Jersey City Traffic Study
Study: Downtown Jersey City traffic will get worse
A study commissioned by Jersey City has concluded that by the year 2020, traffic in the Downtown area will reach the full capacity of the current roadway system to handle it.
The $176,00 federally-funded “Jersey City Regional Waterfront and Downtown Circulation Study,” 1˝ years in the works, was undertaken in order to come up with solutions to the increasing crowding on city streets.
To deal with this impending gridlock, the study’s consultant, Stantec, makes several recommendations, both large — extending the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System along the Sixth Street Embankment through the Bergen Arches into Secaucus — and small — changing the timing of traffic signals to speed up traffic flow.
“As the fastest growing city in the state, it is imperative that we look at all options available in alleviating the tremendous congestion in the downtown area,” said Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
The most controversial proposal is to extend Jersey Avenue from where it currently ends just behind the Jersey City Medical Center through Liberty State Park to Audrey Zapp Drive.
“Our main concern is a Jersey Avenue road would be a magnet for rush-hour commuters . . . diminish the peaceful experience for people who come to the park,” said Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State Park.
Naomi Hsu, a city planner, said she doubted the two-way, two-lane road with bicycle paths would become a rush-hour thoroughfare, since a light rail crossing of Jersey Avenue would naturally slow traffic and discourage commuters from using that route.
See the full study.
Definetly, get the Hudson Bergen Light Rail to Secaucus Jct. It would be an easy connection from almost all of NJ Transit's heavy rail commuter lines.To deal with this impending gridlock, the study’s consultant, Stantec, makes several recommendations, both large — extending the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System along the Sixth Street Embankment through the Bergen Arches into Secaucus — and small — changing the timing of traffic signals to speed up traffic flow.
Living the high life in Jersey City
Sunday, July 15, 2007
By JENNIFER V. HUGHES
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
JERSEY CITY -- Audrey Ng, 3˝, is eager to show off her new home, even though there are still contractors painting the walls pale blue and there are wires hanging from the ceiling, awaiting light fixtures.
"Hey, come on, guys!" she shouted as she escorted her father, Darryl, and her mother, Jane, carrying little sister, Bridget, 17 months.
While Audrey is most thrilled about the pink princess ceiling fan in her room, the truly spectacular features of the two-bedroom condominium are the floor-to-ceiling windows, which run the length of one wall, revealing the stunning Manhattan skyline.
"You can't get a view like that in New York. In New York, you get the million-dollar view of New Jersey," said Darryl Ng. The family bought the condo even though it is smaller than the apartment they were renting nearby.
The Ng family plan to move into their new condominium at the south tower of the Shore Condominium Residences at Newport this weekend, joining about 11,000 other residents who make this section of Jersey City their home.
Twenty years ago, Newport was essentially an abandoned rail yard. Today on the 400 acres, there are nine high-rise rental apartment buildings, two completed condominium buildings, the 1.2 million-square-foot Newport Centre Mall and 5 million square feet of office space -- with tenants such as J.P. Morgan Chase. There are about a dozen retail shops and restaurants, a playground, a health club and several private schools.
"In 1986, everyone thought this was a dumb idea," said Jamie LeFrak, the principal of the LeFrak Organization, which created Newport. The first apartments were marketed as a safe, affordable alternative to New York City, he said, adding that one of the big selling points of the early buildings was that they were gated.
"Now we're competing on the luxury market," he said, noting that the Shore condos have amenities such as a hot tub room with panoramic views of New York City.
Condominiums in the south tower of the Shorecondos started going to contract in September 2005, and 200 units sold in 100 days, said Lynette Hamara, sales director for Coldwell Banker in Jersey City.
The north Shore tower started selling about a year ago, and while it is only two-thirds complete, it's about 90 percent sold.
Hamara said new residents range wildly from young singles to empty nesters who long to be closer to the city. Many are couples with young children. Residents come from as near as Hoboken and as far away as Cranbury and Manalapan, where Manhattan workers seek a shorter commute.
Buyers tell Hamara that Newport's biggest draw is its proximity to New York City and the variety of public transportation. PATH trains depart from the Pavonia Newport station for both midtown and the World Trade Center. NJ Transit's Light Rail passes through Newport, giving riders options north and south. There is also a ferry terminal where boats depart for midtown Manhattan.
Newport was developed jointly between the LeFrak Organization and Melvin Simon & Associates, which built the Newport Centre Mall in the mid 1980s. LeFrak said his grandfather and father looked at Newport as "a blank canvas."
"They liked the idea of creating their own city from scratch," he said.
One of the biggest initial problems was purchasing the land from the many different owners, most of whom were banks who had foreclosed on railroad property. After that, there were issues of environmental remediation. For example, the company paid about $20 million to remove a deposit of coal tar left behind on several plots of land. In total, the company has spent about $2.5 billion to develop Newport.
