Jersey City Rising

[macmini]

In the Region | New Jersey
Both Ultramodern and Dated


INDUSTRIAL FLAVOR A model apartment at CanCo Lofts in Jersey City, which will ultimately have 500 condos.
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Published: April 22, 2007



JERSEY CITY

THE American Can Company factory building here — which was the birthplace of the modern American beer can — is undergoing conversion into more than 500 condominium lofts that will retain a distinct industrial flavor, spiked with ultramodernity.

Paul Hawthorne for The New York Times
A detail of the building’s Art Deco exterior.


The new condos will have a look that is both retro and sleek, according to architects from SBLM of Manhattan, the company hired by the developer, Coalco New York, to transform the million-square-foot Art Deco-era industrial building.

Its classic factory elements, like ceilings that soar up to 24 feet and concrete columns as big around as giant redwoods, will be set off by white-lacquered kitchen cabinetry, wide-plank white-oak flooring and stone countertops in every unit, said David Nicholson of SBLM.

“It has been quite fascinating working on an adaptive reuse like this,” Mr. Nicholson said. “The building has such strong character of its own, and we are trying to play to that, honor that, while at the same time going to the cutting edge with the apartment designs.”

A separate architecture firm, LOT-EK of Manhattan, was hired to create a “destination” lobby at the condominium project, called CanCo Lofts. It has come up with a startling low-tech-high-tech design that combines stacked lumber used as benches and “ceiling sculptures”; a wall decorated with industrial piping; extensive glass; and two dozen plasma television screens that will show live scenes of the Manhattan skyline as well as community news flashes.

“This wall will truly be a spectacle,” said Giuseppe Ligano of LOT-EK, describing the wall of piping as reminiscent of a Chinese screen. It will be lighted from behind so that from across the room the piping appears as stripes on an interior wall.

The TV screens mounted on the wall may be viewed as art in addition to their role as instruments of communication, Mr. Ligano said. “For one thing, they can be used creatively to repeat the view of New York, so that it seems to be everywhere in the room, or splitting it into fragments so the screens make a whole ‘painting’ or to produce a panorama.”

In addition, five “conversation areas” will be created around the lumber benches, whose seating section will be wrapped in leather. The lobby will also have a mailroom, with desks for opening mail.

The CanCo building is a natural haven for commuters — nine blocks from Journal Square and a PATH station, from which passengers can reach Wall Street in less than 15 minutes. So the screens will also constantly report on weather and traffic, said Edward Yorukoff, marketing director of Coalco New York, a division of Coalco International, a diversified development company based in Russia.

Coalco will open sales next month on the first 100 loft units. Construction has begun after a long phase of environmental cleanup at the property and completion of a sales lobby and model kitchens, baths and a loft space, Mr. Yorukoff said.

One-, two- and three-bedroom units will be offered at prices ranging from the high $200,000s to the upper $600,000s, Mr. Yorukoff said. The apartments come with garage parking, numerous amenities and shuttle service to the PATH train.

The first residents could move in by the end of the year, he said.
The building, which was shut down as a can factory in the 1970s and has mostly been empty since then, is a local landmark. With its five towers, tall smokestacks and stone Deco details, the brick structure is part of a historic industrial district established by the city.

The developers have picked up on the theme with a piece of artwork installed inside the sales lobby’s front door: a wall-hung sculpture composed of paint cans of a type once manufactured on the site.

The building’s facade will be completely renovated, according to Coalco’s president, Mikhail Kurnev.

The lofts will be designed to be exceptionally large and roomy, he said, with period 14-foot ceilings — 17 feet to 24 feet on upper floors — and eight-foot-high doors, plus the oversize windows typical of old factories. The baths will have oversize showers and soaking tubs, glass mosaic tile on the walls and cove lighting.

A 10,000-square-foot residents’ club will feature a large fitness center, a yoga and Pilates studio and a half court for basketball. In addition, the community will offer a children’s play center, screening room, pet park and pet spa, game room for billiards and video games and an event room with an outside terrace.

The building’s basement, formerly a rail station, will become a residents’ parking garage, accessible by elevator, Mr. Kurnev said.

LOT-EK, the lobby designer, is also designing a garden area outside the lobby, which will have a glass wall on the garden side. Although the setting for CanCo Lofts, situated at 50 Dey Street just off the clogged traffic artery of Tonnelle Road, is highly urban, the building is designed to offer a calm oasis to its residents, the developer said.

From upper floors, the views of Manhattan and the NewJersey coast and, westward, of towns perched on rolling hills are extraordinary. From the now-gutted upper floors of one of the towers — empty save for concrete support columns 12 feet in circumference — the full 360-degree panorama is available.

“It’s a good time to shop for the view you might like to own,” said Mr. Yorukoff, who added that prospective buyers would be allowed to take a look, if willing to don a hard hat.

