Northern New Jersey Development News

[Nexis]

Construction update


The Maddox

image hosted on flickr

The Maddox - Paulus Hook - Jersey City,New Jersey by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

The Maddox - Paulus Hook - Jersey City,New Jersey by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

The Maddox - Paulus Hook - Jersey City by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

18/Park Redevelopment

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18/Park Construction - Liberty Harbor - Jersey City ,New Jersey by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

18/Park Construction - Liberty Harbor - Jersey City ,New Jersey by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

18/Park Construction - Liberty Harbor - Jersey City ,New Jersey by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

18/Park Construction - Liberty Harbor - Jersey City ,New Jersey by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr

[Woonsocket54]

Laguna tower as seen from Hoboken light-rail platform, 28 July 2012

[desertpunk]

Gov. Christie Opposes Gambling Expansion To Prptect Atlantic City


From left: Gov. Chris Christie, Newmark Chairman Jeffrey Gural and the Revel resort

Just as New York appears closer to legalizing gambling, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is blocking attempts to expand his state’s gambling options beyond Atlantic City, according to Bloomberg News.

After Pennsylvania legalized slots in 2006 and table games in 2010, it began usurping gambling revenue from Atlantic City. In fact, revenue for boardwalk casinos has fallen 37 percent since 2006, to $3.3 billion last year. And with more competition likely to arrive from New York, lawmakers want to amend the state constitution to allow casinos near the Meadowlands, closer to Manhattan.

But Christie said he wouldn’t back expansion until he knows for certain he can’t turn around Atlantic City. “Atlantic City deserves to have five years to try and get itself revitalized and back on its feet,” Christie has said. He’s working to encourage development in the area, and already gave a $261 million tax break towards the development of the boardwalk’s first new casino in a decade, the Revel.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Chairman Jeffrey Gural is pushing Christie to reduce his time frame. He owns the Meadowlands racetrack and wants to develop a casino on the site, which he said could net the state $350 million a year, depending on how it taxes that revenue.

[desertpunk]

$50 Mln Spec Warehouse In Newark Breaks Ground


Newark Mayor Cory Booker and a rendering of the warehouse

Morris Cos. broke ground Tuesday on a $50 million 350,000-square-foot warehouse in the Ironbound section of Newark, N.J. The Rutherford, N.J.-based developer is building on the dormant brownfield site, the home of a former Sherwin Williams Co. paint facility at 60 Lister Avenue.

CBRE Group Inc., the exclusive broker, has begun marketing the on-spec facility to potential tenants, and officials say there is strong demand for warehouse space in such close proximity to the Port of Newark and New York City. “It could be a combination of port-related companies,” Thomas Monahan, senior vice president at CBRE, told The Real Deal.

[Uaarkson]

The Maddox looks exactly like the building from the Mad Real World skit on Chapelle's show.

[Simfan34]

One real question... when does JC or Newark get a supertall?

[Woonsocket54]

I think Mahwah has a better chance of getting a supertall than Newark.

[Nexis]

Originally Posted by Woonsocket54

I think Mahwah has a better chance of getting a supertall than Newark.

LMAO...what? Mahwah is in the middle of nowhere and smaller suburb. Newark will be getting a 5-9 skyscrapers a maybe a supertall by 2020.

[Middle-Island]

Don't mess with Mahwah. We have a 22-story Sheraton.

[Woonsocket54]

Who's going to build a supertall in Newark by 2020? You might be out of your mind.

A supertall has to be at least 1,000 feet high. They don't even have any plans for such buildings in Jersey City or Atlantic City. There's too many incidents of "wilding" around Prudential Center to give comfort to developers, and who needs to put up with the bullshit of trying to get approvals for building skyscrapers within the EWR landing path?

[desertpunk]

Giants, Jets Suit Over Meadowlands Mall Project Dismissed

The New York Giants and New York Jets’ lawsuit seeking to block the American Dream Meadowlands mall was rejected by a New Jersey judge who said the football teams’ claims the project would worsen traffic around the stadium where they play were premature.

Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne ruled yesterday that the National Football League teams must wait until the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority completes a review of the mall project before filing such a breach-of-contract claim.

“Simply put, this case is not ripe for adjudication,” Doyne ruled in state court in Hackensack, New Jersey. He let stand a claim of tortious interference with contractual rights.

