There has not been any affordable housing built in large scale projects in Jersey City in half a decade. The last large scale project that was approved or built was in 2017, when I was on the city council.
I approved the last project on the West Side that has affordable housing in it, and that was March 2017.
At the next council meeting, Wednesday, April 13th, 6:00pm, Jersey City wants the city council to approve Fields Construction/Katerra to dedicate to the city, the property where the 440 Farmers Market stood so that it could use to widen Route 440. The city estimated the value of the property at about $1,000,000.00.
Jersey City will transfer to Fields/Katerra, (the same company that reneged on paying the payroll tax in 2019, 2020, hope they paid it since then), 93,000 Sq ft of buildable and profitable floor area to the developer.
What does that equate to? Fields/Katerra is the developer for The Agnes. A 1,300 Sq ft, 3 bedroom unit at The Agnes, is priced at$3,500.00. With the increase square floor area, is it realistic to think that 70 to 80 more units of housing could be built?
The developer already plans to build 600 units for the site between Yale and Claremont Avenue and these units are not affordable. The developer could go up to 12 stories with the amendments approved at the planning board.
Wouldn’t it be great if the developer, who will receive more height and density, utilized some of that extra floor area and height to build units of affordable housing. This should be the perfect time to apply the new IZO Ordinance to this situation.
With Jersey City in desperate need of affordable housing this would be the perfect time to demand more affordable housing. If we can’t get more affordable housing, then the city council should vote no on ordinance 22-035. Call 201-915-5150 or click the link to sign up to speak in person.
Pompidou, helicopters, bike lanes, parking and education spending were also discussed
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop predicted that over the next four years Journal Square will become a mecca for new residential high-rises, new entertainment and cultural venues, and a “blue chip” shopping market, causing Ward C homeowners to see “a significant escalation of property values.”
One such skyscraper, the long-awaited Kushner Properties project at One Journal Square featuring twin 52-story towers over a 12-story base, should break ground in two months, Fulop said. The building will accommodate 1,700 apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail space.
Beyond that, the mayor said, there are plans for four or five 60-story buildings and multiple 20- to 30-story buildings with various residential/retail combinations coming to the ward, including a structure proposed for the C.H. Martin building next to the Loew’s Theater.
And representatives of the world-famous Centre Pompidou in France will be coming here in three weeks, Fulop said, to continue talks on moving what he called “the largest collection of art works in all of Europe” from Paris to a Sip Avenue location in Jersey City.
The museum and the Loew’s, which is currently undergoing a $100 million renovation expected to be completed by early 2025, “will be the catalysts for night life” in the ward, Fulop said.
The mayor also noted that after the new county courthouse on Newark Avenue is completed, the city will demolish the county Administration Building and begin construction of a new park for which $17 million in the capital budget has been dedicated.
Fulop touched on these and other city-wide issues in an hour-long discussion on Saturday at the St. John’s Apartment Complex hosted by the condominium associations representing 10 Huron, 225 St. Paul’s and 201 St. Paul’s Aves. Journal Square resident Steve Lipski moderated the gathering.
In another matter related to Ward C, Lipski said Stop the Chop, a nonprofit pushing to ban nonessential helicopter flights over the region, had reached an agreement with a Kearny-based heliport to redirect New York City-bound flight paths “north and higher.”
Asked later for more details, Lipski demurred, saying that the new flight routes were still being designed and that pilots needed a few weeks to assimilate the changes before making them part of their new routes. Lipski said he has witnessed helicopters flying at the level of or below his 12th-floor apartment at 201 St. Paul’s Ave.
Fulop said the flight paths of the big jets flying into and out of Liberty International Airport in Newark get priority in the skies over the region, thereby placing air space restrictions on smaller aircrafts. Enforcement of those rules is a federal issue, he added.
In late 2017, Helo Holdings, Inc., the owner of the Kearny heliport, added a second hangar to accommodate a sharp growth in helicopter traffic. New Jersey lawmakers introduced bills in the legislature to reduce the number of chopper flights in the region to improve safety and air quality while reducing excessive noise but these efforts went nowhere, Lipski noted.
Federal legislators, including U.S. Congressman Albio Sires, meanwhile, are pressing for passage of the Improving Helicopter Safety Act of 2021, which “prohibits nonessential helicopters (unrelated to emergency, medical, or public interest flights) from flying in a covered airspace of any city with a population of over 8 million people and with a population density of over 25,000 people per square mile—including waterways—within the city’s jurisdiction.” The bill (H.R. 4880) would direct the Federal Aviation Administration to update helicopter flight charts to show allowable airspace as covered by the new law.
