City officials said they want to capitalize on the momentum.

"We want people to spend money in Jersey City, not Manhattan," said Councilman Steven Fulop, an early champion of restaurant row. "You do that by creating an environment that's business-friendly and arts-friendly."

In January, the city loosened complicated entertainment license requirements that were expensive for club owners and that resulted in illegal rock clubs sprouting up.

An entertainment license downtown required a variance, an expensive process that typically involves a lawyer. Bars could apply for temporary permits, and the system ended up being abused by venues that morphed into illegal rock clubs, Mr. Fulop said.

A new class of entertainment license now allows restaurants to host live music. The permit would be subject to annual review and costs $600 for restaurants.

Community groups were resistant, but the city tweaked the policy to limit the hours and track problem locations with noise meters. The city spent $5,000 on the readers and training for enforcement officials, said Carl Czaplicki, director of the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development & Commerce.

"It's fair. It's based on evidence, not innuendo and hearsay," he said. "Politics can't be involved."

The city began issuing the permits this month. "Numerous" people have since expressed interested in opening a small music venue, and one current city restaurant proprietor is considering a new space, Mr. Fulop said.

—Jessica Firger contributed to this article.
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204880404577225633350947336.html

JCMAN320

February 20th, 2012, 02:17 AM

For city lovers, Jersey City has the right fit

Saturday, February 18, 2012 Last updated: Sunday February 19, 2012, 11:32 AM
BY JENNIFER V. HUGHES
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
The Record

Six years ago, Brittin Bleakley walked into a friend's Jersey City home with her daughter for a play date and fell in love.

"I said if you ever want to sell this house, I'm your gal," Bleakley said. "I was joking but really wasn't. It's a great house on a great street."

Bleakley, her husband and their two children started looking to buy after renting in Jersey City for many years. They heard the friend was actually interested in selling and moved into their dream home this summer.

"She had done a lot of work on the house, it was move-in ready," said Bleakley who paid $270,000. "It's wonderful. I'm so lucky."

When people think of Jersey City, they often think of two extremes: luxe waterfront condos with sky-high price tags or crime-ridden neighborhoods with boarded up buildings. Jersey City also recently hit the news when it was announced that reality TV stars Snooki and JWoww would live there to shoot a new show.

But beyond the headlines, the state's second-largest city has more than a dozen neighborhoods, each with its own vibe. The Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park sections are known for stately row houses; Lincoln Park has sprawling Victorians. The waterfront and Newport have luxury condo towers and the Heights has colonials and lower-rise condos.

Myriad styles

There is also a huge variety in housing stock. There are the new, modern condos at Canco Lofts, near Journal Square with its transportation hub and PATH service. There's the prewar condo building at 2600 Kennedy Blvd., where Frank Hague, the legendarily political boss and mayor, once lived. There are row houses and brownstones that would seem at home in the tony Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, and grand Victorians similar to those in Montclair.

"People are being priced out of New York City," said Dan Pelosi of Weichert Realtors. "It always surprises me when people say that they'd live far out in Brooklyn or Queens because 'at least it's in New York.' Our PATH is sometimes a lot more convenient than the subway in New York. You can get to the World Trade Center in nine minutes from downtown."

Bleakely's dream home, a 1904-farmhouse style, is in Greenville, a large area that is home to many of the city's poorest residents. She said her immediate neighborhood is lovely.

"People take pride in their homes here," she said. "A few blocks over you can run into some scary places, but they are starting to build new buildings, and it's starting to look better."

Kelly Bignell was also renting in Jersey City for many years and recently decided to buy. She and her boyfriend, Aaron Asedo, chose the Canco Lofts, built on the site of the former American Can Co. factory because they loved the modern aesthetic.

Their apartment has about 1,400 square feet, 14-foot ceilings, one bedroom, a den and an office. They bought in December, paying just under $400,000. Bignell loves the amenities in the building, including the luxury lounge and full gym. She works in advertising and takes the PATH to the Tribeca section of Manhattan. Her husband has a furniture design studio in commercial space at the Canco complex.

"It's such a great location," she said. "I grew up in Canada in the middle of nowhere, and I love New York City. But I could never live there — it's just too busy. Here we can go into the city and do anything you want, but you can come home and have a little more quiet."

'On the edge'

Carly Berwick and her husband were renting in Brooklyn before moving to Jersey City in 2002, when they bought a two-family in the Lincoln Park area.

Now with two young boys, they purchased a one-family home in the McGinley Square neighborhood, about eight blocks away, in spring 2011.

