Northern New Jersey Development News

[desertpunk]

Northern New Jersey Development News

Planned, Ongoing, and Recently Completed projects in Northern New Jersey

[desertpunk]

TRD

Rental buildings sprout on NJ’s Gold Coast

A roundup of 10 developments along New Jersey’s Gold Coast, and how they are faring

December 29, 2011
By Leigh Kamping-Carder

For developers, New Jersey’s Gold Coast — that swath of real estate hugging the Hudson River from Englewood Cliffs to Jersey City — presents a tale of two markets.

On the one hand, the rental market has rebounded, recovering to the point where brand-new rental projects are now being built and quickly leased.

“The environment is conducive to new development,” said Michael Barry, president of Hoboken-based developer Ironstate Holdings. Lenders are backing “well-heeled, well-positioned, stable” projects, he said.

But in an echo of Manhattan trends, new condominium developments are thin on the ground. (“Do you know any condos being built?” asked one prominent New Jersey developer. “I don’t.”) That’s because in today’s economy, financing for rentals is easier to secure.

Meanwhile, the presales that make condo towers viable are not possible at every location.

“If you’re in an A or an A+ location, you can build condos,” said Benjamin Jogodnik, a senior vice president at Toll Brothers, which has several condo projects in the works.

Still, New Jersey’s Gold Coast now has a solid record of new development construction, from the 1,813-unit Port Liberte, which opened in Jersey City way back in 1994, to newer, brand-name projects like the Trump Plaza Residences, which finished construction in 2008.

Below, The Real Deal looks at 10 of the coast’s most recent developments, both condos and rentals.

Name/Location: RiverTrace (11 Avenue at Port Imperial, West New York)



Developer: Roseland Property Company

Units: 316 rentals

Status: Broke ground November 2011

Port Imperial, a 6,000-unit, 200-acre, $2 billion mixed-use community that straddles Weehawken and West New York, started construction in 1996. The latest addition is RiverTrace — a $120 million, 12-story waterfront rental that broke ground in November and is scheduled for occupancy in the fall of 2013. Pricing is still up in the air for the units, a mix of one-, two- and three-bedrooms. All told, Roseland plans to construct seven or eight additional residential buildings at Port Imperial, adding to the collection of buildings there now, said Carl Goldberg, Roseland’s managing partner.

Name/Location: W Hoboken (225 River Street, Hoboken)


http://starhot.wordpress.com/2009/01...and-w-hoboken/

Developer: Ironstate Development Company

Units: 225 hotel rooms, 40 condos

Status: Sold out

With its iconic red “W” blazing atop a 27-story tower, the W Hoboken hotel and condominium residences sold out in August, despite a somewhat rocky start after they went on sale in November 2006. Though all 40 condos were under contract in 2008, eight of those deals fell through. Irongate was then forced to re-list the units during the downturn, offering a modest 10 percent discount, and bringing the average price in the building to $1,075 per square foot. By mid-2009, 75 percent of the apartments had closed. In the summer of 2011, the last two remaining units, which Ironstate had rented out to friends and family, sold.

Name/Location: 1450 Washington (1450 Washington Street, Hoboken)


http://blog.livingonthehudson.com/20...ondos-hoboken/

Developer: Toll Brothers

Units: 157 condos

Status: 40 percent sold

The 1450 Washington development broke ground in August 2010. When the sales office officially opened in November, 40 percent of the condos had already sold, after hitting the market roughly five months earlier. (That number had not changed at press time.) Prices range from the low $400,000s for studios to the mid-$900,000s for three-bedrooms. The 12-story building is the fourth of six residential properties at Hudson Tea, the onetime U.S. headquarters of the Lipton Tea Company. Toll Brothers converted two of the warehouses into rentals in 2000 (six years later, it converted them into 525 condos). The third building included 116 loft condos. Plans for the remaining two yet-to-be-built properties will depend on market conditions, said Toll Brothers’ Jogodnik.

Name/Location: 18 Park (18 Park Street, Jersey City)

Developer: Ironstate Development Company and Kushner Real Estate Group

Units: 422 rentals

Groundbreaking: Planned for second quarter of 2012

Ironstate, along with Murray Kushner’s eponymous firm (Murray is developer Charlie Kushner’s brother), is developing 18 Park “almost like a continuation of [225 Grand] right next door,” said Ironstate’s Barry, referring to the 348-unit, 15-story rental that made up the first phase of the developers’ Liberty Harbor project. The developers haven’t set asking rents for 18 Park, but Barry said they would be similar to 225 Grand, where units went for an average of $36 per square foot. (The last lease at 225 Grand was signed in April.) Eighteen Park will include studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms and a “sprinkling” of three-bedrooms, Barry said. Leasing is set to begin in fall 2013.

