JERSEY CITY | Journal Square | Phase 1 | 544 FT | 54 FLOORS

[dc_denizen]

2029???

[supertallchaser]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

2029???

3 years from now is 2017 then another 3 is 2020 and then 2023 and add financing it could be 2025 but im sure their going to say 2029 to be safe and not get peoples hopes up it will be built relatively fast

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by CCs77

666

Here is wisdom.

[C.]

Hi summersm343, your posts about the Journal Squared development inspired me to register for these forums to comment. I am a fairly recent resident of Jersey City, within walking distance of Journal Square. I take the PATH trains daily form Journal Square to and from work. I haven't been living here a decade, but long enough that I consider myself a proud member of the community.

The other parts of Jersey City and the New York metro area have seen many formerly depressed neighborhoods be revitalized and strengthened, often times with new developments being the catalyst for change. Journal Square was once the center of activity in Jersey City but has seen significant decline over the years. It has significant potential to once again be great since its within 15 minutes of midtown or downtown Manhattan by train and it has good bones and character.

Revitalization of Journal Square has proven to be tricky while most other parts of Jersey City are booming. The economic recovery seems to have passed over Journal Square. There is a need for better supermarkets and the jobs that come with them. There is a need for better housing options, severing a variety of income levels. There is a need for an infusion of investment, both private and public. You mentioned the waterfront on one of your posts. Why should all new investments be limited to the waterfront? Journal Square deserves better than how it has been treated in the past.

Before learning of this development, I always fantasized that some developer would see the potential that this neighborhood has and just declare all out war against timid city officials and unvisionary politicos to put a high density tower of 60 storeys or so to kick start revitalization of the Square.

You cannot begin to imagine my surprise when I found out that not only was there already plans for a 60 storey tower but there will be three of them! An even bigger surprise wa that city staff and elected officials, especially Mayor Fulop and the majority of Jersey City council, have been strong supporters of this development towards the overall revitalization of Journal Square. They too understand the need and the only way to succeed was to go large. There are several other developments nearby waiting to break ground, probably looking towards the outcome of Journal Squared before they begin.

There is only one ward councilman that has been vocally against this development, which just so happens to be the one for my ward. I wrote a letter to his office expressing my displeasure with his stance, and I most certainly will not be voting for him in the next election.

Demolition is currently underway, and I'll be happy watching these towers rise and the positive impacts it will bring to the neighborhood. I'm tempted to start a blog to document the changes.

Lastly, I am just very thankful that Jersey City leaders do not think like you.

Originally Posted by summersm343

Sooooooo residents of Jersey City are actually telling me that they think this development is appropriate for the area? I think it is EXTREMELY out of scale and out of touch with the neighborhood. It's just the developer shooting for an extreme return on investment. 70 stories?! Most of the buildings in this area are 2 or 3 floors. There are very few highrises let alone midrises in the area.

This development should be along the waterfront and on this site should be maybe a 300 or 400 foot tower. MUCH more appropriate for the area. This is just completely ridiculous looking

Good city planning is building to critical mass, than building up... not building a 70 story tower when the area is not built to critical mass... IMO I think this will saturate the market for a few years and Phase 2 and 3 will never get built.

This is just as farfetched as the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn by Forest City Ratner.

If this development was on the waterfront I'd be all for it... but here?! Crazy I tell ya

[NYguy]

http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=7102

Jersey More
Two high-rise residential projects in Jersey City set to absorb New York City overflow around transit hubs.




The two developments are being built within walking distance to the Exchange Place and Journal Square PATH Stations

Sited on the west bank of the Hudson River, Jersey City is connected to Manhattan by a web of transit lines that are making it an increasingly desirable location for new residents priced out of New York City. Developers have taken note of this trend, as evidenced by a pair of high-rise residential complexes that recently broke ground in the satellite city. When complete, the two projects—one designed by HWKN with Handel Architects, the other by Dutch firm Concrete—will be among the tallest buildings in New Jersey.

“As Brooklyn becomes more and more inconvenient due to affordability and transportation, people are warming up to New Jersey’s convenience,” said Matthias Hollwich, partner at HWKN. He noted that many of the amenities that draw people to Brooklyn already exist in Jersey City, from a vibrant dining scene to tech incubation hubs. “It’s really unknown to many people.” His firm is building a triad of towers at Journal Square, the tallest of which is 74 floors and 740 feet. “I was really amazed at the accessibility that’s completely underutilized,” he continued. “It’s only 10 minutes to the World Trade Center and 15 to Midtown Manhattan.”