He said he expected the lofts to be most attractive to buyers in their 20s and 30s, probably with no children or only a toddler, who might want to use the loft space in their units as either work space or spare bedrooms.

[JCMAN320]

Saturday night benefit: See plenty of punches, plus celebs to chat up

Thursday, April 26, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Celebrities will join Jersey City's Finest and Bravest when they square off against their New York City counterparts at the annual "Night of Amateur Boxing," charity event Saturday.

The event will benefit the Police Officer's Benevolent Association Memorial Scholarship Fund and is dedicated to the memory of slain Jersey City Police Officer Domenick Infantes Jr.

The boxing matches will begin at 8 p.m. at Hudson Catholic High School, at 790 Bergen Ave., and the $25 admission fee can be paid at the door, organizers said.

Tickets to attend the VIP reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. cost $100 and will also be available at the door. The reception will include a buffet catered by San Vito's restaurant in Bayonne and an opportunity to rub elbows with the celebrities.

Scheduled to attend are former heavyweight boxing champion "Smokin" Joe Frazier, "real life Rocky" Chuck Wepner, former WWE and ECW wrestling divas Tammy "Sonny" Sytch and Dawn Marie, UFC fighter "Cabbage" Cleveero and legendary St. Anthony High basketball coach Bob Hurley, organizers said.

Boxing memorabilia and prizes will be auctioned at intermission. VIP passes can also be purchased by calling the J.C.P.O.B.A. at (201) 963-3484.

[macmini]

Lefrak's new ad in Today's New York Post Home Real Estate Insert.

http://specialsections.nypost.com/ne...070426/p53.asp

[TimmyG]

45-story Newport building approved for pier
Residents bring dispute to discussion on project
Ricardo Kaulessar Reporter staff writer
04/28/2007

The Jersey City Planning Board at their Tuesday meeting approved a 45-story tower to be built on a pier in the Newport area.

The project will be the "Ellipse," a 352-unit building including a few three-story town homes.

The project also will include a cultural/educational center, a 230-parking space garage with an open-space roof (including grass), and an extension of Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.

The board approved the project unanimously, but with conditions to be met by the developer as part of approval, such as real grass on the garage roof and meetings with neighborhood groups.

But there were dissenting views on the project during the public comment part of the meeting, particularly because some believe more land should be set aside for a park.

Need more parks
There was already opposition to the project before it came in front of the Planning Board.

Newport resident Dan Falcon had complained on an internet message board that he believes the five-acre Pier 199B, where some of the project will be built, should be set aside as a park. The pursuit of more park space in Newport has been a goal of Falcon's since 2001.

Falcon appeared at Tuesday's meeting to ask for the Ellipse application to be tabled until the Newport Redevelopment Plan, which governs development of the Newport, is amended to include more park space.

"The Newport Redevelopment Plan talks about improved open space, [but] doesn't really talk about any requirements for parks at all," said Falcon at the Planning Board meeting.

In fact, the "green" roof on the parking structure can count toward the developer's open space requirement, according to the Newport Redevelopment Plan.

"When I look around Newport," Falcon said, "I cannot find one legitimate park, not one."

Bill Wissemann of Newport Associates Development Company, who will build the project, refuted Falcon's claim of Newport lacking open space, claiming the area has "a higher percentage land wide of parks per capita than does the rest of Jersey City," based on analysis done four years ago.

Another Newport resident, Robert Vivien, read a lengthy letter stating his disapproval of the project, and also asked for it to be tabled. He claimed that there was a survey sent to a thousand Newport residents asking if amenities such as more park space in Newport were needed.


Some approve of 'Ellipse'

Newport resident Janet Allen stated her approval of the project, as did fellow resident Sonia Maldonado.

"Besides the fact that it is going to make a stunning and striking representation on the Jersey City shore," Maldonado said, "it's going to call out to people to come to Jersey City."

The Planning Board went ahead with approval. They were reminded by the one of the city planners before voting that the project could be built on the property in question "as of right," or already allowed within the Newport Redevelopment Plan.

Several commissioners complimented the design of the building. Longtime board commissioner Leon Yost said, "this is the most exciting project I have seen at Newport so far" referring to previous Newport projects as a "sea of generic boxes."

Yost also said he wants to see the Ellipse built before other projects that Newport has planned for development in the near future.


Timeline

Wissemann told the board that the project will be built in the next five years after other Newport projects by Newport Associates Development Company such as the Woodrow Wilson and the Aqua, also located on 14th Street, are built out.

The Jersey City community of Newport, located on the northern waterfront, has grown to 600 acres, 3,922 residential units, and over 10,000 residents, all between 18th Street and Sixth Street. It broke ground in 1986.


Purporting to represent Newport

A bizarre sideshow to the public comment on the Ellipse was a dispute between residents Robert Vivien and both Janet Allen and Sonia Maldonado being played out in front of the board.

