Native Edwin Blanco — pictured at new condo 99 Hudson, where he works — has seen his hometown change.
The emerging skyline of Jersey City may be starting to resemble its Manhattan counterpart across the river, but don’t you dare call it Gotham’s sixth borough.
“One thing we don’t want to be is the annex of New York City,” says Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop.
(Fulop spoke to The Post in October, before the tragic events of this week, when a police officer and three bystanders were killed in an attack on a kosher grocer.)
In terms of real estate, it’s hard not to notice the striking similarities on either side of the Hudson River as soaring towers compete for airspace.
A rapid boom in new construction is redefining Jersey City’s waterfront as the city enjoys an architectural and civic renaissance that Fulop says is primarily driven by its adjacency to New York and efficient public transit, with numerous ferry terminals and PATH train stations.
But Fulop emphasizes that the enclave of about 300,000 — which has for years attracted thriving immigrant populations while also being dubbed “Wall Street West” — special.
New rental and condo towers like 99 Hudson, the Ellipse, 235 Grand, Journal Squared, and Urby, among others, have helped refashion Jersey City’s downtown.
A sales manager at the under-construction 99 Hudson condo, Edwin Blanco, 34, is a bona fide native who has watched it grow — literally — over the years. “I know a lot of people who’ve moved away from home because they wanted change,” he says. “I got that throughout my life because the neighborhood was constantly changing. I felt like I grew up with my hometown.”
CAHN PR 