Is anyone willing to share how much they paid per square foot? How much is Joe reducing the prices off list?

So they supposedly save a few hundred thousand dollars with the negotiations and then Grego costs us a couple hundred thousand dollars that goes directly into his pocket. Classic.

The police can have their new contract. The City just can't afford it. Nobody wants to take cuts in wages. That is understandable. But then people will move out of Jersey City because the taxes are simply unaffordable.

A tiny drop in the bucket. Don't we have at least a $40 Million hole to fill? And won't it be even larger with the state pulling aid?

Whether our city leaders are Democrats or not, they are, more to the point, crooks. Does Healy care about Democratic ideals? All he cares about is keeping his job so he can enrich himself and his friends.

Justice is served.

Are there any videos of Vega taking money?

At the time Joe was saying that the building would be finished in October, 2009, there simply was no way that it was going to happen. It was not because of inspectors or the weather. It was simply unrealistic. As a representative of a company, if he is a liar, it would make me skeptical of the project as a whole. What else are they being untruthful about? Are the estimated maintenance fees realistic? The estimated taxes?

Holy sh*t. The number of people making more than $100,000 is absolutely obscene. Look at the general Jersey City payroll. Does that include the police? Now we know why the city has no money.

I think it is Joe the sales guy who does a lot of the puffery. He also told me that Cablevision services this area with cable television.

I am not sure it is a direct reason for the delays, but the site supervisor changed once or twice. The first guy was ridiculous and seemed proud to spend a lot of time on disability.

The building looks better than I expected from the outside.

I assume the people who move in will have to deal with continuing construction on the higher floors as well as construction of a building on 2nd Street next door. Hopefully that won't take too long.

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/uploa ... 20Budget%20Introduced.pdf


Page 45, 48 & 49.

Wow. Am I correct in reading that literally 2/3 of the city budget is spent on fire, police and health insurance???

I have a basic question. In most cities, if a council meeting took place like the one we had last Wednesday, would the mayor say something to the public? Is it strange that Healy does not address the issue?

I just don't understand how this is supposed to do anything. The people voted in incompetent individuals who only ran to make extra money off the city both legally and illegally. These council members (save Fulop) have no idea what they are doing. Don't some of them sleep through meetings? Even if they wanted to do something, they would have no idea where to start and no idea how to follow through. And where is Healy through all of this? Getting wasted at the local bar?

Are these the same promises from the sales office that said that they "had" to close by October 2009 because they "needed" to close the units for Hovnanian's fiscal year? If the sales office is saying March, then I would say April/May is more likely.

Does anyone know what happened to the front of the place? A car smashed into the building?

They wouldn't necessarily know, but they may be part of a larger "fix it" crew to take care of the clocks. I will rephrase. I asked the handyman who happened to be painting the clock at the time...

If they need the money so badly, they should face the public and raise taxes. As the article states, the insurance companies will simply raise their rates anyway and it will become a hidden tax. If the fire department does it, other entities will follow. Perhaps the Parking Authority should tack on $.50/ticket charge for ink and paper. Or perhaps the police should add a handcuff usage fee. City Hall could also charge people to speak at public meetings because they are taking up valuable time at council meetings. Call this one "the public forum charge."

I do not understand why they didn't time the placing of the planters better with the timing of when they would actually fill them up with plants. It is stupid to have those things sitting empty. It is Jersey City. Of course people are going to fill them up with garbage.

I asked the painters if they were going to fix the Grove Street clock and they laughed and said "yes." Although based on the way they looked at me, I am not sure if they understood English.

I may be wrong, but I recall that the salesperson said that the maintenance was around $250/month. I remember thinking that there was no way they could keep the building maintained at that level. I looked at the master documents they had in the office and their cost estimates were too conservative.

The salesperson also said last winter that they HAD to close these units by October 2009 to make the fiscal year end deadline. He also said that Cablevision services the area. Uh, no.

I was concerned about the model kitchen because there were lots of dents from high heels in the kitchen floor. Cheap materials?

Also, is anyone buying these other than speculative real estate agents?

I also do not know what the city's fascination with bluestone is. The bluestone area by the Grove PATH is constantly cracking and/or coming loose.

Newark Avenue is still pretty ugly. A lot of it has to do with the storefronts. I agree with JOGI that the end product on the sidewalks does not look great. I was impressed with the speed of construction though.

Those trees were too big. Cutting them down has completely opened up the space.

New York Post Updated: Thu., Oct. 22, 2009, 9:31 AM home
W is for wow

By ADAM BONISLAWSKI

Last Updated: 9:31 AM, October 22, 2009

Posted: 10:51 PM, October 21, 2009

The W Hoboken sold the last of its 40 residential units in April 2007. By the time the building began closings in April 2009, however, the real estate market was much softer. And, in what?s become a familiar story, some of the original condo buyers were no longer able or willing to go through with their deals.

Six contracts at the building have fallen through (with 31 units having closed and three more scheduled to close), according to Michael Barry, a principal with the project?s developer, Ironstate Development. And those apartments are up for sale again.

It?s a much different time than the heady days of 2006 and 2007, when the average sales price in the building was $1,040 per square foot. Even then, the number was eye-catching for a New Jersey development.