HWKN broke ground at their so-called Journal Squared, or J2, project last November, according to developer Jonathan Kushner, brother of HWKN principal Marc Kushner. The 2.4 million-square-foot plan groups three towers around a PATH station that handles 5 million train passengers annually. The first tower will top out at 54 floors and features a pixelated facade of square windows accented by a dynamic lighting scheme. Hollwich declined to discuss design specifics of the project, but initial concepts call for a series of landscaped roof terraces with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline.

“We took special care in the crafting of urban qualities so not to abuse what’s already there,” said Hollwich, emphasizing that the project is a prime example of a transit-oriented development. “You can reduce the parking because its been demonstrated that you need less around transit,” he said. “Now we have a maximum of .5 cars per apartment, but it potentially could be zero, and that’s a good thing.” Jonathan Kushner told the New York Times the future phases of the project would likely take several more years.

Down the tracks toward Manhattan, developers Mack-Cali Realty Corporation and Ironstate Development just broke ground on the first of three more towers grouped around the Exchange Place PATH Station. Concrete designed the three towers as a series of stacked glass boxes rising from parking podia covered in pixelated metal and wood screens. Occupiable landscaped roofs linked by pedestrian bridges connect the overall site. Standing 713 feet tall with 69 floors, the new tower, called URL Harborside, or Urban-Ready Living Harborside, takes the state’s second tallest title behind Cesar Pelli’s 42-story, 781-foot-tall 30 Hudson Street.

“We believe there is strong demand for a live-work-play environment that offers a true sense of community—all in an amenity-rich, transit-oriented location,” said Mitchell Hersh, Mack-Cali president and CEO, in a statement. Each of the planned 763 residences is designed to be energy-efficient with innovative layouts and communal amenities that appeal to flexible, urban lifestyles. When complete, the entire project will contain more than 2,300 units and retail space. The first phase of URL Harborside is expected to be complete in 2016.

[NYguy]

http://nypost.com/2014/03/05/jersey-...g-for-the-sky/

Jersey City is reaching for the sky


By Adam Bonislawski
March 5, 2014

The sky’s the limit for Jersey City’s Journal Square neighborhood. Literally.

Situated in the western half of Jersey City, three PATH train stops from Lower Manhattan, Journal Square was once one of city’s most prosperous quarters. The area, though, has largely missed out on the waves of development that have, over the last few decades, transformed the Jersey City waterfront aalong with the downtown stretches around the Grove Street PATH stop.

Seeking to remedy this, the city government has, in recent years, passed a number of initiatives to drive development. First came a 2010 rezoning plan eliminating height density restrictions in certain portions of the neighborhood. Then, upon winning office last May, Mayor Steven Fulop changed the city’s tax-abatement program.

The mayor’s new scheme aims to incentivize developers to locate their projects within key inland spots like Journal Square — which sits one PATH stop from downtown Jersey City and two from the waterfront. Under the new rules, downtown and waterfront developments are eligible, at most, for 10-year abatements. A Journal Square project, on the other hand, can snag up to 30 years of tax abatements.

“We wanted to incentivize people to move more into the inner portions of the city, and Journal Square seemed like a natural place to focus on,” Fulop says. “It was the former center of the city, the heart of the city. It has great bones, mass transportation. The PATH system is right there, there’s a major bus terminal right there. So it really has all the components.”

...Among the most prominent is Journal Squared, a 2.4-million-square-foot mixed-use residential and retail project under development by the New Jersey-based KRE Group. Adjacent to the Journal Square Transportation Center, the complex — upon completion — will house 1,840 rental apartments spread across three towers of 54, 60 and 74 stories. The first tower is slated to open in late 2016 and will feature 540 rental units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms.

Like much of the rest of Jersey City’s appeal, KRE’s main interest in the site is “based on the incredible transportation,” says Jonathan Kushner, the firm’s president, noting that roughly 30,000 PATH riders and 1,200 buses pass through every day. “From that station, you can go direct to downtown [Manhattan], direct to Midtown,” he says. “You can connect at Newark to Amtrak. You can go right to the Newark Airport.”

[C.]

They need to go taller!

As a resident of Jersey City, I want 100 at Journal Square.

