New construction on Third off Newark
Old gas station lot across from Madame Claudes for sale (Newark Ave)
Less than stellar condos next to Cresecent Court (2nd St)
Bldg going up on 1st in back part of downtown.
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.
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:
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?
Last edited by tbal; February 19th, 2012 at 07:06 PM.
I'm not sure yet I'll check tomorrow.Originally Posted by tbal
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:
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?
JC Nightlife Getting Big Boost
NY REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL / FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Jersey City Is Working to Boost Its Cool
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/SB1000...350947336.html
Jersey City Simply Is The Best
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/realestat...tml?c=y&page=1
More About Warren@York
"BlueGate announces the successful capital raise for the proposed Class “A” 139-unit Warren at York multifamily development located in Jersey City, NJ
February 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."
Hartz Mountain, Roseland Properties planning 1,000-unit residential building on Jersey City waterfront
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.
Last edited by macmini; February 22nd, 2012 at 09:17 PM.
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).
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.
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.
My weekly Jersey City roundup...
Cast Iron lofts are rising...
DSCN2012 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
150 Essex Street
DSCN2079 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSCN2081 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSCN2082 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSCN2083 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSCN2084 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSCN2086 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSCN2088 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
109 Columbus Boulevard
DSCN2200 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
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.
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