Both Vivien and Maldonado in recent months have bickered with each other via the internet over who heads the Newport Neighborhood Association, a neighborhood group claiming to represent Newport residents. Both have also claimed to have registered the NNA with the state.

Allen, during her public comment period, made the unusual disclaimer that she is the acting president of the Newport Neighborhood Association (NNA), along with Maldonado and another Newport resident Linda Klarfeld, and that they are the only ones "allowed to speak for the organization."

Maldonado also made the disclaimer that she is an officer of the Newport Neighborhood Association along with Allen and Klarfeld.

But Vivien claimed during his public comment he was president of the NNA and did not mention Allen and Maldonado's claims of involvement with the NNA.

After the public comment, several of the commissioners questioned where these neighborhood groups were when other Newport-related projects were presented at past Planning Board meetings. -- RK


©The Hudson Reporter 2007

[InsideScoop]

Dan Prussack Falcon and Robert are a couple of real dip$hits. Imagine they oppose the nicest looking new building on the waterfront just because they have some personal problems. Time for them to get a life. If they hate Newport so much, maybe they should just move out. No one is forcing them to stay there. They can find an apartment in Bergen-Lafayette right next to Liberty State Park if they want to be in a more suburban park-like setting.

[macmini]

Light rail is called key catalyst to wealth of new condo complexes
Monday, April 30, 2007
By COTTON DELO

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Ringing in its seventh year this month, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail continues to be an engine fueling development in Hudson County, judging from the wealth of condo complexes springing up in its path.

"Wherever we are, especially on the waterfront, we've been a tremendous catalyst for redevelopment," said Joe North, NJ Transit's general manager of light rail. "I think that's going to be part of our legacy."

NJ Transit officials point to the light rail as a crucial factor in making projects like Liberty Harbor - the 28-block residential and commercial development between Jersey Avenue and Marin Boulevard stations, due for the first phase of move-ins on May 15 - feasible.

Situated in the midst of former brownfields, Liberty Harbor will be linked to various modes of transport via light rail.

"It's a straight shot to Exchange Place or Grove Street PATH station," observed Jan Wells, who researches transit-oriented development and is completing an impact study on the HBLR for NJ Transit through Rutgers. "The secret of success here is the connectivity."

Five thousand residential units have built been or are under construction in the half-mile stretch between Essex Street and Jersey Avenue stations since 2000, she said.

Wells also cited the impending development at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor and intense building activity at Weehawken's Port Imperial - where the HBLR went on line in October 2005 - as evidence of the light rail's magnetism.

For some marketers, the light rail has become an integral addition to the catalogue of amenities used to entice buyers.

Shortly before the New Year, Linda Cantatore of the Hoboken-based Renaissance Realty Group started dangling free passes - good for light rail and bus transfers for one year - to prospective buyers at The Neopolitan near Hoboken's Second Street station and Bella Vista Estates in Weehawken.

She thinks the light rail is largely responsible for the influx of residents on the western side of Hoboken.

"I think it's introduced lifestyle into our southwest end," she said.
"It's all about the light rail," said Dean Geibel, a Hoboken-based developer whose holdings include Trump Plaza in Jersey City and MetroStop, adjacent to Hoboken's Ninth Street station, both under construction.

"That's what's driving development in Hudson County - mass transportation."

Some of the effects are still speculative.

Developer Peter Mocco expects the 350,000 square feet of commercial retail space - due to be completed in two and a half years - on Liberty Harbor's main drag to attract local shoppers in droves.

The light rail will run through the middle of the future Morris Boulevard, with traffic on either side.

"What happens is it brings Jersey City back to being a retail hub," he said.

[investordude]

I haven't looked at the plans for the retail mall mentioned in the previous post, but my issue with jersey city vs brooklyn is that the waterfront area is still too suburban. I'm sure JCman will point out that downtown JC has some urban qualities, but it seems like the new, upscale complex they are building will be a mall, and will detract from the potential to upscale downtown Jersey City and Grove Street, as well as the waterfront area.

Jersey City probably initially needed to start as a high rise suburbia, but now it should be focues on becoming more urban, so I'm disappointed retail complexes are approved that aren't part of the pedestrian street environment.