According to FAA rules, no aircraft may fly below an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft, but helicopters are permitted to fly lower than that “if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface.”
Rules do allow the FAA to prescribe routes or altitudes specifically for helicopters, but critics say the FAA has been lax doing so with regard to congested areas like Jersey City.
Residents at the meeting also had a lot to tell Mayor Fulop about ground transportation in Journal Square. Commenters called for bike lanes and complained about motorized bikes speeding on sidewalks and about drivers double-parking outside schools and elsewhere.
The mayor said he does not currently support bike lanes on Summit and Baldwin Avenues because he was “not willing do something that will have a dramatic impact on parking.” Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano agreed, saying, “There’s too much traffic now on Baldwin and Summit. Nobody wants [bike lanes there] right now.”
As for unruly operators of 4-wheelers and dirt bikes, Fulop said police have been instructed “not to chase them because someone can get hurt. There’s no perfect answer here.”
Acknowledging that “speeding, double- and triple-parking are serious public safety hazards,” Fulop said he asked the City Council to introduce an ordinance at its next meeting that would create a new “Division of Parking” within the Public Safety Department to provide “a more linear command” structure to remediate the problem.
Fulop also took to task the Board of Education for complaining about being short-changed by the state while itself demonstrating “very little accountability” to taxpayers. “The day after the board approves the city school tax rate (to support a $955 million budget), the entire board goes to a conference in California.”
Other board decisions Fulop questioned included approving teacher payroll costs that, he said, are 30 percent above the state average; ignoring his administration’s recommendation to gradually privatize its janitorial staff in order to save money; and turning down an offer by the city to purchase various board properties and lease them back pending the outcome of litigation over the amount of state aid received by the district.
“Investment in our public schools is crucial,” Fulop said, “but it shouldn’t be a blank check.”
Preservationists are sounding the alarm about renewed efforts by St. Peter’s Prep to demolish two historic buildings in the Downtown Jersey City neighborhood of Paulus Hook. A hearing on the private school’s appeal of a 2019 decision that denied its request to do so, scheduled for Thursday before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, has now been adjourned to April 28.
Terra cotta “lunette” on St. Peter’s Hall and Parochial School
The two York Street Romanesque Revival buildings — St. Peter’s Original Parish School and St. Peter’s Hall and Parochial School — date to 1861 and 1898, respectively. Woodrow Wilson launched his campaign for governor of New Jersey in the Hall in 1910. According to preservationists, The Original St. Peter’s School may be the only non-residential Civil War era building left in downtown Jersey City.
Local preservationists point out that the structures were included in the Paulus Hook Historic District when it was formed in the early 1980s. When St. Peter’s Prep bought the buildings in 2002, their historic designation had been in place for two decades.
Until St. Peter’s bought the buildings, the preservationists say, they were actively used as school buildings; since that time, they note, St. Peter’s has both left them vacant and failed to maintain them.
St. Peter’s has argued that the buildings suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and are too dilapidated to save. They would, according to a lawyer, be replaced with a surface parking lot with “attractive” fencing and landscaping.
St. Peter’s Hall and Parochial School
At the 2019 hearing, the Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously to deny St. Peter’s request to raze the buildings, a decision St. Peter’s is now appealing.
Said Christopher Perez, President of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy “We can’t ever re-create these buildings. They are key markers of a time in Jersey City’s development. They are markers in terms of religion and schooling in Jersey City … I’m shocked as to why an institution would not want to preserve them.”
Diane Kaese, an architect and president of the Historic Paulus Hook Association, added, “They are a very important part of our historic district. St. Peter’s Prep purchased the buildings knowing that they were in the district and fully understood their moral and legal responsibility as owners of historic buildings.”
The Morris Canal Community Coalition, fighting to preserve the largely one- and two-family Berry Lane Park neighborhood in Jersey City’s southern end from development of a luxury residential high-rise, is pushing a compromise vision.
Residents hope this alternate proposal, which calls for extending the footprint of the proposed development, will appease developer Louis Mont by ensuring he would be getting the density of 420 residential units desired without the [proposed 17-story] height.
Details were sketched out by Ceci deLeon and Tom Ogorzalek of CDS Architecture during a recent Zoom discussion sponsored by the coalition in the wake of a City Council majority vote last week to re-affirm amendments to the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan. That vote will enable the Jersey City Planning Board to entertain Mont’s full proposal for the parcel at 417 Communipaw Ave.: a 17-story residential highrise, retail pop-up spaces, a public recreation center, and some open space.