The 1910 stucco home has a driveway, a garage, a yard and six bedrooms, which comes in handy for visiting relatives.

"We had 12 or 13 people sleeping here over Christmas," said Berwick, who paid in the mid-300's for the home.

While many people head for the suburbs after having children, Berwick said she and her husband are happy to raise their kids in the city. While Jersey City fights the stereotype of having bad schools, Berwick said she believes there are plenty of good options in public, charter and private schools in the city. They like to frequent the local parks and they are both active in the community effort to encourage more bicycling in the city.

"When we first moved here we'd be so surprised to see a hipster in our neighborhood," Berwick said. "Now we don't even count them anymore. People are coming because of the amazing housing stock, the proximity to New York and the coolness factor of being a little bit on the edge."

George Biris and his partner, Jay Barksdale, had lived in a 400-square-foot studio on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for decades but recently decided they needed more space. While it was anathema to many of their friends, they looked across the river and found their new home in a luxury condo called Washington Commons in the Powerhouse district.

They love the sweeping view of New York City and that they can walk to stores and restaurants. Barksdale said his commute is only about 10 minutes longer than it was when he and Biris lived in Manhattan.

Their two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, with about 1,300 square feet of space, would have easily been more than $1.5 million in Manhattan, Biris said. They paid $523,000 in Jersey City.

"Our friends who live in Manhattan still have not gotten over the psychological bump you have to make to exit the New York City transit system, but we're very happy here," Biris said.

Their realtor, Joni Vicente, a broker associate at Boutique Realty has worked in Jersey City for 30 years. She said that among the city's great appeals is the ethnic diversity in neighborhoods. There is a Little India, an Italian section, a neighborhood with a large number of Filipino residents and another with a good-size German and Polish community.

"Jersey City really is a melting pot," Vicente said.

Vicente said many people relocate to Jersey City after being priced out of New York City. Over the years, residents have been priced out of certain Jersey City neighborhoods — like Hamilton Park and Van Vorst Park — and are moving to the West Side or north to the Heights.

One Realtor, Anthony Armagno, said he's seen the most changes in the city's downtown, which includes Hamilton Park and Van Vorst Park, where there are dozens of hip bars and eateries.

"Twenty or 30 years ago most of the houses were burned out. Banks wouldn't even give mortgages to buy it was so bad," he said. "Now you can't find a brownstone for under $700,000 or $800,000."

Bypassed suburbs

Marisa Musachio has been living in the Heights for seven years, first in a condo and now in a two-bedroom colonial she bought in December with her husband, Tom Gerke.

Newlyweds, they looked in downtown neighborhoods but found them too pricey. They also looked at the suburbs at his request, delving into Maplewood, Montclair and Bloomfield.

"The prices and taxes are insane," said Musachio, who was hoping to remain in Jersey City because she likes the urban feel. They ended up paying $360,000 for their home.

Musachio said she loves the parquet floors, the wooden molding, the driveway and the yard surrounded by trees. She commutes to Hoboken, he to the financial district.

"Jersey City still maintains a diversity that you don't see in places like Hoboken anymore," she said. "I feel like there has been enough gentrification, but not so much to the point that it's lost it's uniqueness."

http://www.northjersey.com/realestate/news_residential/139617383_Broadway_meets_Main_Street.html?c=y&page=1

tbal

February 20th, 2012, 10:26 AM

"BlueGate announces the successful capital raise for the proposed Class “A” 139-unit Warren at York multifamily development located in Jersey City, NJFebruary 6, 2012
BlueGate Partners, LLC has successfully advised in the placement of JV equity capital for the $45 Million Warren at York, a 139-unit Class “A” apartment community, on behalf of the owner, an affiliate of BNE Real Estate Group.

The property is located at the intersection of Warren & York Streets in downtown Jersey City, NJ. The 11-story development is planned to include 139 units and 104 parking spaces. In addition, the proposed development will include 2,470 square feet (“sf”) of common area with a fitness center and media room, as well as 6,000 sf of retail.

The property is located in the sought-after Paulus Hook neighborhood of downtown Jersey City and is a 10 minute commute to downtown New York City."

macmini

February 22nd, 2012, 09:10 PM

Hartz Mountain, Roseland Properties planning 1,000-unit residential building on Jersey City waterfront

14922
99 Hudson St. in Jersey City is a parking lot now,
but Hartz Mountain Industries and Roseland Properties
announced plans today to develop a 1,000-unit residential
building on the site.