So what kind of money are these re-released units now going for? $900 per square foot? $800? $700? Try $1,000 ? and up.

?We?re not going to alter the sales program too drastically from our original plans,? Barry says. ?We think it?s still a good value.?

Whether buyers will agree remains to be seen. (Barry claims to have ?two or three interested parties that are around the dollar figures we?re talking about.?) But there are signs of optimism cropping up across the Hudson.

According to data from New Jersey appraisal firm Otteau Valuation Group, Hoboken had a 10.9-month supply of inventory on the market at the beginning of this year. By August, that number had fallen to 8.8 months, and sales activity was up 63 percent compared to January and 34 percent compared to April.

Jersey City saw an even more pronounced warming trend, with a 10.8-month supply of inventory on the market in August compared to a 27.1-month supply at the start of the year, and August sales activity up 126 percent compared to January and 48 percent compared to April.

These trends are visible when you look at specific buildings, as well. Take Jersey City condo Crystal Point. This spring, business at the 269-unit waterfront high-rise was so slow that the project?s builder, Fisher Development Associates, successfully petitioned the city to extend the project?s tax abatement from 20 to 30 years. The building had been on the market for seven months with only 24 ?firm? contracts, James McCann, a lawyer representing Fisher, told the city council at a June 1 meeting. The developer, McCann noted, was selling some units below cost ? at under $500 per square foot.

?This is a question of survival or failure for this project,? McCann said. ?The developer is facing the possibility of losing its shirt.?

Activity at Crystal Point (priced from the low $500,000s) has picked up dramatically since then. By the end of June, the building had sold a quarter of its units. And a recent two-week span saw the sale of 19 more apartments ? a rate of better than one a day.

Sales haven?t been quite so brisk at Metro Homes? Gulls Cove project in the Paulus Hook section of Jersey City (priced from the low $300,000s), where developer Dean Geibel says over the past three months he?s been averaging about a sale a week.

That?s a good enough pace, though, that Geibel has decided to kick off the 110-unit second phase of the project sometime in 2010.

?As we?ve progressed through this year, I?ve gotten more and more positive,? he says. ?Each month I?ve felt more comfortable bringing [phase two] online.?

Although Geibel sold his interest in the 55-story Trump Plaza Jersey City this summer, he maintains he still plans to build that development?s second tower ? eventually.

?It?s shelved,? he says, ?but it?s not history.?

Also looking to the future is Hoboken?s Fields Development Group, which, says principal James Caulfield, plans to start next year on three new projects: a 30-plus-unit building in Hoboken and 130-unit and 22-unit buildings in Jersey City.

?Interest rates are low and construction costs are stable,? Caulfield says, explaining his plans to build through the downturn. And with fewer developers now active, he expects there to be less inventory to compete with when his projects come to market in two to three years.

As for selling in the here and now, Caulfield is trying a unique approach with his firm?s new 76-unit Jersey City condo building, the Saffron: He?s taking it straight to auction.

In August, Fields auctioned off all eight units in its Hoboken development 1300 Park. The event drew several hundred people, and after starting with suggested opening bids of $150,000, the apartments (originally priced from $419,000 to $619,000) sold at prices ranging from $401,000 to $449,000. Impressed by the results, Caulfield decided to apply the approach with the Saffron. Sales there kick off with a Nov. 8 auction at which nine units will be up for grabs, with suggested opening bids starting at $175,000.

Also launching sales this fall is phase two of Jersey City development the Beacon, where 25 full- and half-floor lofts are coming to market at prices starting under $300 a square foot.

For those looking to buy, it could make sense to take the plunge soon, says Otteau Group president Jeffery Otteau. Inventory levels suggest that prices in Hoboken and Jersey City might still decline somewhat, he notes, but he anticipates the market will strengthen moving into 2010.

?Our expectation is that new-construction sales in the first half of 2010 will be up 50 percent from this year,? he says. ?We?ll be in a much stronger place.?

I think the term "backlog" often has the connotation that an entity is not doing this fast enough. In this case, it is simply a quota system and there are not enough Green Cards for the people that want them. It is a backlog, but it is not the fault of the Immigration Service. It is simply a numbers game. They can only give out as many Green Cards as the law allows.

In today's world I do not agree with the policy that the dependent H-4 spouse cannot work yet other visa categories like the E-3 dependent can work. It makes little sense to me.

However, since the H-1B quota was not filled this year, the writer can go out and find a job and get her own H-1B sponsorship now.

The benches look nice but are they practical? I thought there was an understanding at this point that benches like this will become a place to sleep for homeless people in urban settings. Isn't that why the platforms (the area next to the red circle of bricks) outside the Grove Street PATH station are slanted? Isn't that why the benches in the PATH stations have dividers?

These benches seem like a perfect place for people to sleep.

I agree. Khov will get what they want in the end. Perhaps Healy's team is working on setting up foreign bank accounts.

Does anyone know why the police have been at the house all day long? I heard there was an ambulence there a short time ago. Is there something else going on?

I am not trying to start rumors, but I believe there was a serious situation Saturday night where they brought out an 11 year old girl out of a basement on Colgate between 1st and 2nd. Apparently, she was being held there against her will. Police are parked in front of the house today.