Two of our clients, Ironstate Development Company and Kushner Real Estate Group, top The Real Deal’s list of top New Jersey developers.
Hudson County, which includes urban areas like Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken, is radiating cool these days, with its hip restaurants, arts scene and proximity to New York City. That vibe, along with rents often around 50 percent of Manhattan’s and 20 percent cheaper than those in Brooklyn, is making it one of the hottest residential destinations in the tri-state area, its supporters say.
“It’s a terrific location for somebody who wants affordability,” said Jeffrey Kanne, the chief executive of National Real Estate Advisors, which has teamed with Kushner Real Estate Group to build Journal Squared,
a three-phase, 1,800-unit colossus in
Jersey City.
Using our own research and data from CoStar Group and BuzzBuzzHome,
The Real Deal ranked the top developers by number of units that hit the market in 2014 and 2015, as well as those that will come online by the end of 2017. When firms partnered on projects, TRD allocated the full number of units to each of them.
1. Ironstate Development Company
Claiming the top spot is a Hoboken-based firm with deep roots in the area, Ironstate Development Company, with 3,354 units. A huge chunk of that total is made up by URL (Urban Ready Living) Harborside, an amenity-laden rental complex in Jersey City with a total of about 2,300 units. Its first phase, which will open in mid-2016, will consist of 763 apartments in a massive 69-story tower.
Harborside, which is being developed in partnership with Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, will feature a gym and even an urban farm with beehives. Its lobby cafe, which is expected to be operated by New York chain Coffeed, will be open to the public and “become a social hub for the neighborhood,” said Michael Barry, an Ironstate executive.
The company is also the developer — with Panepinto Properties (see #10) — behind the luxury residences 50, 70 and 90 Columbus in Jersey City.
2. Kushner Real Estate Group
Jonathan Kushner’s firm takes the number-two spot with 2,932 units. Among its most notable recent developments is Journal Squared, a three-tower, 2.4-million-square-foot complex underway in the commercial Journal Square neighborhood that will unfold in three phases. The first will consist of a 53-story tower with 538 apartments.
Developed with National Real Estate Advisors, Journal Squared will include the state’s tallest residential tower at 70 stories (though Kushner says other developers have claimed they will build taller), which will best nearby 55-story Trump Tower Residences; it will also add a landscaped public plaza. Other recent Jersey City projects by Kushner include 18 Park, with 422 luxury one- and two-bedroom units, which opened last spring and where rents start at $1,800 a month.
Kushner believes the way to wrest renters from Brooklyn is to emphasize Jersey City’s robust public transportation; Journal Squared straddles a PATH train stop. “And we’re actually finding more and more renters coming from Brooklyn now,” said Kushner, cousin of Jared Kushner.
CAHN PR 