Sonia Maldonado, who heads the Newport Waterfront Association, a residents group, said Newport in one respect has become a victim of its own success. She noted that so many people have moved in recently that mass transit has gotten more crowded.
In 1995, the annual ridership out of the Pavonia/Newport station was 8,759, according to Port Authority statistics. By 2000, that number had jumped to 12,841 and in the first six months of 2007 it is already at 15,502.
The organization is hosting a meeting in the fall to address the issue.
Maldonado said residents are also anxiously awaiting a new park and playground that is planned for the northern edge of Newport. As the area becomes more attractive to families, she said more schools -- public and private -- will be needed. Many residents are frustrated with how long it is taking for a planned waterfront walkway from Newport to Hoboken to be completed.
Maldonado came to the area a decade ago, moving out of her co-op at Park Avenue and 39th Street in Manhattan. She planned to stay only about a year when she first moved in to a rental apartment at the George Washington building.
"At that time there was a lot of grass," she said, laughing. "It was no longer just the tracks -- there were some buildings, but it was still different than it is today."
Maldonado said she liked the quiet lifestyle of Newport.
"It was calmer than Manhattan," she said. "It was very, very safe -- I loved that."
For many years she worked in Manhattan; recently she's taken a job as a tax professional down the street. Not long ago she moved to another Newport rental building, The East Hampton.
"There is nothing quite as nice as sitting on a bench on the waterfront and just relaxing ... watching the ships sail through on the Hudson," she said.
Ng is not only a Newport resident, he's also a business owner as the proprietor of a shop, Canis Minor, which is around the corner from the Shore condos and carries dog-related items, from food to swanky outfits. He has just opened a similar store in Tribeca called Pet Bar South, and like many Newport residents, he said the quick commute was a big factor in his decision to buy.
"That was by far the number one reason -- there is no other place that is so close to all those transportation hubs," he said.
Another reason was price. Prices in Newport are comparable to other developments on the Jersey side of the Hudson River, said Scott Selleck, broker and principal of New Jersey Gold Coast Real Estate. And, of course, the prices pale in comparison with Manhattan, where the average price for condos and co-ops tops $1 million.
While the vast majority of residents in Newport are renters, LeFrak said ownership is key to Newport's survival. For one, he said owners are important because they are more likely to be voters, and local politicians pay more heed to an area when constituents live there. Secondly, he said surveys have found that 80 percent of renters who leave do so to buy elsewhere.
LeFrak said he wants to persuade them to stay, and is planning accordingly.
"We will be bringing in a lot of family-oriented stuff," he said, noting that a skating rink should be opened soon and child-friendly shops and stores are in the works.
* * *Newport by the numbers
• 3,476 units of rental apartments, all of which are occupied. There are 659 condos -- all of which are sold with another 220 to be finished by the end of the year.
• 4,500 more residential units are planned for the next 10 years.
• Studio apartments rent for about $1,700, while a two-bedroom can go for $2,500 to $3,700.
• A one-bedroom condo at the Shore Condominium Residences sells for about $500,000, while a three-bedroom duplex costs about $846,000. The most expensive unit in the development sold for about $1.7 million.
• Maintenance fees for Shore condos range from about $430 to $1,100, and service charges, which are payments in lieu of taxes, cost between $600 and $1,300.
Source: the LeFrak Organization
Originally Posted by ianmac47
Since the Shore Club started construction Newport had a construction cam up so you can watch the progress of the shore club. It's been up for a little more then a year now and they have never move the angle of the cam. Last week when I looked at it you could start see the Aqua build from the cam. The construction of the Aqua was blocked by the Holland tunnel vent, but now that the building is starting to rise you can see it from the cam until today. Now the angle of the cam for the first time in over a year has moved almost cutting the top corner of the Shore Club out of view.
Ianmac I don't this had any thing to do with you or anyone taking pictures of Newport, but stopping buyers and potential buyers of see that a rental building is being built almost directly in front of their new condo's. Not that Newport didn't let people know about the Aqua but the map they put of where the Aqua would be built is false. They made look as if the Aqua would be built in between the two buildings.
Here is a link to the cam http://64.119.93.249/hugesize.jpg
Last edited by macmini; July 16th, 2007 at 04:10 PM.
New York magazine’s list
A Ranking of Seven Hotels for Under $200 a Night. In New York.
Or so nearby it doesn’t matter.
By Stephen Milioti
The Hyatt Regency in Jersey City. (Photo: Coutesy of Hyatt Regency)
In many cities besides New York, $200 gets you a nice room at a good hotel, with shampoo, a shower cap, and maybe even an in-room coffeepot. In New York, not so much. But with some digging and some deals, it is possible to find a clean room, a soft mattress, free Internet, and fresh-baked cookies for under two Franklins. I tested seven hotels, staying on weekends and booking rooms online to take advantage of deals. Prices can vary widely (especially in the fall and spring high seasons) and often go up during the week.
