Mapping Jersey City’s Tower-Tastic Residential Building Boom

In five years, the Jersey City skyline will look very different than it does today. More than 20 residential buildings are currently under construction in the 15-square mile city, and most of them are not on the waterfront like they have been in the past, thanks to new tax abatement rules to spur greater investment farther inland. Major real estate developers that traditionally focused on Manhattan and Brooklyn have set their sights on the other side of the Holland Tunnel; everyone from Toll Brothers to the Kushners (the architect and the developer) are eager to break ground in JC and take advantage of the strong rental market while stratospheric rates continue to push Manhattanites out of the city.

Following the leads of neighboring Hoboken and the old, artist-filled Brooklyn it calls its muse, still-rugged Jersey City is undergoing a swift transformation that is bothmarket-driven and politically motivated. Brownstones are being restored, new restaurants and cafés are popping up throughout town, and MANA Contemporary is actively luring priced-out painters, photographers and other “makers” to its massive and growing compound that offers the holy grail of cheap rents and huge space. To track the building boom, we mapped 19 new residential developments. Most are in the planning stages or under construction, but a few have recently opened. If you see one we missed, please let us know in the comments section or on the tipline.

JOURNAL SQUARED

M2

M2 is a 38-story, 311-unit rental building that Mack-Cali/Roseland and Garden State Development Inc. have in the works at 401 Washington Street. Designed by SLCE Architects, it will sit at the Harsimus Cove Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station and share a parking garage with the neighboring Marbella apartment building, which the developer opened in 2003. Occupancy is slated for thebeginning of 2016.

URL HARBORSIDE

Ironstate Development teamed up with Mack-Cali to develop the first phase of its new lifestyle concept,URL Harborside, a group of three Concrete-designed 69-story rental buildings planned for Harborside Plaza between Greene and Hudson Streets near the Exchange Place PATH station. The first “Urban Ready Living” tower will include 763 partially furnished rental units, ground floor retail and a “parking pedestal.” The two other towers will include 2,358 rental apartments, and all three should be complete by mid-2016. Constructionbegan in January.

WARREN AT YORK

BNE Real Estate Group leased 25 percent of the 139 rental units at the new 11-story Warren at York building within four days of opening. Three days later more than half the Minno & Wasko-designed building was spoken for. Studios start at $2,100, one-bedrooms at $2,200, 2 bedrooms at $3,300 (all of which have 2 bathrooms) and units with three bedrooms at $5,400.

235 GRAND STREET

Ironstate Development and Kushner Real Estate Group will soon transform from the abandoned coal bunker that the Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County calls home into a 45-story, 670-unit residential tower designed by HLW International. The nonprofit is relocating to 18 Park, courtesy of the same developer. The area is located in the 80-acre Liberty Harbor Redevelopment District, and this section will be known as Liberty Harbor North. Work on 235 Grand will also include an extension of Grove Street and the revitalization of an adjacent park.

18 PARK

Ironstate Development Company and Kushner Real Estate Group teamed up to develop the 11-story 18 Park, which is rising in the Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment District near Ironstate’s 235 Grand Street. The 500,000-square-foot project, designed by Minno & Wasko and HWKN Architects, will have 422 rental apartments and will include 30,000 square feet of retail and new facilities for the Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County, currently housed in a converted storage bunker at 1 Canal Street.Construction began in 2012, and it’s expected to open this year.

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