[Perklol]

delete

[Hypothalamus]

New York YIMBY:

Construction Update: Journal Squared
BY: NIKOLAI FEDAK ON MARCH 6TH 2014 AT 12:00 PM

Jersey City entering a new development boom, and one of the largest projects underway is ‘Journal Squared,’ which promises to help revitalize the Journal Square neighborhood. The project’s architects are HWKN and Handel, and Kushner Real Estate is developing the site.

As the construction photos show, demolition on whatever used to exist is now complete, and excavation for the new towers is imminent; the trio of buildings will completely dominate the Journal Square skyline, which currently has no skyscrapers. The neighborhood is removed from the main cluster of waterfront high-rises in Jersey City, but it enjoys transit accessibility that compares with the city’s Downtown node.
....

Phase I of Journal Squared will result in a 54-story building; the other two towers will stand 60 and 70 floors, with full build-out likely before 2020. Ground-breaking was expected this past December, but there does not appear to be any excavation equipment on-site; nevertheless, the site is clear, and activity appears to be imminent.

[NYguy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.1713502

From drab to fab, Jersey City's alluring architecture is making "Chilltown" hot
Condos, townhouses and other projects along the harborfront and in the interior boost city's presence





By Matt Chaban
March 7, 2014

A ride on the PATH train to Newport, in Jersey City, only takes about three minutes from Manhattan. But mount the stairs to the street and you could be forgiven for thinking you’re in Stamford, Conn.

Drab, almost hostile, boxes of glass and concrete loom over a six-lane boulevard, where Jersey drivers speed along on their way to the nearby Holland Tunnel. Instead of storefronts, the bases of most towers are encased by imposing multistory parking garages.

It’s the urban equivalent of the black knight standing guard, bellowing: “None shall pass.”

But hop the light rail and take it five stops south toward the Morris Canal — ignoring other ill-conceived developments of the past two decades (including the Trump Plaza, the state’s tallest residences, which opened in 2008) — and arrive at Liberty Harbor.

Cute throwback townhouses in a hodgepodge of styles recall Main St. at Disney World. Behind them rise modern lofts and attractive apartment buildings, complete with the hallmarks of the Jane Jacobs-Park Slope playbook: a cafe, a bistro, a German-style beer hall.

It’s all less than a decade old, but still has the look of the brownstone, tree-lined streets just across Grand Ave. that have attracted more and more folks from across the river (sometimes two rivers) to call the 07302 zip code home.

“Growing up, Jersey City was a place you passed through on the way to Manhattan,” says Marc Kushner, an architect raised in suburban Livingston. “It was never the destination, and I think a lot of the older buildings reflect that.”

As Jersey City has cast off its stigma as a back-office-and-apartment haven of cheap rents and cheaper-looking buildings, more and more professionals and families are calling “Chilltown” and “JC” home. They’re ditching the suburbs of their parents, but also the stratospheric prices and stuffy attitudes of Manhattan and, increasingly, Brooklyn.

As the so-called sixth borough has finally become a destination in its own right, developers are getting hip to the need for cutting-edge buildings to suit newcomers’ demanding tastes.

.....at the mouth of the Grove St. PATH station, Ironstate and Panepinto Properties are pushing the luxury concept even further with a pair of 50-story towers with more than 1,000 apartments.

They are designed by Gwathmey Siegel, the renowned Manhattan firm famous for sumptuous apartments and East End homes. The designers also created the W Hoboken for Ironstate, and here they replicate their clean, modern luxury in these ivory-looking towers.

No one is more excited about this transformation than the new mayor, Steven Fulop, who took office last summer. “We want to see the Jersey City skyline continue to evolve and to differentiate itself from those across the river, which frankly can be a little boring at times,” Fulop says.

.....And in one of the biggest developments in the city’s history, literally and figuratively, Ironstate and Mack Cali are building a trio of Jenga-like towers on the waterfront. At 69 stories and with thousands of units, they not only will transform the city’s skyline, but the way people live in Jersey City.

But perhaps the most exciting project of all isn’t even taking place in the current hub — and hubbub — of downtown. It’s a PATH stop further out, in the still-rough part of town surrounding Journal Square.

There, HWKN has created a group of towers for Kushner’s brother Jonathan (both are scions of the well-known Kushner real estate empire started by their grandfather) that will soar more than 70 stories over the Palisades plateau. It is part of the mayor’s drive to push development beyond downtown to less-developed areas of New Jersey’s second-largest city.

“We’re trying to put Jersey City on the map, and I think we’ve planted a pretty big flag,” Kushner says.

[C.]