Name/Location: Estuary (1600 Harbor Boulevard, Weehawken)


http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/f...ry_left_column

Developer: Roseland Property Company and Hartz Mountain Industries

Units: 589 rentals

Status: Broke ground December 2011

Roseland and Hartz plan to bring the first of three rental buildings to market in late 2013 or early 2014. The $200 million project, which broke ground last month, will include two six-story buildings and a third at eight stories, with snazzy amenities like a yoga room and a golf simulator. Hartz has owned the site, now occupied by parking lots, since 1981, and brought Roseland on after working with the developer on the Monaco in Jersey City. According to Roseland’s Goldberg, it “probably has the single most spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline along the entirety of the Hudson River waterfront.” Rents have not yet been set.

Name/Location: Monaco (475 Washington
Boulevard, Jersey City)


http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2...jersey_ci.html

Developer: Roseland Property Company,
Hartz Mountain Industries and
Garden State Development

Units: 523 rentals

Status: 86 percent rented

Billed as the tallest rental building in New Jersey, the two 50-story towers of the Monaco, which broke ground in late 2008, timed the market just right. “We were the last major construction loan to close before the financial world started to fall apart [at the end of 2008],” said Roseland’s Goldberg. The developers finished construction early last year and began leasing in March. The building’s units — ranging from studios priced at $2,460 per month to three-bedrooms at $5,775 per month — were 86 percent leased at press time.

Name/Location: Laguna (45 Park Lane South, Jersey City)

Developer: The Lefrak Organization

Units: 150 rentals

Status: Broke ground September 2011

The Laguna tower will be the 16th building at Newport, Lefrak’s 400-acre mega-project that currently includes 12 rental properties with 4,100 units and three condo properties with 881 units. Lefrak expects to start marketing the apartments — mostly one- and two-bedrooms — in January 2013 and to wrap up construction that spring. Rental rates are not finalized, but across the Newport development they range from $1,735 to $3,074 per month. The $10 billion project, which started back in 1986, is about 70 percent complete, said Mario Gaztambide, Lefrak’s vice president of residential asset management. “We’re bullish on the Gold Coast,” he said.

Name/Location: Beacon (4 and 20 Beacon Way, Jersey City)


http://jerseycitybeacon.com/

Developer: Metrovest Equities

Units: 1,200 condos (total)

Status: Phase one, where sales started October 2005, is 97 percent sold

Metrovest’s $350 million restoration of the 14-acre Jersey City Medical Center campus into a 10-building luxury residential complex first got underway in 2005 with the Capital and Rialto condo towers, where all but nine of the 315 units had reportedly sold by April 2011. (Most of these were reportedly sold by late 2009.) For the latest phase, Metrovest president George Filopoulos switched gears, turning space intended for more than 100 smaller condo units into 25 sprawling half- and full-floor loft condos — apparently both a cost-saving measure and a concession to the stalled sales market. Rechristened the Mercury Lofts, the 2,994- and 6,665-square-foot residences went on sale in October 2009 and were priced at current levels of $799,000 to $2.7 million in December 2010, when Metrovest relaunched sales there. It was not immediately clear how many are still available. (Filopoulos did not return calls for comment.)

Name/Location: Crystal Point (2 Second Street, Jersey City)


http://www.crystalpointagent.com/contactme.html

Developer: Fisher Development Associates

Units: 269 condos

Status: 90 percent sold

The 42-story Crystal Point has unloaded more than 90 percent of its units since opening for sales in January 2010, although it has remained at that level for several months now, according to Fisher Development president Brian Fisher. The condos, ranging from 800 to 1,586 square feet, start in the high $500,000s, with some penthouses priced at $1.5 million. The average price per square foot has been rising, Fisher said, but he declined to reveal figures. Much to the developers’ surprise, the pricier three-bedrooms (20 percent of the residences) were the first to sell, Fisher said. “That is really unusual in this market.”