February 22, 2012, 10:55 AM
By Ron Zeitlinger/The Jersey Journal

Hartz Mountain Industries and Roseland Property will build a $450 million, 1,000-unit residential complex on the Jersey City waterfront in Jersey City, the two companies announced this morning.

Officials with the two companies said in a news release that the total size of the project at 99 Hudson St. will be more than 1 million square feet of rental units and retail space and is expected to create more than 2,000 construction jobs over a 5-year period.

"The waterfront in Jersey City features many compelling pieces, but it lacks a center," Carl Goldberg, partner in Roseland Property Company, said in a statement. "We see 99 Hudson providing the components that would turn an interesting area into a classic neighborhood."

Officials said in the news release the project, part of the Colgate Center, will be the largest rental project and one of the top five tallest buildings in New Jersey, but did specify how many stories the building will rise.

In April 2011 Hartz Mountain sold buildings at 90 and 70 Hudson Street for a combined $310 million. In November Hartz Mountain Industries bought the property from Bank of America for $35 million. Merrill Lynch, which owned the land at 99 Hudson St., intended to build an office tower there for back offices. Bank of America obtained the site when it acquired Merrill Lynch.

Officials said the development of the project is contingent on the revival of the state Economic Development Agency's Urban Hub Tax Credit (UHTC) residential program, which was suspended after depleting its $250 million allocation.

"We submitted an application several months ago that fully qualified for the UHTC program," Emanuel Stern, president and COO of Hartz Mountain Industries, said in a statement. "As we have seen through the history of the UHTC program, the economic climate -- especially as it pertains to financing -- will not permit a project like this to proceed without assistance.

"Our application to EDA for the UHTC program delivers instant economic impact and smart growth benefits that will last for decades, so we are hopeful this necessary program is quickly revived so we can commence construction."

Roseland Property Company manages Hartz Mountain's residential projects and is a partner in four of Hartz's residential developments. The project is expected to include "retail and entertainment on the structure," as well as parking for residents and guests, officials said

Ok why haven't the developers of the Journal Square project apply for the Urban Hub Tax Credit if there is any project in JC that's should be given this credit it should be the Square project. The city should force them to build something already or sale it to someone that can get this project built, But I hope this gets built.

tbal

February 23rd, 2012, 01:09 AM

The City Center project already has a 30-year tax abatement (so maybe this rendered the project ineligible for the UTHTC program). But developers will lie as much as possible to pocket as much money as possible by using the public's money instead of their own. Hartz is a massive company with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets; it doesn't need the tax credit (sure, it makes it a bit easier to get a loan, but if it can show a conservative estimate on paper projected revenue from the building based on figures from surrounding properties, it should be able to get a green light from construction lenders without a problem).

macmini

February 25th, 2012, 09:02 PM

I forgot about the 30-year tax abatement they received I also remember the city buying some of the properties that where demolished to make way for City Center I hope they city has been paid back this money. The Square was already bad but it looks worst now something needs to be done about this project.

JCMAN320

February 26th, 2012, 12:26 PM

I did a report in HS when I realized going into urban planning was what i wanted to do, and it was about how that parcel was the lynch pin to turning the Square around. That was 9 years ago and i still feel the same way. Something needs to be done with that site. There is a new sign up on the land from the JCRA; I haven't stopped by to read it yet though. Hopefully it's some sort of update. Ill try to stop by this week and check it out.

Nexis4Jersey

March 1st, 2012, 07:37 AM

My weekly Jersey City roundup...

Cast Iron lofts are rising...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6940819413_e13e36c743_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6940819413/)
DSCN2012 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6940819413/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

150 Essex Street

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6941013439_e03ed94435_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6941013439/)
DSCN2079 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6941013439/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6794900712_4460141644_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794900712/)
DSCN2081 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794900712/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6941013755_ac4b9a69d2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6941013755/)
DSCN2082 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6941013755/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6794900866_1cd4529ef7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794900866/)
DSCN2083 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794900866/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6941013953_bed82e97fa_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6941013953/)
DSCN2084 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6941013953/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6794901080_04cbbdd673_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794901080/)
DSCN2086 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794901080/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6794901314_7f9983aa77_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794901314/)
DSCN2088 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794901314/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

109 Columbus Boulevard

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7049/6794969020_ca58cc4d73_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794969020/)
DSCN2200 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42178139@N06/6794969020/) by Nexis4Jersey09 (http://www.flickr.com/people/42178139@N06/), on Flickr

tbal

March 2nd, 2012, 12:40 AM

Great shots, Nexis! Looks like 150 Essex really shot up in the past few weeks - as did Cast Iron Lofts. I'm really digging that angle of Cast Iron from the rails - soon that view is going to scream "welcome to the Empire" to passengers coming out of the tunnel...just a few more of those buildings on the western side of downtown and we're there.

