Reply With QuoteWOW!!!!that bulding is just incredible...GO JC!
Very nice design. I never thought I would be jealous of a JC tower.
WOW!!!!that bulding is just incredible...GO JC!
Ehhh...It's "Alright." (Yeah, I'm hatin' lol)
I think it looks pretty cool except the top section is too bright in the night-time rendering. If it were to get built, it would definitely be a stand-out structure because it looks so radical.
However, as an engineer I can tell you that that top section will not overhang so far out on each side in the real thing (so the design will need to be modified significantly before it gets built). In the end, it will not really have the "I" shape to it as it is not economically feasible structural-engineering-wise (this current design calls for a lot of money to be spent on a significant non-functional structural portion of the building, and of course, the developer cannot really "sell" non-functional space).
JC coming up fast!!!
111 FIRST: 1 OF-A-KIND IDEA
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITE
R
One of the world's leading architects laid out his radical design for the controversial 111 First St. site, proposing a "vertical city" and ushering in a new phase of Jersey City's emergence as an international player in the world of business and style.
"The time has come to do a building that is less than typical," said architect Rem Koolhaas, whose prestigious portfolio includes the Seattle Public Library, Prada in New York and Los Angeles and the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing.
The ambitious design calls for a 52-story tower consisting of three blocks stacked perpendicularly to one another, projecting what one official described as a "Rubik's Cube" look.
The three blocks would sit on top of a longer slab that would serve as a structural base and would accommodate parking, artist galleries and retail space.
The proposed $400 million mixed-use building would feature 1.2 million square feet of space, spread out among loft style-units, artist live and work space, typical condos, retail space and a world-class hotel.
The exposed roofs on the individual blocks present a number of unique, open-air spaces in the building, Koolhaas said yesterday as he showed renderings of people relaxing in open-air cafés and gazing at reflection pools.
In a number of ways, the unusual design is a visual attack on the "cookie-cutter" high-rises that are dominating the city's skyline these days.
"This is the most cutting-edge piece of architecture I have seen in my career," said Bob Cotter, the city's planning czar. "I would hope this type of project would lead other developers to come into the city with unique plans."
Koolhaas showed off the design yesterday morning at the Jersey City Museum, which was packed with city officials, media and members of the development community. It's the architect's first large-scale residential development in the United States.
"This is another step in the ongoing transformation and revitalization of Jersey City," said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy. "It's time New Jersey, New York and the world sees Jersey City as an international metropolis."
The site at 111 First St. was the center of a long legal battle between the building's owner, Lloyd Goldman, of BLDG Management Co., and scores of artists who had been using the building as work/live studio space. Goldman, citing structural concerns and financial issues, wanted to demolish the old tobacco building and redevelop the site. Goldman eventually won a compromise with the city and the artists.
The deal was widely viewed as a blow to the Powerhouse Arts District, which was initially envisioned as a low-density arts center in the mold of New York City's Soho neighborhood.
There's no way those Jenga blocks will be built as is. It is just a ridiculous design, and the cost of building that tower will be far greater than the returns for the developer.
Why couldn't Koolhas design something more conservative, to actually have a chance of being built. Look at the Metropolitan, spectacular design, yet probably not much more expensive than a cookie cutter building.
It does have some chance of being built if the overhangs are made much smaller. And even if the plan totally falls through, something will be built on the site.
This will most def get built I feel. JC skyscrapers are getting better with time. With 111 First, the Metropolitan, and the Ellipse these will set the standard for new buildings since these 3 and JC's skyline will be one of the most visually stunning in the country in a decade. JC is coming up big baby!!!!!
Something inevitably will be built on the site of course. I guarantee it won't be what we see right now. Perhaps, as you say, if the overhangs are made less dramatic. That would drop costs drastically....it's probably not even close to being economically feasible right now.
And even though I think the tower is ridiculous, it is very different, and it's on a terrible site. The developer should have opted for a waterfront site for an iconic building like this. It is just going to be obscured by Trump's towers, essentially the same size. The shape will be indistinguishable from many angles when viewed from Manhattan.
The Metropolitan is set to start this summer, correct? What is the status on the Ellipse?