The Morris Canal Redevelopment Area Community Development Corp. and its executive director, June Jones, had sued the city and the Planning Board to stop the development, alleging that the amendments adopted by the city clashed with the city’s master plan and that planning for only five percent of the units to be “affordable” housing units was insufficient.
A court ruled that the Planning Board and City Council must reconsider the merits of the amendments, which both did, only to re-state their prior assessments as valid and not “arbitrary and capricious,” as contended by the plaintiffs.
Now the plaintiffs have 45 days to consider a possible appeal or some other possible action, according to Renee Steinhagen, a co-counsel from the Public Interest Law Center representing the MCRACDC.
At the same time, Jones said community representatives are continuing to meet informally with Mont and his lawyers in an effort to tweak the developer’s plans to balance his need for profitability with the community’s desire to protect the physical integrity of the neighborhood.
Under amendments made to redevelopment plans elsewhere in Ward F, the city has paved the way for other towers of nine, 14 and 24 stories either in process or completed, deLeon and Ogorzalek pointed out during the Zoom session.
So, the challenge for the architects in the Morris Canal matter, Ogorzalek said, was this: “Could we present an alternative for a reconfigured site with a lower height but providing the same number of [residential] units?”
The answer was “yes,” he said. By enlarging the footprint of the development, relocating the recreation center and retail pop-up spaces, and removing much of the proposed surface parking, there would still be room for 420 apartments, arranged in graduating stages of four to eight stories.
The taller sections would front Communipaw Avenue in line with that street’s residential landscape in mass and scale, said Ogorzalek.
On the Woodward Street side of the project site, the developer could start with four floors, he said, and, then higher, stepping back into the central part of the site, to five or six stories, and possibly up to eight “to minimize shadows cast on the existing neighborhood homes and to maximize light and air so that conditions are more in line with the master plan.”
Whether Mont will be willing to go for this revised design concept remains to be seen.
A new report paints a bullish picture of real estate development in Jersey City. According to its author, Grid Real Estate LLC, real estate has bounced back with a vengeance from its Covid-19-induced nadir on “Black Thursday” of 2020 when stock markets suffered their greatest single-day percentage fall since the 1987 stock market crash.
What a difference two years and a vaccine make. “The second year of the pandemic saw rents rebound rapidly and demand surge across the board,” says the report.
What is powering Jersey City’s hot market? Grid points to “explosive” metro New York population growth, Jersey City’s access to New York City, a “vibrant” development community, Jersey City’s nightlife and dining options, its creative community, and its pro-growth zoning.
Some of Grid’s analysis won’t come as news to anyone who takes the time to notice the buildings sprouting up around the city. Between 2016 and 2022, “the growth … of Journal Square, West Side and Lafayette [was] dramatic” says the report. “The amount of development activity in all three neighborhoods was significant enough for the Division of Planning to publish separate development maps for all three neighborhoods.”
Said Grid founder and former executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Bob Antonicello,”All three of these new growth centers are linked to transit, either light rail or PATH. But they also are benefitting from national trends.”
2022 Grid Realty Development Map
Grid acknowledges that the growth has come at a cost. “Unfortunately, this has not been good news for affordable rental units. According to the Harvard Joint Center for Rental Housing, lower-income households still struggle to cover their rents, even with rental assistance provided by the CARES Act … affordable housing continues to plague the city, and the pandemic has only exacerbated that problem. The spreading gentrification will only increase the affordable housing problems going forward.”
The upward pressure on rents was borne out by a recent study showing that the average Jersey City renter pays $1,612 a month compared to $1,129 nationally. The burden is particularly acute in a city where fully 71 percent of residents are renters. Overall, in Jersey City the cost of the ten most common household bills is 36.5 percent higher than the national average.
Despite the challenges, Grid takes a glass-half-full view. “We view the recovery of our cities and suburban communities as an exciting period to rethink, renew, and rebuild our communities.” Whether affordable housing advocates and community activists would agree is another matter.
If it seems as if Jersey City is filling up with former New Yorkers, that’s because it is, at least according to a new report.
New York City-based Piece of Cake Moving & Storage has released its first annual “Makin’ Moves Report,” a survey of moving data and trends. The report analyzed data from over 35,000 moves the company facilitated in 2021, “with additional analysis and anecdotes from internal customer surveys.”
While the vast majority of New Yorkers (87 percent) move within New York, when they leave for another state, New Jersey is the top destination, followed by Florida, Connecticut and Massachusetts. And when they choose a city, Jersey City comes out on top, beating out Boston, Miami, Washington DC, and Chicago.