Name/Location: [b]70 Greene (70 Greene Street, Jersey City)]/b]


http://www.equityapartments.com/new-...partments.aspx

Developer: Equity Residential

Units: 480 rentals

Groundbreaking: June 2006

The 49-story 70 Greene opened for pre-leasing in March 2009 and was first fully rented in December 2010; it’s now 96 percent leased. Studios and one-, two- and three-bedrooms are currently priced from $2,110 to $4,180, according to the development’s website. The tower is the rental twin of 77 Hudson, a condo property built by K. Hovnanian Homes that went on sale in September 2007. (Units there are priced from the $400,000s to $2.6 million, according to news reports.) Though 70 Greene is cited as an important development on the Gold Coast, it faced some troubles during construction, namely an October 2007 fire and the March 2008 death of a construction worker.

[desertpunk]

TheRealDeal

Tri-state briefs: LG Electronics to build new $300M North American headquarters
January 09, 2012 03:30PM



Local officials voted last month to allow LG Electronics USA to build its new $300 million North American headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, the Bergen Record reported. LG had filed an application last year to replace the company’s current headquarters on Sylvan Avenue — and office space it rents in two other buildings — with a 493,167-square-foot complex. At eight stories, the facility’s central building will be the tallest in the borough and peak above the tree line of the Palisades, a fact that has drawn criticism from the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. The Englewood Cliffs Zoning Board of Adjustment voted to grant the company several variances, including one that would allow a 143-foot-tall building in an area zoned for structures no taller than 35 feet. “This is really a major milestone and gives us the confidence to move forward with this major project,” said John Taylor, vice president of public affairs and communications at LG, which manufactures cell phones, televisions and other appliances. The company said it hopes to break ground in 2012, pending approval from the state Department of Transportation

[...]

[desertpunk]

TRD

NJ tries to set plan for commercial, residential development
January 27, 2012

The state of New Jersey has embarked on an ambitious new plan to promote economic growth, encourage residential development near mass transit and existing infrastructure and make its notoriously disorganized state agencies get along better with one another, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The plan, which Governor Chris Christie has been working on since 2010, will be subject to public hearings starting next month and should be implemented in early 2013.

But for now the “sprawling state['s]” municipalities are not sure how the new plan will affect them, the Journal said. In the coming months leaders across the state will gather to decide which commercial zones should be prioritized, and which areas require conservation.

Though still in the beginning stages, the plans has many supporters. “A lot of those decisions will take place at the local level,” said Gerard Scharfenberger, director of the Office of Planning Advocacy. “You have to respect that.”


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[desertpunk]

Curbed

Jersey City Wants to Get High Line of Its Own



The Harsimus Stem Embankment doesn't roll of the tongue the way the High Line does, but then, neither does Jersey City. Our neighbor to the west wants to build its own elevated park after seeing the success of the one on Manhattan's west side. Proponents want to turn the 27-foot-high, 100-foot-wide, 110-year-old stone and granite structure—more commonly as the Sixth Street Embankment—into an elevated park that is "equal to or better than New York's High Line," says Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy. The project has been mired in legal battles from its very start though, ever since Conrail sold the property to real estate investor Dan Hyman for $3 million in 2003. Hyman wanted to knock down the embankment and build housing on the rail corridor, but Jersey City sued Conrail for making the sale, and Hyman in turn sued the city. A settlement is finally in the works that would allow park planning to go forward, but it requires an acceptance vote from the City Council Wednesday and for Conrail to sign off on it. Mr. Hyman is ready to accept and walk away with $7 million after years of litigation.


---

Pretty cool stretch, loaded with potential:


http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/view...post_id=265938


http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/...logo_4jpg.html


http://savejc.wordpress.com/projects...et-embankment/

[mpvt]

Has there ever been talk of a pedestrian walkway from Manhattan to New Jersey???Thanks

[Teslatron]

Originally Posted by mpvt

Has there ever been talk of a pedestrian walkway from Manhattan to New Jersey???Thanks

I don't understand the question, since you can already walk across the George Washington bridge which is the only bridge connecting Manhattan to New Jersey.

[mpvt]

You're correct, I should have thought that through. I guess my original thought was if a pedestrian bridge had every been discussed for the southern tip of Manhattan over to New Jersey!

[JohnFlint1985]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Curbed



Pretty cool stretch, loaded with potential:


http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/view...post_id=265938


http://photos.nj.com/jersey-journal/...logo_4jpg.html


http://savejc.wordpress.com/projects...et-embankment/

I think it is a very good idea and it will be a great park

[Nexis]

Jan 28th...Jersey City

Liberty Harbor

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DSCN1296 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1297 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1298 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

Essex Street site

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DSCN1308 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1423 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

[Nexis]

Jersey City

150 Essex Street

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DSCN1669 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1668 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr


Cast Iron Lofts


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DSCN1664 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1714 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

Northeastern Newport High Rise

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DSCN1734 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1735 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN1743 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

[desertpunk]

Good stuff!

