Jersey City Rising

[alex ballard]

Yea the Heights will still hold out as well as Journal Square. The city as whole isn't going to the way of tiny Hoboken or the village in the short of time, were far to large. Only downtown will go the way of the village in that time span, other areas of the city will take a while. To get to the city and the waterfront you can use the PATH. There is a stop at Grove St., the heart of Downtown, then Exchange Place at the waterfront and Newport at the Mall and surrounding development. To get to the city, the PATH goes to WTC after Exchange Place and Christopher, 9th, 14th, 23rd, 33rd and Herald Square after Newport. To get to other areas of the city the numerous bus lines are sufficent and the Light Rail meets with Exchange Place and Newport PATH stations and will take you to the Heights, Liberty State Park with the Liberty Science Center, and other parts of Downtown as well as other parts of western Jersey City by New Jersey City University, and southern Jersey City. Here are some transit links that should be of some service.

http://www.njtransit.com
http://www.njtransit.com/images/hb_final_1031.gif
http://www.panynj.com
Click on PATH Rail System, then system map to give a map of the PATH system and neighborhood of each station.

Thanks. How do you crack into the JC rental market? Any papers to look at for listings? Is JC in any of the internet apartment guides? Is there stuff to do in JC or is it basically a suburb of Manhattan?

[JCMAN320]

Yes the Star Ledger, Jersey Journal, Jersey City Reporter. They are on the internet just put in the search engine Jersey City Real Estate or Jersey City apartments you'll find a lot of listings. There is PLENTY to do here. By NO means are we a suburb of NYC. We have numerous theater comapnies and art galleries. We have the Powerhouse Arts District that once completed well sure rival anything in SoHo or Williamsburg or even DUMBO for that matter. We have the Jersey City museum, and the Liberty Science Center which is the most visited museum in the state in Liberty State Park which also has the Liberty House is our Tavern on the Green, also has ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as well as second to none views of the whole city and harbor. We have live music perfromances at the beautiful Hudson County Courthouse right next to the Journal Square area with people coming as far as Atlantic City to see the performances. We have beautiful Lincoln Park which is the largest in Hudson County and one of the most beautiful. We have numerous colleges a total of six. New Jersey City University, which is opening a huge new campus right next to ts current one which will spur new development on the westside, Saint Peter's College a Jesuit College which is renowned for our great history and sports department, Hudson County Community College which is known for it famous culinary arts department which has turned out great chefs, University of Pheonix, Seton Hall opened a satellite campus, and Rutgers opened a business college at Harborside Financial Center. The Old Loews Theater at Journal Square plays old movies every week which attracts people from Brooklyn to Newark. Also the beautifully resotred Stanley Theater at Journal Square currently used by the Jehovah's Witnesses for an assembly hall, has been sold is going to be used as a performing arts center and house a perfroming arts school as well. There are so much more I'll put up at another time.

[arbeiter]

I wouldn't say that Journal Square is 'booming'. There aren't many new businesses in that part of town, nor is there any real new construction. Most of the urban renewal came in the 1970's.

It is one of the last affordable places to find an apartment to rent, though. It is definitely receiving an influx of young immigrants and city dwellers that have been priced out of either NYC, Hoboken, or downtown JC.

[arbeiter]

Alex_ballard, I thought I would share with you some of my experiences in the JC rental market. I very nearly moved into JC instead of Brooklyn...

Newport and any new construction in downtown JC will be expensive. $2,000+ for a 2 bedroom.

Downtown JC, Van Vorst Park, Hamilton Park areas, anything near the Grove Street PATH, is easily the most desirable area of Jersey City. Rents are skyrocketing in this area, but you can possibly still find studios for around $1K a month, 2 bedrooms from $12-1800 a month...

Journal Square and JC Heights are a mixed bag. I remember finding 2-bedrooms, renovated, in nice brownstones for just over $1000 a month, and this was last month. Jersey City Heights has very high home ownership, and has different architecture and aesthetics. It is not a very desirable area to live in if you need to work in NYC or visit every day. Journal Square is on the PATH, so it's a lot more desirable in my opinion.

South Jersey City is not very pleasant, and is only accessible to the city via a light rail to PATH transfer.

[alex ballard]

I know JC is your thing, but honestly, once JC basically becomes Hoboken, Is Newark gonna be next? I saw it from the train and it had a lot of new houses.

[JCMAN320]

Im in college stuyding to be an urban developer or city planner so im majoring in urban studies and sociology so trust me when I say this, all of Jersey City will not become like Hoboken. I really don't repsect Hoboken for that matter because I had a lot of friends that we're born and raised in Hoboken, kids whos families have been there since the mid 1800s, kids that I went to school with in my hometown Jersey City, that got pushed out because Hoboken essentially sold it's soul to gentrification and developers that pushed prices so high that families who been there for decades get pushed out their hometown that there ancestors help build. Jersey City will never let that happen because they build affordable housing and have buildings in certain areas that are just for lower and middle income families so the city is affordable for everyone. My ancsestors have been in this city since the 1700s all the way to my family today. So the WHOLE city won't get like Hoboken. Jersey City, if it doesn't already, is going to more resemble Brooklyn in it's structure and setup with it's neighborhoods along with it's cultural mosiac. Jersey City has over 100 natinonalities and over 80 languages are spoken in my city. I hope Newark makes a huge come back, Newark at one time was one of the best cities in America, it had the population that Boston has now close to 500,000. Newark was once. It was a world class city and I think that down the road it will become a great destination once again.