Indeed, the report finds that Hudson County alone was the top destination for New Yorkers moving outside New York, trumping any other state.
It is with a mix of resignation, pride and worry that locals have greeted the transplants from across the river.
Former Councilman-at-large Rolando Lavarro, who often expressed concern about rising inequality and what he termed the “tale of two cities,” observed that “New Yorkers fleeing New York City for greener pastures are turning to Jersey City for deals. We shouldn’t be surprised to see gentrification continue unabated.”
Phil Rivo, a long-time Jersey City real estate agent with Howard Hanna Rand Realty wasn’t surprised by the report’s findings and attributed the influx to City Hall. “We’ve seen a huge increase in New Yorkers relocating to Jersey City since Covid, but the trend started earlier.” Rivo opined that “Jersey City’s reputation as a place to live has greatly improved under the stewardship of Mayor Fulop.”
But June Jones, president of the Morris Canal Community Development Corporation, cautioned that the wave of newcomers “should not come with the pain of displacement and disparity that many Jersey City residents are experiencing today.”
Plans for a controversial 17-story, 421-unit residential tower in Bergen-Lafayette have been stalled anew.
The City Council narrowly voted Feb. 9 to delay ratifying a deal to greenlight developer Louis Mont’s plan to build the tower at the Steel Tech site at 417 Communipaw Ave. Mont’s proposal also includes a retail space for startups and a municipal recreation/community center.
Council members Mira Prinz-Arey (Ward B), Richard Boggiano (C), James Solomon (E) and Amy DeGise (at-large) sided with Ward F Councilman Frank Gilmore to table an ordinance adopting changes to the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan.
Those changes incorporated the 17-floor tower configuration and a five percent affordable housing set-aside and had been sanctioned by the city’s Planning Board.
But area residents sued, contending that the tower’s height would negatively impact a neighborhood of predominantly one- and two-family homes and that the developer’s pledge to set aside five percent of the apartments as affordable units fell short of the 10–15 percent target called for in the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance (IZO) adopted by the city in December 2021.
A court subsequently ruled that the Planning Board should revisit the proposed changes at a new hearing and articulate the reasons it felt those changes conformed to the city’s master plan. Then, the court said, the City Council should take appropriate action.
At a new hearing in December 2020, the board concluded that the public concessions contemplated by the developer facilitate compliance with the city’s master plan. Now it’s up to the council to accept or reject the planners’ conclusions.
In an effort to press home the residents’ objections that the proposed tower is “just too big” for that neighborhood and to learn more about what—other than a basketball court—is planned for the rec center, Gilmore, accompanied by Ridley, met with Mont the day before the council meeting.
Gilmore said Mont appeared open minded. Nevetheless, the lawmaker said he wanted the council to table voting on the changes because residents “overwhelmingly, time and time again” insist that the tower would negatively impact the neighborhood.”
Gilmore asked if the city was under any court-imposed time constraints to act on the Planning Board’s findings. City Corporation Counsel Peter Baker said no.
Ridley, whose Greenville ward would encompass the project site under a newly adopted redistricting plan, asked Baker whether the city, under the newly adopted IZO, could compel Mont to designate at least 10 percent of the total number of apartments as affordable units. “No,” Baker said, because the amendments to the Morris Canal Redevelopment Zone originally approved by the council in 2020 pre-date the IZO.
Ridley voted against tabling, saying that she expected to “go back to the table” with Mont and the residents to continue discussions about increasing affordability along with “maybe spreading the building out” instead of going straight up and getting more details on the community benefits.
“Both sides are going to have to give a little,” the councilwoman said. No final decisions will be made until the Planning Board conducts a site plan review of the project, she added.
Boggiano, saying he’s witnessed similar unwelcome development incursions in his ward, voted to table, as did DeGise, Gilmore and Solomon, who said he saw “no harm” in continuing to meet with Mont to discuss the project.
Before the council debated the issue, the members heard from attorney Ronald Shaljian, representing the developer. Shaljian told the governing body that their “focus tonight”—determining whether to accept the Planning Board’s recommendation—“is very narrow.”
They also heard from Renee Steinhagen, executive director of the Public Interest Law Center, which is advocating for residents litigating the project. She contended that the Planning Board’s findings were inconsistent with the city’s master plan in allowing a building of that size and permitting a tradeoff of less affordability in return for community benefits.