[desertpunk]

New York Observer

Richard Meier and Lloyd Blankfein Grab Their Shovels in Newark
By Matt Chaban 2/10 6:05pm



It is almost impossible to live inside one of Richard Meier’s fabulously sleek homes without a net worth exceeding eight figures. From Hamptons homes to the Perry Street “lofts,” those glass sentinels overlooking the Hudson, Mr. Meier’s architecture is synonymous with the high-end. But just across the river, in Newark, 200 lucky teachers will be able to call a Richard Meier apartment home.

The project was cooked up two years ago by the RBH Group, a private developer, who is using investments from the Berggruen Foundation and Goldman Sach’s Urban Investment Group, showing the innercity does pay. In addition to the 200 apartments for teachers, the complex includes two school buildings housing three charter schools and a daycare center, as well as ground floor retail throughout.

Yesterday’s groundbreaking drew a slew of bigwigs, including Governor Chris Christie, Mayor Corey Booker, Lloyd Blankfein and Mr. Meier himself, for whom is was a homecoming of sorts. “I was born in Newark and have vivid memories of visiting my families’ business in downtown Newark,” Mr. Meier said. “This is a sort of homecoming for me and an opportunity for me to apply a lifetime of skills learned in the world arena to the revitalization of a major area of the city’s downtown.”

[...]

[desertpunk]

GlobeSt

Hartz, Roseland Plan $450M Jersey City Apartment Tower



JERSEY CITY-Hartz Mountain Industries and Roseland Property Co. have announced plans to build one of the top five tallest buildings in New Jersey, a $450 million, 1,000-unit residential complex at 99 Hudson Street here – if the Urban Hub Tax Credit (UHTC) residential program is revived.

The developers had submitted an application for the credit several months ago, says Emanuel Stern, president and COO of Hartz Mountain Industries, in the announcement. But the program was suspended after depleting its $250 million allocation.

“As we have seen through the history of the UHTC program, the economic climate – especially as it pertains to financing – will not permit a project like this to proceed without assistance,” Stern says. “Our application to EDA for the UHTC program delivers instant economic impact and smart growth benefits that will last for decades, so we are hopeful this necessary program is quickly revived so we can commence construction.”

...

On February 14, 2012, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority announced that the applications in-house and in the pipeline exceeded the cap and new approvals would be put on hold while the overall pipeline is reviewed.

Should it be re-established, the developers will create what will be the largest rental project in the state, with retail and entertainment, as well, according to Roseland, which manages Hartz Mountain’s residential projects and is a partner in four of Hartz’s residential developments.

“The waterfront in Jersey City features many compelling pieces, but it lacks a center,” says Carl Goldberg, partner in Roseland Property Co. “We see 99 Hudson providing the components that would turn an interesting area into a classic neighborhood.”

The project will create more than 2,000 long-term construction jobs over five years. Among other projects planned by Hartz Mountain and Roseland is The Estuary, a $200 million, 589-unit residential complex at Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken.

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[desertpunk]

TRD

Market conditions, tax credit power rental development in Jersey


From left: Roseland Property's Liberty Harbor development in Jersey City and Roseland Property's RiverTrace at Port Imperial in Weehawken


The same market conditions that are pushing rents higher and vacancy rates lower for rental units throughout America are spurring multi-family construction in New Jersey. According to the Wall Street Journal, rental apartment construction is expected to more than double this year from the fewer than 1,300 apartments built in 2011. It would mark the most new units since 2007.

Roseland Property, Ironstate Development and BNE Real Estate together are responsible for more than 1,500 of the new apartments.

“Now we are near historical rent highs and vacancy lows — that usually means it’s time to build,” said Brian Whitmer of brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield. “All the towns along the waterfront have construction going on.”

But lenders are confident enough in the market that the building isn’t limited to the parts of northern New Jersey that border New York City; in fact, about one-third of the new apartments will arise in central New Jersey. According to Marcus & Millichap the median rent statewide will grow 4 percent this year to $1,322 per month.

One more reason for the growth is the state’s Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit, which has already allocated $250 million towards developments near transit stations.

-WSJ

[Nexis]

Cast Iron lofts are rising...