Not sure if this angle has been posted yet:




A little MS Word is my approximation of the towers and plaza space.



Rendering taken from an older but insightful article.

But unlike Grove Pointe’s plaza, which was meant to help promote a public square for what the area was already known for, Persky describes J2′s construction as creating a new, “self-contained” neighborhood, though much of it will be open to the public. There will also be a private fitness center, spa and swimming pool.

The plan does call for some open-space – or “people space,” as Persky calls it, before describing a starkly different Journal Square. There will be a dog run, outdoor seating envisioned as a place for barbecuing or just sitting outside reading and relaxing in the sun. Some of this space will be on top of the “super lobby” that will conjoin all three skyscrapers, with new restaurants and retail all around the development. After this development, night life will follow, says Persky.

“It will have everything you want in the complex,” he adds. “This is going to be a place. It will be a residential center unparalleled in the city.”

But if residents are concerned of what this will do the neighborhood, aesthetically, financially and culturally – and they are – the argument that the buildings don’t fit in won’t hold for long. That’s because KRE isn’t alone, and when they open the dam a torrent of high-rises is expected.

After all, MEPT is reportedly close to finding a partner to work with for their two towers – 1.24 million square feet spread out over 1,500 units, with 150,000 square-feet of retail space – and Robinhood Plaza receiving a zoning change at their property next to the Summit House that will permit them to build a 42-story building. There are also other areas that are currently parking lots within the “core” of the Journal Square Redevelopment plan that are already zoned without height limitation. It’s just a matter of time and economic wherewithal before someone snatches them up. Then there is talk of an unnamed developer approaching property owners on Magnolia Avenue looking to buy up land.

What was long dormant might soon awaken to years and years of construction, and what will emerge will look even less like Journal Square now than what Grove Street looked like 10 years ago.

But so far it’s just been a lot of talk and huge promise of change, and some residents around Journal Square have reacted to the talk with both guarded interest and trepidation. But they’re definitely talking.

[Surrealplaces]

I hope all three get built. Jersey city's on a nice little roll.

[Urbannizer]

A different design proposal? Ignore that Canada is given as the location.

http://www.humphreys.com/portfolio/boards-6/

[C.]

Humphreys isn't one for details apparently

ON THE BOARDS
CANADA

Two 60-Foot Towers
697 Square Foot
Average Unit Size

60 foot is about what.. 6 floors?

[C.]

I believe that's a stalled development planned for another area of Journal Square. When the first Journal Squared tower is built and leased it, that will probably inspire other developers in the area to proceed with their proposals. This is another version I could find.



The site in question: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7307...gMwScIXGpg!2e0

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

A different design proposal? Ignore that Canada is given as the location.

This is another Journal Square project, by a different developer.

I think we have a SSP thread for it, somewhere.

[Hypothalamus]

So do we have a thread for that site? I couldn't find one. I think City Center Towers, One Journal Square, 96 Sip Avenue, are all names/addresses of that same development. NY YIMBY also wrote up a nice article on the stalled project today. I could see this getting restarted.

http://www.yimbynews.com/2014/03/rev...er-towers.html

[NYguy]

^ There was an older thread for that development, which was originally the most anticipated of the Journal Square developments.

And I love, love, love all of this development around Journal Square, which has excellent transportation both to lower and midtown Manhattan, as well as Penn Station in Newark and Newark Airport.



http://gizmodo.com/this-icy-blue-tow...ide-1546513025

This Icy Blue Tower Will Be New Jersey's Tallest Residential Building

New Jersey has plenty of tall buildings, to be sure, but it's not known for its skyscrapers. A new development planned for Jersey City hopes to change all that with a bright blue set of towers that will boost the city's skyline.

Located in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City, the 1,840 unit-development will be called Journal Squared (although, shouldn't it really be Journal Cubed?) and hopes to attract young professionals who can easily get to work in Manhattan using the adjacent PATH station.

The complex is designed by HWKN and Handel Architects and will feature three towers, one of which will top out at about 729 feet, making it the tallest residential building in New Jersey (the press release says it will be the tallest, but Cesar Pelli's 30 Hudson Street in Jersey City will remain the tallest at 780 feet). Bruce Mau Design did the identity and wayfinding.

According to the designers, the buildings will serve as both a gateway to the state and as a new urban center for the city. "We designed a building that works equally well at the scale of the Turnpike, where hundreds of thousands of people will see it every day, and at the scale of the human who walks and lives in the city," says HWKN partner Marc Kushner. It should be complete by 2016.