Triple Five Worldwide Development Co. is developing the retail and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, next to MetLife Stadium, where the Giants and Jets play. The project, formerly known as Xanadu, has been stalled since 2009. Triple Five took over and has plans to create the largest mall in the world and attract 55 million visitors annually.

The Sports Authority, whose commissioners are appointed by the governor, gave conditional approval in October to the Triple Five conceptual design, including an amusement park and a water park. That plan would include 7.5 million square feet of space, and would be open on Sundays, when the teams play home games.

[desertpunk]

Manhattan amenities come to Jersey City


Madox http://www.facebook.com/madoxapts

In a bid to compete with the ever-pricier Manhattan apartment market, Jersey City is adding Manhattan-esque amenities to the buildings rising there, the New York Post reported.

For instance, Madox, a new rental building slated to open this fall, will be the first LEED-certified residential building in Jersey City and the first one to be “smoke-free,” the Post said.


The Warren at York



The Warren at York is rising in the same neighborhood, known as Paulus Hook. “We’re going to have a gym, a media lounge, a pool table, a movie screen, sitting areas and a green roof,” Jonathan Schwartz, an executive at BNE Real Estate Group, which is developing the Warren, told the Post.

[desertpunk]

Jersey City developments take center stage in New York Post


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

Today's New York Post reports on several new residential developments rising in Jersey City.


The developments hope to lure new residents looking for that city living without the price tag one finds in New York City. Developments including Madox and The Warren at York will bring a fresh face to the Paulus Hook neighborhood, while bigger buildings such as 18 Park are planned for Canal Street in Downtown.



A 2,000-unit building, Harborside plans to break ground later this year for the 69-story building.

Today, The Jersey Journal reported that plans had been unveiled for three towers to come to Journal Square. “It will create much-needed construction and permanent jobs, as well as ratables, in an area that is poised for a renaissance,” Jennifer Morrill, Jersey City spokeswoman said in the article.

[desertpunk]

Jersey Journal

Plan would put 3 towers next to Jersey City's Journal Square PATH

Published: Thursday, August 16, 2012, 7:20 AM Updated: Thursday, August 16, 2012, 2:20 PM



Journal Square could soon be home to Jersey City’s largest buildings, with the developers behind some Downtown developments hoping to break ground next year on three residential/office towers that could reach up to 75 stories and contain as many as 1,800 units.

Though members of the surrounding neighborhood are reportedly nervous about the size of the towers, developers KRE Group say they will be a dream for commuters because of a planned, direct connection to the PATH station.

“You wouldn’t even have to be exposed to the elements,” said KRE’s Jeff Persky last week in the group’s Marin Boulevard office, where there’s a model of the three towers.

The towers will be located just north of the public drop-off for the PATH station in the area of Magnolia and Summit avenues. The drop-off area will remain, and KRE is working with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to renovate that end of Magnolia to become a pedestrian plaza.

KRE will also renovate access to the PATH station on that side, replacing the current steps and ramps.

Persky said the group hopes to put a shovel in the ground by the end of 2013 on the first tower, which would contain 500 residential units along with retail on the ground floor. All three towers would likely house about 1,800 units total, he said.

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the city is “looking forward” to the groundbreaking, noting that a project of this density makes sense for Journal Square, where PATH ridership is fourth-highest in the area. “It will create much-needed construction and permanent jobs, as well as ratables, in an area that is poised for a renaissance,” Morrill said.

The project is just one of at least three possibly transformative developments planned for Journal Square. Washington, D.C.-based Multi-Employer Property Trust plans two towers for the lot just south of the PATH station a long-delayed project that city officials fear may never happen while developer Robinhood Plaza wants to construct a residential tower as high as 42 stories on a lot across Summit Avenue from the planned KRE towers.

A city official called that project “a pipe dream,” adding that the KRE plan is the city’s “best shot at jump-starting the Square.”

[...]

[desertpunk]

GlobeSt

Prudential's $444M New Home Approved By Newark Planning Board



NEWARK–Prudential said it would start work on a 20-story office building near Military Park in downtown Newark this fall, after its plans for a $444 million two-building complex won unanimous approval from Newark’s planning board Monday night.

The insurance giant, which has had its headquarters in Newark for more than 130 years, plans to construct its new home in two phases on a site bordered by Broad, Halsey, and West Park Streets.