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DSCN2012 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

150 Essex Street

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DSCN2079 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN2081 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN2082 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN2083 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN2084 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

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DSCN2088 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

109 Columbus Drive

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DSCN2200 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

[desertpunk]

NY DailyNews

Sweet spot: Hoboken condo development heats up


http://www.1450washington.com/amenities/

By Jason Sheftell
Friday, March 2nd 2012, 10:45 AM

Hoboken hasn’t been this hot since native son Frank Sinatra played the local clubs. 1450 Washington St. has sold, put to contract, or seen deposits go down on 35 units since Jan. 1. That’s like hitting .700 in baseball. Fifty percent of the buyers are from Hoboken; 20% are from New York City. Almost all are below 40. *Almost all were renting.

We haven’t seen numbers like these since the good old days of condo selling in 2007. Of 157 units, 103 are gone.


The exterior of 1450 Washington (TOLL BROTHERS CITY LIVING)

The developer, Toll Brothers, a national house builder and publicly traded company, understands Hoboken. Their Hudson Tea Building, home to Eli Manning, is across the street. Maxwell House, a four-building project with two phases pending, is on the river. They have future projects planned at Hudson Tea. It’s obvious, they like it here.

And they know how to price. At 1450, 700-plus square-foot one-bedrooms start at around $455,000. Spacious two-*bedrooms that make for family homes can be had for $700,000. They have their own financing arm, and they build themselves. The 12-story building has a roof-deck with a modern firepit, grills and views of the Manhattan skyline. Private cabanas are for sale starting at $40,000. Parking costs roughly $225 per month, or $36,000 per spot. Taxes and maintenance fess are low.

“All those buyers on the fence, after New Year’s, we think they were ready to get back into the market,” says John McCullough, assistant vice president of Toll Brothers City Living, the group in charge of handling the company’s urban developments. “Once buyers could walk through the building and see these apartments, they started to really move. We wanted to make these manageable and affordable for a young family, young couple or someone downsizing. We just hit a sweet spot.”

[...]

[desertpunk]

TRD

Massive Meadowlands mall faces formidable opponent: the New York Giants and Jets
March 15, 2012



The ambitious plans for the American Dream Meadowlands mall in New Jersey – slated to be one of the nation’s largest, upon completion — have hit another snag: the New York Giants and Jets, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The National Football League teams spent $1.6 billon building their new field, MetLife Stadium, in 2010. Now they are concerned that the American Dream Meadowlands project will intensify the traffic they say is already a problem for the stadium, which most fans reach via automobile.

A source told the Journal that the teams are in negotiations with the American Dream developer, Canada-based Triple Five, and will consider a lawsuit if their differences cannot be resolved. The main concession the teams are seeking is the closure of the amusement park section of the complex during home games, the Journal said.

The mall has already struggled to address environmental concerns from at least three federal regulatory agencies, the Journal said, and to secure financing for the 2.7 million-square-foot complex, which will open in 2013, according to the developer’s website.

[img]

http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/20...can-dream.html

[desertpunk]

Journal Square Development: Jersey City's First Supertall?


http://handelarch.com/projects/type/...sidential.html

Monday, March 19, 2012

Renderings retrieved from the website of Handel Architects reveal a massive new project coming to Journal Square in Jersey City. While no height figures have been released, Handel does state that the tallest building will rise to 82 floors. Given modern floor heights, that means the tallest tower is likely over 1,000 feet tall--a major milestone that Jersey City has yet to surpass (its current tallest, the Goldman Sachs Tower, is 781 feet to the roof).

The project is going to consist of three towers, and a mix of office, residential, and retail, although the project will be chiefly residential, with 2,000 new units. One of the main components is a large plaza occupying a portion of the lot, providing a focal point for public gathering and much needed open space in an area that is densifying quite rapidly. As development pressures continue to rise, Jersey City should continue gaining substantial verticality. It will be interesting to see whether Brooklyn and Long Island City answer their competition across the Hudson River with supertall developments of their own.

[...]

http://handelarch.com/projects/type/...sidential.html


http://handelarch.com/projects/type/...sidential.html


http://handelarch.com/projects/type/...sidential.html

[nyc_alex]

http://www.northjersey.com/fortlee/F....html?page=all

Fort Lee Planning Board OKs two 47-story towers

The Fort Lee Planning Board voted unanimously Monday to give final approval to the first phase of a massive $1 billion downtown redevelopment project, clearing the way for the construction of the tallest buildings in Bergen County.

Phase 1 will feature two 47-story luxury residential towers with a total of 902 units, as well as a restaurant, snack kiosk, museum, three-screen movie theater and a public park.

The vote came despite the continued objections of residents who take issue with the size of the towers, which are projected to rise 498 feet.