via Rich Bachmann/ The Real Deal
TRD analysis finds nearly 9,000 residential units slated to hit along the Jersey waterfront
New Jersey’s Gold Coast, the stretch of waterfront running along the Hudson River opposite Manhattan, is in the midst of a building boom, with dozens of developments (mostly rentals) in the pipeline.
And as prices in Manhattan and the outer boroughs climb, Gold Coast towns with strong transit links are increasingly shedding their second-fiddle status.
“This side of the river used to be considered more of a niche market,” said David Barry of Hoboken-based Ironstate Development, which has multiple residential projects in the area. “It’s now considered much more a piece of the fabric of greater New York.”
Over the course of the next few years, the towns along the Gold Coast — which include Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, West New York and Edgewater — are expected to add just shy of 9,000 new apartments, riding a wave of demand that has been growing since 2010.
This month, The Real Deal compiled a list of more than 30 development projects that are either currently being marketed or will come to market in the next two years. The data came from municipal records, news reports and TRD sources.
Of those projects, 24 are in Jersey City. Weehawken, meanwhile, has four, and Hoboken and Edgewater have three each.
The towns along New Jersey’s Gold Coast have, of course, long attracted apartment hunters looking to get more for their money than they can in New York City. But as Manhattan and Brooklyn — and increasingly other areas in the outer boroughs — become even more expensive, Jersey is becoming even more appealing, especially given the new development that’s now available there, sources say.
“In general, Jersey City and the outer boroughs behave much like Manhattan does,” Barry said. “When Manhattan is tight and it’s hard to find an apartment, in general that bodes well for the outer boroughs.”
At the end of last year, the vacancy rate for multi-family rentals in Hudson County, which covers many of the Gold Coast cities, was 4.7 percent, according to the research firm Reis. That was level with 2012, but a 13 percent drop from 2011.
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