[JCMAN320]

Arbeiter I go to Saint Peter's College and I went to Hudson Catholic which are all in the neighborhood, so I know when the area is on a verge of making a come back. Are you kidding with no new consturction, they just topped of a new 12 story apartment tower on Kennedy Boulevard right in the middle of the Square, which will have store fronts on the bottom. Hudson County Community College is starting to complete it's new 8 story Culinray Arts Institute right down the block on Newkirk from the Turst Company Building. A couple of buildings on the plaza will be razed. The building at the corner of Bergen and Sip across from the Jersey Journal Building will be razed which will alow for new construction along with the old Hotel on the Square that has been borded up for years. There are also plans that are gaining approval for that area that I have seen because I'am friends with the city planner that are down the road for the next couple of years. So trust me Journal Square in 8 years will start to resemble the great neighborhood it once was!

[alex ballard]

Arbeiter I go to Saint Peter's College and I went to Hudson Catholic which are all in the neighborhood, so I know when the area is on a verge of making a come back. Are you kidding with no new consturction, they just topped of a new 12 story apartment tower on Kennedy Boulevard right in the middle of the Square, which will have store fronts on the bottom. Hudson County Community College is starting to complete it's new 8 story Culinray Arts Institute right down the block on Newkirk from the Turst Company Building. A couple of buildings on the plaza will be razed. The building at the corner of Bergen and Sip across from the Jersey Journal Building will be razed which will alow for new construction along with the old Hotel on the Square that has been borded up for years. There are also plans that are gaining approval for that area that I have seen because I'am friends with the city planner that are down the road for the next couple of years. So trust me Journal Square in 8 years will start to resemble the great neighborhood it once was!

Curious: you said something about neighborhoods "coming back". Did JC and the surronding area fall into decline when NYC fell apart during the 70's?

[NewYorkYankee]

What is the population of Newark right now?

[TLOZ Link5]

What is the population of Newark right now?

Around 280,000, though at its peak it was around 450,000. It's been gaining population since the last census, though.

[NewYorkYankee]

Gracias, and how about JC?

[alex ballard]

Around 280,000, though at its peak it was around 450,000. It's been gaining population since the last census, though.

Think it's hit 300,000 by now?

[JCMAN320]

Yea your right it's getting close to 300,000 it's currently 250,000. Ansewering Alex's question, Jersey City hit the decline exactly the same time as NYC in the 70's but the city has come back stronger than ever.

[Ninjahedge]

JCM, don't start with the whole "selling your soul" thing.

Hoboken was known for YEARS as the town you would not let your kid go to. It had a LOUSY reputation in so many other towns it was not funny.

Now a bunch of yuppies find the place, realize how convenient it is, and start pushing prices up.

I feel bad for some that got forced out because of rising costs, but there is a problem as well. Some that stay have pride for their city, others are just being territorial and refuse to sell their collapsing UNSAFE structure because they feel it is somehow their DUTY to stay.


Strange how people in the town accept the tax dollars and all the additional funding comeing from this gentrification, but still hate those that are bringing it. Like somehow that money would have magically come about without anybody changing anything.

Areas of Hoboken are, lamentably, turning into total white-bread. But for the most part, run down factories and abandoned TOXIC SITES (yes, the heavy metal and chemical content in 90% of hoboken is high enough to require special cleanup for projects such as Pier A.)


Although I do not like the prefabs, or the outrageous price developers are commanding for "luxury", the old Dock/Train Depot/Bar town of Hoboken is not missed by many.






As for JC. There is good, bad, and certainly ugly there. Development is coming nicely, but they are doing things that many can consider unacceptable by the same standards you chose to use to describe Hoboken. The Arts warehouses being one of them. I hear that the people living/squatting there are being forced to leave because of plans for a new development.

While this is indeed sad, if you have ever been in there and looked at some of the building conditions AND the courtyard filled with plumbing fixtures and rusting scrap metal, you can't help but think that this MIGHT be for the better.

But it will, as you implied, create another SOHO. A place where the artists squatted until it was popular and they could not afford to live there anymore.





Sorry if I sound negative. Work gets to me. That and the position of being someone watching a lot of this happening as I live there and not being able to do much more about it than post on a BBS.

[TLOZ Link5]

Think it's hit 300,000 by now?

Doubtful. The 2000 Census had Newark's population at 273,000, so at the moment it's added around 7,000 people in the last five years. Every annual census estimate since 2000 has shown an increase in population, but at the moment the growth is too slow to have passed 300,000.

Jersey City, as of the 2005 Census estimate, has just about 240,000 people.