Nexis4Jersey

March 5th, 2012, 12:15 AM

What do you guys think about my Jersey City safety map?

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=215312482559953359515.0004ba7797e4dddcf3f5 5&msa=0&ll=40.708751,-74.090767&spn=0.144439,0.308647

futurecity

March 5th, 2012, 06:26 PM

This country is full of enough divisions all ready based on race, class, etc.. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in more material that promote segregation. It's time to stop hating each other and living in fear.

mariab

March 7th, 2012, 12:11 PM

Nx I took a look at it. Is it based on personal experience or crime statistics?

Nexis4Jersey

March 7th, 2012, 02:29 PM

Nx I took a look at it. Is it based on personal experience or crime statistics?

Personal experience ....

mariab

March 7th, 2012, 03:47 PM

Cool thanks. Well I can definitely attest to LSP being safe because I was there one evening after coming up from Bayonne. I was looking for a Barnes & Noble which I'm pretty sure was supposed to be on JFK, according to the website, but I thought I'd passed it. So I stopped to ask two guys where it was & they said it had been closed for a while. I don't know at that point if it was the yellow or red zone.

At LSP, it was already dusk but there was a wedding party taking pics near the waterfront. Reception was at that restaurant. The museum was closed but I took a couple good pics thru the bars at the old train platform with the old signage, bummed about the overgrowth on abandoned tracks. Still don't know why they couldn't have used at least a couple of lines. WTC pics too. Even after dark there were a lot of people & I felt completely safe but still kept my eyes wide open, because I do that anyway even at my generic little shopping center in my town.

Are you planning on safety maps for other towns?

Newarkguy

March 7th, 2012, 08:03 PM

What do you guys think about my Jersey City safety map?

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=215312482559953359515.0004ba7797e4dddcf3f5 5&msa=0&ll=40.708751,-74.090767&spn=0.144439,0.308647
Oh no you did'nt! You know what's going to happen....the people in the red areas (greenville and its 90% valedictorian kids) will call you racist. Someone is bound to tell you the lie that "red" is'nt justified.

Newarkguy

March 7th, 2012, 08:09 PM

JCMAN320

March 7th, 2012, 11:57 PM

stache

March 8th, 2012, 06:56 AM

Don't confuse him with facts!

macmini

March 8th, 2012, 08:21 AM

Well the map isn't racist it's just incorrect all of greenville is not bad most of it is nice but any thing on or in between MLK, Ocean, Monticello and most of Bergen any thing before the square are bad areas. And you have a most of that in yellow which is way off there isn't any part of MLK that is safe it's as ghetto as it gets.

Nexis4Jersey

March 8th, 2012, 11:06 PM

Nexis you have my neighborhood blocks in red and your way off base. I grew up and still live on that block and neighborhood. Basically the blocks bounded by Country Villkage, Danforth, JFK, Culver and 440.

I didn't say the map was completely correct , and I didn't cover the entire Greenville area in red , only the core which is dangerous....

Nexis4Jersey

March 9th, 2012, 06:03 PM

So the other I counted up how many photos ive taken of Urban Jersey ,and ive taken a decent amount...those are the top 5 , Ive taken over 34,000 photos over 2 years...

4290 Photos of Jersey City
2904 Photos of New York City
960 Photos of Suburban and Urban Westchester
854 Photos of Newark
490 Photos of Hoboken

JCMAN320

March 10th, 2012, 01:26 AM

Happy to see that JC Rising has over 1,000,000 views!!!! First Metro thread to reach that mark!!! Let's keep it going!!!! :D

Nexis4Jersey

March 10th, 2012, 02:53 AM

Wasn't it like 600,000 last year?

Nexis4Jersey

March 10th, 2012, 05:03 AM

tbal

March 10th, 2012, 11:46 AM

I was looking around on Skyscraperpage on the Jersey City Database and i ran into these projects. Can you tell me the status of them , i'm assuming there on hold.