1. Hyatt Regency Jersey City on the Hudson
2 Exchange Pl., Jersey City, N.J.; 201-469-1234
PRICE: $199
GREAT VIEWS
The best $200 hotel in New York is in New Jersey—a one-stop, four-minute PATH ride or short Water Taxi ride from lower Manhattan. My room has water and city views (not all do, but my ultranice front-desk agent upgraded me because there was available space). The room is 400 feet, with low-key and sophisticated touches: a granite bathroom sink; a rather masculine taupe, brown, and gray color scheme; a good-size desk for working; and very upscale bedding—plus a spectacular view of the Woolworth Building.
The rest of the list http://nymag.com/travel/features/34731/
Last edited by macmini; July 16th, 2007 at 02:57 PM.
Company lowers the estimate of residents to work at new tower
New tower will create local jobs but goals are lower than before
Monday, July 16, 2007
Goldman Sach's proposed second office tower at 50 Hudson St. will prove a boon for local job hunters, according to Joseph J. Seneca, a Rutgers professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
During the estimated three-year construction phase, the $560 million project will generate the equivalent of 274 one-year construction jobs - or 11 percent of all the direct construction jobs - for Jersey City residents, according to an economic impact analysis Goldman paid the university to conduct, Seneca said.
The project will create 17 other indirect construction jobs for local residents as well as the equivalent of 213 one-year jobs created by the construction, Seneca said.
Once the building is occupied, Jersey City residents should land 413, or 12 percent of the 3,440 financial jobs at the facility - jobs paying on average $156,000 a year, Seneca said.
Though significantly lower than the 51 percent goals the company agreed to seven years ago, they are still above the figures Goldman has achieved at 30 Hudson St.
Like 30 Hudson St., the proposed new tower will be filled mostly by workers already on the payroll, Goldman officials said.
Goldman is building a new headquarters at Battery Park City across the river in Manhattan, which is slated to open toward the end of 2009.
The company is shedding leases in Manhattan with the goal to consolidate its metro area operation at Battery Park and its two Jersey City towers. No date has been set for construction to start on the proposed Jersey City tower.
KEN THORBOURNE
My Wedding rehearsal dinner was at the Jersey City Hyatt, VU? Stunning views.
Agreed they wont be expanding that fast to fill the new HQ in Manhattan, the secondary office in Manhattan in BPC and the already buillt only 65 percent occupied tower in JC anytime soon
maps
local live maps have been updated recently where one can actually see a few new things in the downtown area. The new aerial view shows construction of Columbus Tower, Liberty Harbor, Trump, and even the new LSC addition.
http://maps.live.com/
I think you are absolutely right that they don't want people to realize how shit their views are going to be before buying at Shore.Ianmac I don't this had any thing to do with you or anyone taking pictures of Newport, but stopping buyers and potential buyers of see that a rental building is being built almost directly in front of their new condo's. Not that Newport didn't let people know about the Aqua but the map they put of where the Aqua would be built is false. They made look as if the Aqua would be built in between the two buildings.
Please note my final Shore Club posting:
"Their sudden interest in our photography might be evident in the below photograph of the north tower-- bottom right is the base of the 31 story Aqua going in due East of the Shore Club:"
http://newyorkssixth.com/newyorkssix...re%20Club.html
As far as I'm concerned, Lefrak can go Fark himself. There are plenty of more interesting developments than Newport in downtown Jersey City. NewYorksSixth is receiving between 2k and 3k unique visitors a week now, most from search engines rather than links, which essentially means 8k to 10k visitors a month who are interested in Jersey City are coming to my site. I wonder if NewportNJ.com has that kind of traffic. I think I've been more than kind to Newport's mediocre developments in the past. Also, now, the best vantage point for photos of Newport's development are from the New York side of the Hudson River, in which case Shore club will be pretty obscured by the rising Aqua tower.
Yeah, that's awesome. Nice find. Too bad they didn't update the "birds eye view."
I'm just wondering will Jersey City ever get a sports team
Perhaps, but it, like the rest of Jersey, gets grouped in with NYC a lot so maybe not anytime soon. We have to hold on to our current teams which is why I'm definitely going to Devils games.
side note: aren't the Jets putting or already put a training facility in JC? (curious) JCMan somehow I know you know
Oh yeah, it makes sense to me to perhaps list a JC hotel as a 'New York metro', or 'New York area' or even a 'nearby' hotel but it confuses me when they list it as New York because no matter how close and familiar, it isn't the same city. I mean the taxes, transportation, etc. could throw-off someone who is visiting outside of the tri-state. just a thought...
You're right it does make sence. I mean who would want to pay all that money in NYc
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