Of course you can see plenty of New Jersey's buildings from Manhattan, but this one seems like it was both designed to stand out and combat the gritty, industrial vibe that dominates the lands just across the Hudson. The use of blue—and that sure it a lot of blue!—seems to communicate a freshness while hoping to remind New York City that, hey, New Jersey is RIGHT OVER HERE.

[C.]

An excellent opinion piece just appeared on nj.com

It nails why these towers are so important to the development on Jersey City.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/...rsey_city.html

By JEFF KAPLOWITZ
GUEST COLUMNIST

As a lifelong resident of Jersey City and a commercial real estate broker for 27 years, I would like to offer a different perspective on Mr. Malone's Jan. 27 editorial in The Jersey Journal.

From 1994 to 2002, I was a commissioner on the city Planning Board. During that time we voted on many redevelopment plans and development applications and revisited the master plan and zoning ordinances. The city planning staff, in my opinion, is by far the best and most dedicated in New Jersey. Most redevelopment plans and applications are vetted through many meetings with developers and stakeholders with the goal of following the master plan not just for today, but into the future. It is true that there has never been 100 percent agreement, but the process is open.

Journal Square started its growth as a transportation center in 1912 and grew to be Jersey City's business, entertainment and governmental center in the 1920s and maintained its position of power and glory into the 1960s. Since then it has declined, and today the surrounding area consists of commuter parking lots and 99-cent, discount liquor, fast food and phone stores. Every mayor over the past 40 years has tried to rejuvenate the Square, without success.

Over the last decade, I have participated in many planning and public community meetings where the goal was to redevelop the area. The process has been long, but what has finally emerged, in my opinion, is not only good for Journal Square but for Jersey City.

BUILDERS FOLLOW MASS TRANSIT

The market trend today and for the foreseeable future is that people want to live in cities again. One of the reasons for this is that all amenities are within walking distance. But how do you create that in an area that is old and mostly built out from the 19th and 20th centuries? Most urban planners will say that you build where your highest density of residential and commercial development is within a quarter-mile of a mass transit hub because people can maximize public transit, and as you go further out you have progressively lower density development, which creates the appropriate scale for residents and pedestrians.

In Jersey City we have one of the best mass transit systems with PATH, bus, ferry and light rail, and that is where the city has planned its most aggressive development, along those hubs. In Journal Square, the core of the highest density is around the PATH terminal, with all the surrounding areas limited to development between two to 10 stories.

TAX ABATEMENT POLICIES

As a member of Mayor Fulop's real estate transition committee, we looked at and made recommendations for tax abatement policies. The new policies are directed to areas that need incentives to grow, such as Journal Square, Bergen/Lafayette and Greenville, and were drastically reduced Downtown where the market is now sustainable without incentives.

As a commercial real estate broker, it has been difficult over the years to convince investors and developers to look at Journal Square because it just did not make economic sense.

The question is why should government give tax incentives? The answer is that incentives to developers will give them a profitable project on which they will spend more of their own money to build, creating temporary jobs for construction workers who will spend their money with local businesses, which in turn creates local jobs. In the long run, people who live and work in these new buildings will spend their money in the surrounding neighborhood. This creates opportunities for small businesses to open and thereby creates new permanent jobs. This is called the economic multiplier effect, where for every dollar invested a multiple amount is generated in the local economy.

FUNDING HOUSING

In the past our local government has required money for affordable housing, but instead of creating the housing Downtown where the incentives were given, they were put into the Bergen/Lafayette and Greenville sections of Jersey City. It created unbalanced neighborhoods with no amenities, no jobs, low performing schools and no opportunities. This policy has led to a sense of hopelessness and a high level of drug and gang crime activity. It will take the attention and resources of the Fulop administration, with the help of the stakeholders from these neighborhoods, to make a positive change.

The Fulop administration has taken the first step by changing the tax abatement policy to create a more balanced approach to affordable housing. If you get a tax incentive, you must pay for or create affordable housing in the ward where you will develop.

The function of local government is to deliver services to its residents, to create safe, successful and sustainable neighborhoods. Government must pay for these services, and the only way to raise the money is through real estate development, which will attract new businesses and new residents. There is no reason why longtime residents should feel that they will be displaced if a balance can be achieved. I believe that Mayor Fulop's approach to development is the right choice for Jersey City.

[Hypothalamus]

Posted April 13th, 2014...
Photo Credit: tbal at WNY








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