The Metropolitan will start this summer. The Ellipse sometime maybe in the fall from reports I heard.
it looks like they have been moving dirt around on the site of the Ellipse; maybe this is just part of Aqua construction, but it appears as if they are prepping the site already too; maybe its just cheaper to clear it away while they wrap up on shore club and start pile driving aqua, but I think the ellipse is coming sooner than the fall.
Waiting on Embankment ruling
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 By COTTON DELO
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
The fate of Downtown Jersey City's Sixth Street Embankment continues to hang in the balance, pending a decision by the federal Surface Transportation Board that had been expected by the end of last year.
Long coveted by local activists for open space, the half-mile-long elevated stone structure and former rail freightway was sold by Conrail to developer Steve Hyman - who reportedly wants to raze it to build two-family houses - for $3 million in 2005.
The STB will rule on whether the property was "legally abandoned" prior to the sale, and if not, the title would revert to Conrail, and Jersey City would get another crack at purchasing it.
In an earlier step in the city's protracted legal battle to acquire the Embankment, state Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli essentially upheld the sale while ruling with the developer in a case brought against him by the city in July.
The STB decision would take precedence, however.
According to Jennifer Meyer, president of the Embankment Preservation Coalition - the group that petitioned the STB in February 2006, along with the national Rails-to-Trails conservancy and Assemblyman Lou Manzo - a decision had been expected in late 2006.
She expects the city to try to acquire the property through eminent domain if the decision goes against it.
"We feel the city should be able to buy it whether the STB rules favorably or unfavorably," explained Meyer, who said her group's priority is to have the city acquire the site as quickly as possible.
The coalition has conducted extensive fundraising of monies earmarked for open space, she said.
But there's another potential use for the landmarked historic site.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy laid out his vision for a new Light Rail spur connecting Secaucus Junction and Newport via the Bergen Arches and the Sixth Street Embankment in his State of the City address last week.
The Light Rail spur is conceived as a complement to the creation of open space at the site, according to Jersey City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis.
"In my view, such a plan would be the winner for everyone because you'd have park space plus the addition of mass transit that would take away the reliance on cars in the region," he said.
In the event of an undesirable ruling by the STB, the mayor and the City Council would need to evaluate whether to pursue eminent domain, Matsikoudis said. Another recourse would be an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
COTTON DELO can be reached at cdelo@jjournal.com
embankment
I hope they dont build the family homes. That would be a terrible compromise to a site that deperately needs park space, or at least a transit system. And the market has enough planned housing on the way anyways
The city will win this fight. They are trying to look at ways to where they can have lightrail service and park space up there. That emabankment held 5 freight tracks at one point so it can certainly hold two light rail tracks and a park in my best observation.
How Sweet It Is?!?!
Calling for figures on cop garage
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Could this deal get any sweeter?
In Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano's opinion, absolutely yes.
Jersey City has struck a deal to lease, for $1 a year, 12,260 square feet of space at the Beacon for the Police Department's Motorcycle Squad. The Beacon is the swanky condo complex rising at the old Jersey City Medical Center.
The Beacon's owner - Manhattan-based Metrovest Equities - is even throwing in $1 million worth of renovations at no cost to the city.
But there are some caveats. According to the lease agreement, which will go before the City Council tonight, the city would have to pay its own utility bills. Not a problem, Sottolano says.
What he doesn't like is the fact that the city would have to pay 4.5 percent of the building's real estate taxes - the percent representing the amount of space the city occupies in the building.
"This would be an additional operating cost," Sottolano said yesterday. "It was never brought to the fore in any previous discussion. I'm not happy with it.
"Plus, I don't know how much that amount is going to cost," Sottolano added.
Raymond Reddington, the city attorney who reviewed the lease, characterized the provisions as "typical," adding the council had the option to pull the lease from tonight's agenda or authorize its renegotiation.
Eugene Paolino, the attorney representing Metrovest, agreed to give the council some estimate of how much 4.5 percent of the yearly taxes could amount to.
The Beacon project has received several 30-year tax abatements with allowances to pay the city significantly less than the normal 16 percent of gross annual revenues.
"Certainly no one wants this to be a problem," Paolino added.
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