For real estate investors and many city officials, the explosion of new multifamily buildings Downtown has been a welcome development. For others, concerned about gentrification, rising rents and quality of life issues, not so much.
According to a new study by StorageCafe.com, between 2013 and 2022, Jersey City saw more multifamily construction in its downtown than any other city on the East Coast. Nationally, Jersey City placed eighth, just ahead of Brooklyn, New York.
Over 10,000 apartments were built in Jersey City’s downtown from 2013 to 2022, representing 60% of the total inventory. The best year for downtown apartment construction in Jersey City was 2017, when almost 3,000 new apartments were built – however, 2022 is on track to be a big year, according to the study, as almost 1,200 new units have already come on line.
Asked about the study, Ward E Councilman James Solomon remarked “It doesn’t surprise me. It should be the policy to have development. But not enough has been smart development. There aren’t enough schools, open space and affordable homes. It’s my job to turn turn the tide.”
Solomon conceded, however, that the space is limited Downtown.
“It’s an indictment of New York City” he added. “The fact that Jersey City is building exponentially more than New York City speaks to rising rents and infrastructure issues there. New York has added 700,000 new jobs but only 200,000 new homes. New York City policy is the root cause of gentrification here.”
Storagecafe.com noted additional key highlights that brought Jersey City’s downtown to the top:
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- An increase of downtown apartment inventory by 60% over the past decade with more than 10,000 new apartments.
- While office workers aren’t yet returning to offices in droves, people still seem interested in living in downtown Jersey City, which has another 1,200 new apartments currently under construction with completion dates spanning approximately two years.
- With urban cores becoming the place to be for an increasing number of renters, the need for more space transferred to downtown areas as well. Jersey City’s downtown area saw the addition of almost 390K square feet of self storage space from 2013 to 2022.
