Town on a tear to become the best in America
http://www.rew-online.com/2014/09/03...st-in-america/
Jersey City, an area that has spent the 2000s embracing the nuances of gentrification along its waterfront, is now anticipating the completion of several dynamic-changing buildings within an interior that, according to the city’s division of planning, is “in need of rehabilitation.”
To follow in the footsteps of Hoboken, its neighbor to the north, Jersey City has lined up multiple projects to add luster to the location as a whole and up the value of properties within the state’s second-largest municipality.
It’s an initiative that has Mayor Steven Fulop at the forefront. “We’re correcting decades of perception issues,” Fulop told Real Estate Weekly. “Of corruption, of mayors going to jail, of legal issues, of asymmetrical development. Perception generally lags reality.
Mayor Fulop
Mayor Fulop
“We started with a tax-abatement plan to really encourage development away from the waterfront,” said Fulop, adding that the measure was “very, very aggressive,” but necessary due to the negative preconceptions of the area.
The abatement is a 30-year tax break for developers that opt to invest in the city’s inner wards. While some investors may be wary, initial coaxing has begun to produce positive results.
In June on this year, Kushner Real Estate Group opened 18 Park, a 422-unit luxury rental building that has already seen more than 250 apartments claimed. Aside from upscale living options, 18 Park also gives the area 10,500 s/f of retail space as well as placing 34,000 s/f of classrooms and recreational spaces at the Boys & Girls of Hudson County’s disposal.
“We continue to see an increase in demand from residents for new living options both on the waterfront and in in-town neighborhoods. This is fueled in part by the continued increase in living costs in Manhattan and Brooklyn which is pushing people to consider other outer borough locations, and Jersey City has become an extension of that,ˮ said Jonathan Kushner, president of KRE Group.
According to Kushner, more and more people are accepting Jersey City today as a viable, dynamic destination in its own right. He said, “The area always offered one of the most convenient and comprehensive public transportation systems with multiple PATH stations and ferry terminals offering quick service into Manhattan, as well as spectacular views of Manhattan, which has long attracted Manhattan professionals to the city’s waterfront high-rises.
“In recent years, that appeal has expanded inward into in-town neighborhoods with new, forward-thinking, highly-amenitized residential buildings and a new breed of supportive lifestyle attractions and services, like a branch of the popular Williamsburg arcade-bar, Barcade, farm-to-table restaurants, boutique storefronts, and an ever-growing arts scene.ˮ