-The Ellipse
-Hamilton SQ south
-The Metropolitan
-San Remo
-Trump Plaza 2
-143 Bay Street
-Metropolis towers 5
-Gulls Gove South
-The View 1 , 2 , 3

-Ellipse: Newport skyscraper on the pier near AquaBlu - On hold
-Hamilton Square South: Phase 2 building (I believe 12 or 14 stories) in the St. Francis redevelopment - On hold
-Metropolitan: Proposed as tallest residential building in NJ, to be built on site of Pep Boys behind Monaco towers - On hold
-San Remo: to be built between DoubleTree and Marbella in DoubleTree parking lot south of the hotel - On hold (but may break ground in coming year or two?)
-Trump Plaza 2: 50-story condo tower to complete Trump Plaza - On hold
-143 Bay Street: now part of Toll Brothers redevelopment site; first phase to break ground in August
-Metropolis Towers: the structure between the two existing buildings was demo'ed in 2007 I believe; the expansion project is mixed-use urban infill project with rental units and office space in a massive building with variegated heights and setbacks.
-Gulls Cove South: next (shorter) phase of Gull's Cove to be built immediately west of (and immediately adjacent to) Gulls Cove I.
-The View: 3-tower complex proposed for area in SW corner of downtown, just north of LSP and next to the Turnpike extension.

Nexis4Jersey

March 10th, 2012, 03:40 PM

I forgot to ask about these Projects

-Journal SQ Plaza 3
-The Residences at Liberty National 1 , 2 , 3
-Harborside 4 & 6
-70 Columbus

tbal

March 10th, 2012, 08:47 PM

I forgot to ask about these Projects

-Journal SQ Plaza 3
-The Residences at Liberty National 1 , 2 , 3
-Harborside 4 & 6
-70 Columbus

Wow - Residences at Liberty National? Talk about a blast from the past! I have a feeling that's not getting built for awhile (originally supposed to be condominiums right on the southern edge of LSP by Port Liberte). I believe they had done alot of site prep for this back in '06 & '07 though...

JSQ Plaza 3 might not ever happen - I have a feeling that site will go residential by the time a solid proposal goes before the Planning Board.

Harborside 4 is a proposed office tower to be built on Columbus Drive at Green Street, and approved in 2008 I believe; Mack-Cali has had alot of difficulty finding an anchor tenant (hence the reason why they're partnering with Ironstate on residential construction). As for 6, I haven't heard anything about it...

And of course 70 Columbus received a UTH tax incentive a few months ago, so it looks likely to start construction in the next 18 months (or is it 12 months that they generally get to start construction on one of these projects?)

JCMAN320

March 11th, 2012, 03:45 AM

Jersey City signals it wants developer of massive Journal Square project to act, or face default

Published: Saturday, March 10, 2012, 3:03 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

http://media.nj.com/jjournal-news/photo/10668408-large.jpg
Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal
Jersey City officials are demanding action by the developers of the site of the Journal Square City Center Towers.

In April 2009, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy stood on a 1.5-acre site adjacent to the Journal Square PATH station and hailed an imminent twin tower project as a “great step forward” for the city.

The project two towers, one 58 stories and the other 38, sitting atop a seven-story retail and parking base with a rooftop terrace would begin later that year, and be completed in three years.

It’s now three years later and the site remains vacant, save for weeds and the occasional soda can or beer bottle surrounded by metal fencing.

The twin tower project appears to be nothing more than a dim fantasy, but that may all change soon. City officials say they want the heart of the city to see the same kind of development that’s occurred Downtown.

“Journal Square is really the next area, and Journal Square is primed and ready for a project,” said Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Bob Antonicello.

For years, the Journal Square project was stalled, with main investor Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT), of Washington, D.C., blaming the poor economy for its inability to find a partner to help it with financing, according to Antonicello.

After missing an August 2011 deadline to put a shovel in the ground, and then missing a second deadline of Dec. 31, 2011, MEPT has until April Fool’s Day to get the project started in earnest, Antonicello said.

“The issue that we had really with MEPT was this process was kind of ready, aim, aim, aim, aim ... and they never fired the gun to actually go vertical,” he said.

MEPT did not return a request for comment.

If the April 1 deadline passes without movement on the project, MEPT will be in default of its agreement with the JCRA, and the city agency can find someone else to help realize the long-awaited proposal, Antonicello added.

Healy said he stands by the JCRA’s latest bid to move the project forward.

“The redevelopment of Journal Square is a major priority for this administration and we support any and all actions that the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency takes so that construction may begin as soon as possible,” Healy said.

The proposal consists of 50,000 square feet of retail space on the basement, ground and second levels; 330,000 square feet of parking on five levels; and 1.24 million square feet of residential space, including about 1,500 units.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2012/03/jersey_city_signals_it_wants_d.html