[ianmac47]

Yes, there are elements of Jersey City still clinging to the suburban tradition, namely the large parking lots and over reliance on cars, and a few big box stores. Most of these parking lots have planned high rise developments slated for them. The urban vs. suburban way of development has always been driven by economics. 100 years ago, there were many costs in expanding into suburbs, mostly transportation and communication. By mid-century, the automobile was changing that, reducing the cost in terms of time for traveling. Today there is a resurgence of urban living, in part because its simply impossible to constantly expand suburbs; costs are going up, land is running out. Jersey City has doubtless benefitted from its proximity to Manhattan. Manhattan has extreme limitations on growth because of land shortages and downzoning, meaning population growth is going to places like Brooklyn, JC, and LIC. The PATH has clearly been the driving force to development in JC. And while the light rail has driving growth in more remote places like Bayonne, Jersey City's waterfront growth is due entirely to proximity to the PATH. Since no one is talking about builidng more subway lines between Manhattan and JC, there is a finite amount of land available for gentrification. Hipsters and Yuppies don't want to live someplace without a subway. So the price of land near the subway will continue to increase, and thus become less suburban over time

[JCMAN320]

It's not an indoor mall they are talking about making a main drag with shopping through the heart of the development and add more street level retail. I don't get it Jersey City is not suburban at all.

It is one of the most denesly populated cities in America, it's more urban than Newark for example.

[pianoman11686]

Density and urban-ness are two related, but very different things. High density does not imply urban character, and vice versa. There are parts of Queens and Staten Island that have very high densities, but are suburban in character. Likewise, there are many downtowns in the U.S. that seem urban, but have very small populations.

[ramvid01]

I would not know if Jersey City has a suburban feel to it, but being densely populated and being urban are not necessarily the same thing. You can have a very densely populated area and still have a sterile street life.

Edit: grrr second time today someone steals my thoughts ;(. Well said pianoman.

[JCMAN320]

Jersey City is far from sterile. It has street life and character all its own, but that character is not suburban. Downtown has parking lots because they were there when nothing was down there and once all those developments are built they will fill in the gaps and create a complete urban downtown. Right now it's still is not finished.

[ianmac47]

Again, this is more or less a product of a short term limit on the speed of growth. There are a number of parking lots and other empty lots that disconnect the neighborhoods, but these are starting to fill in. Grove Pointe and Columbus Plaza will go along away to bridge Grove Street with the Powerhouse. Athena and Trump will bridge Newport and the PAD. Greene Street had been for a while something of a division between the waterfront office towers and Paulus Hook, but the last two years brought Essex Commons, the Grandview and now 77 Hudson. There are still three large parking lots between Hudson and Greene, but with greater pressure on real estate markets, they won't stay parking lots for long. The southern waterfront, the financial area is a bit sterile, but largely because no one lives there. On the weekends its very quiet. Again, this is changing. Trump, Montgomery Greene, and 77 Hudson street will be putting a lot more people down there as full time residents. Metro Plaza with Shoprite and BJs is of course a very suburban style shopping plaza. But eight towers are planned for the site over the next two decades, beginning with the metropolitan, so over time this area will lose its suburban character as well. There are some detached single or two family homes along Manila / Grove Street north of First. They all have curb cuts for driveways, and were probably built between 1945 and 1965; this has some suburban character to it, but I imagine that these will in not too distant a future succumb to pressures to replace them, especially as Grove Street to the south fills up with store fronts. With much of the downtown built with a traditional street grid, and limits on road capacity-- narrow streets-- a true urban environment is very inevitable. the biggest obstacle I think has been the fact that many neighborhoods are separated by the sea of parking lots, but since all of these have planned large scale developments, most with ground level retail, this suburban sensibility is quickly disappearing.

[citybooster]

Jersey City is far from sterile. It has street life and character all its own, but that character is not suburban. Downtown has parking lots because they were there when nothing was down there and once all those developments are built they will fill in the gaps and create a complete urban downtown. Right now it's still is not finished.

I highly doubt that downtown especially in the next two or three years,when all the building gets into high gear and the everything takes shape we will call the result suburban on any way.It will have a diverse,exhilirating special urban character.As much as I love the high rises,the integration of a gorgeous,visionary,vibrant center like the Liberty Harbor development will add life and excitement to the city.The 350,000 square feet of retail will most definitely NOT be remotely mall-like in character,but realized in a grand urban thoroughfare called Morris Boulevard.And if Mocco stays to his word,we'll see it grow into a reality in less than 3 years.I cannot wait!The doubters will be amazed!

[nafco]

I cant agree that no areas are suburban in JC. Anywhere, there is a low rise mall that takes up several blocks in a downtown area cant be considered urban by any means. I have no real complaints about the parking lots because they can be replaced with well designed urban structures, but the existing box stores and driveways really take away the pedestrian feel and urbanity of the city. The mid-rise residential towers like those in downtown and by Journal Square with huge parking lots in front of them are a big part of segregating the pedestrian flow of a continuous ped-friendly area to walk.

With that being said, a lot of these problems are from old construction, and are being addressed and even used as a model to avoid for the most part. With the exception of the Home Depot currently rising, there are few suburban structures going up and more urban designs and parks to attract people to come out onto the streets. Hopefully, the trend stays in this direction, and more street vendors and markets will continue to rise outdoors to encourage an urban feel. i think despite some major mistakes, the city is moving in the right direction.