Prudential has maintained offices on Broad Street for more than 30 years – at the Gateway Center, five blocks south of Military Park. When the company was awarded a $250 million ten-year tax credit from the state Economic Development Authority if it builds the new headquarters in Newark, existing landlords at Gateway objected, saying Prudential’s move will devastate their building. The landlords helped force a review of the tax abatement, which was lowered to $210 million.

Other objections surfaced from taxpayer interests, who pointed out that the Fortune 100 company made $3.5 billion in profit last year. Still, Newark officials pronounced themselves overjoyed at the fact that Prudential will build a sparkling new complex housing 400 employees in a blighted area of downtown now populated by parking lots and vacant buildings.

After the building proposal was formally laid out Monday night, Newark Councilman Darrin Sharif was quoted as telling Prudential representatives: “You had me at hello.” Sharif represents the Central Ward, which encompasses Military Park.

Lawyers for Gateway did not say after the planning approval was granted whether they will appeal that decision.

If construction proceeds as planned, several older and vacant buildings on the site would quickly be demolished. Construction of the tower would be complete by fall 2014, according to Prudential.

The second phase of the company’s complex would include another tower, a parking deck, plazas and atriums between buildings, and 20,000 square feet of street-level retail space.

[...]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...second_to.html

[Uaarkson]

Wow! Jersey City is on fire.

[desertpunk]

Courtyard Marriott opens in Newark, as other hotels look to city’s business district

A Courtyard by Marriott is opening today in Newark, marking the first hotel opening in the city’s downtown area in more than a decade.

The 150-room, $35 million project increases the number of hotel rooms in the business district of New Jersey’s largest city by more than a third, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Courtyard won’t be the city’s only new hotel, either: Developers are converting a nearby bank building into a boutique Hotel Indigo and another major hotel operator is looking to establish a franchise in the city as well, the Journal reported.

The hotels will test Newark’s viability as a destination, rather than just a cheaper alternative to New York City. The city has sought to shed its gritty reputation and revive its downtown. City leaders hope that a handful of other amenities — including Marriott amenities (a bistro and a Starbucks) and a new row of restaurants near the Prudential Center — will fuel downtown growth.

[desertpunk]

Bank of America Agrees To Sell 12 Building NJ Merrill Lynch Office Complex

Bank of America Corp. agreed to sell a 12-building office campus in central New Jersey that it inherited from Merrill Lynch & Co., part of the company’s efforts to cut costs.

The property in Hopewell Township, serving about 6,500 employees, went under contract last month and the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Jennifer Dawson, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, said today in a telephone interview. She declined to name the buyer or the price.

Real Estate Alert, a trade newsletter, reported today that New York-based Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) agreed to buy the complex for $375 million to $400 million. Gordon Runte, a spokesman for Fortress, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

The deal may become the biggest office sale on record in New Jersey, surpassing the $377.5 million paid last year for the Newport Tower in Jersey City, according to data from Real Capital Analytics Inc., a New York-based real estate research firm. Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. lender, said in February that it planned to sell all its real estate except its headquarters tower in Charlotte and One Bryant Park, its New York base, which it co-owns. That strategy remains, Dawson said.

[Woonsocket54]

The Real Deal
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/10/...l-development/

N.J. developer breaks ground on $500 million residential development
Glass towers will house 900 rentals
October 17, 2012 03:00PM



Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates broke ground this morning on a $500 million luxury rental project set to transform Bergen County’s Fort Lee.

The Modern will include 900 luxury rental apartments in two 47-story glass towers on eight acres near the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates is a partnership of real estate developer SJP Residential Properties, Bergen County attorney James Demetrakis and real estate investment firm Palisades Financial.

The ground breaking marks the culmination of a long and storied history at the site, which has sat vacant since the late 1970s. It was the subject of a federal investigation 40 years ago when Fort Lee’s then mayor Burt Ross tipped off the Federal Bureau Investigation that he’d been offered a bribe by corrupt developers with links to the mob in return for approving plans for a controversial skyscraper at the site. Ross agreed to don a wire and later helped the authorities bust the developers.

The new development, slated for completion in 2014, will feature studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Rents are slated to range from $1,650 to $6,500 a month. A landscaped public park, public theater and a museum will also be built at the site. – Katherine Clarke

[desertpunk]

lolz at this graphic:


http://www.northjersey.com/news/Two_....html?page=all

Kind a weird comparison, no?