June Jones, president of the Morris Canal Redevelopment Area Community Development Corp., which is suing the city over the project, credited Gilmore and Ridley for their efforts to scale back the tower and provide more affordability. Jones, who also attended the recent talks with Mont, said she found the meeting “productive” and was “hopeful” that a compromise could be reached that included a well-planned community center for people of all ages.
But, she said, “This is a work in progress. Right now, the project is only conceptual.”
The Australian wealth management firm, Dixon Advisory, which for several years was a significant player in the Jersey City real estate market and a major supporter of Mayor Steven Fulop, has filed for bankruptcy.
A statement issued by the 35 year-old company explained that its directors had “determined that mounting and actual potential liabilities mean [Dixon] is likely to become insolvent at some future time.” The filing took place on January 16.
According to The Canberra Times, one of Dixon’s more speculative investments was a large portfolio of real estate in New Jersey and New York.
Dixon was also facing a class action lawsuit accusing the company of deceptive and misleading conduct and failing to act in the best interests of its clients. It had recently been hit with fines from the Australian government.
Dixon began investing heavily in Jersey City properties at approximately the same time mayor Fulop took office in 2013. Dixon’s business model was to purchase 1-4 family properties and renovate them with high-end finishes.
Former Downtown resident Mia Scanga remembers Dixon approaching her about selling her brownstone. “Most of the houses that were selling downtown were selling to Dixon. They were the number one buyer. They were the only game in town until 2015, 2016.”
In an investigative report on Dixon’s questionable business practices, the Australian Financial Review noted that Dixon had invested $475 million in Hudson County real estate, most of which was in Jersey City.
Upon taking office, the mayor immediately ingratiated himself with Dixon by cancelling the nearly completed revaluation of properties that threatened to raise taxes on many of Dixon’s buildings.
Delaying the reval worked to Dixon’s immense benefit. On just two of its many holdings in Jersey City, One Hampton Court and 119 Wayne Street, it saved Dixon $60,000.
If Dixon and Downtown property owners benefited from the reval delay, it hurt the majority of Jersey City’s property owners. A former state auditor estimated that the mayor’s decision cost Wards A, B, C and D $143 million in excess property tax payments. In addition, the city was forced to shell out more than $4 million to hire a new property valuation firm and pay the attorneys fees of the firm whose contract had been breached by the mayor’s decision.
Scanga, an accountant and host of the local online show “Talking Politics,” didn’t mince words when asked why the mayor stopped the reval. “In my opinion, he was protecting Dixon,” she said.
The favor was soon returned. As a front runner to replace Chris Christie in the governor’s mansion, Dixon saw the ambitious mayor as a good horse to bet on. Dixon Advisory gave $300,000 to the mayor’s super PAC, Coalition for Progress. Dixon also made large contributions to the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
More favors followed. In 2015, the Fulop Administration was accused of going to Dixon’s aid by attempting to stop the process by which taxes are increased on newly renovated properties. Twenty-four Dixon properties would have been affected, and Dixon would have saved $84,219 in tax hikes on five such properties alone.
In a lengthy 2019 article that looked at Fulop’s relationship with Jersey City developers, Bloomberg.com catalogued the mayor’s other dealings with Dixon. For instance, Dixon renovated the mayor’s home and worked on his Rhode Island beach getaway. Dixon’s then-CEO, Alan Dixon, “frequently socialized with the mayor and his wife,” according to Bloomberg.
Last year, in a private deal, the mayor purchased a $2.4 million “trophy” property at 272 Ogden Ave. from Dixon. The house was never marketed to the public.
The mayor’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Featured photo is of the rooftop pool on the 272 Ogden Ave. home purchased by Mayor Fulop from Dixon Advisory.
At 9:30 this morning, residents of a Downtown luxury high-rise were forced to evacuate when an electrical fire broke out sending smoke billowing throughout the building.
According to a tenant, “thick, foul-smelling smoke filled the hallways” sending residents out onto the street and into nearby businesses on a frigid winter morning.
The building’s owner, KRE, describes the building — 225 Grand Street — as having “exquisite apartments with first class amenities to match.”
In an email this morning, management initially told residents to remain in their apartments. “We are in the process of finding where the issue lies. The Fire Department is on the way, and they may have to temporarily shut the electricity off. Please remain in your unit unless instructed otherwise b (sic) the Fire Department. We WI (sic) be sure to reach back out with further undates (sic). We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience in the matter. Best Regards, 225 Grand Management”
Despite the inconvenience, one resident reports a “festive” atmosphere with “dogs and donuts.” No injuries were reported.
