I moved in to the Beacon last Thursday but another couple moved in on Friday. WE are expecting at least 50 others in the next two weeks based on elevator reservations. It is still very much a construction site but everyone has been very helpful. The management company staff took care of my movers when I had to close on the property and move in at the same time because my closing was delayed a day due to a paper work delay. The management staff laid heavy paper on the wood floors to protect them and helped me rearrange the furniture when the movers were gone. The next day they helped hang art work. A free day of maid service comes with the apartment, which I haven't used yet. The view of the Statute of Liberty is better than I expected considering that I bought the least expensive one bedroom available and it's only on the 7th floor. The construction of my apartment is solid. Even the interior walls are stuffed with insulation and some kind of sound deading fiberboard. The fixtures are from Kohler and the appliances are stainless steel Elite series from GE. The counter tops are Italian blue veined slate. I'm pretty pleased with the way it all looks. The main lobby is not finished yet so you have to enter the building by a side door but they are working on the lobby every day and I can see the progress. The indoor pool is still 2 to 3 weeks from completion but everything is showing progress daily. The shuttle bus ride to Exchange place and back is quick and easy. I'm treated like royalty and the staff jumps at my slightest need. Everyone stops what they are doing to make way for the "owner". It's a little embarrassing at times. Sometimes when I ask a question they think its a criticism and start apologizing. I'm hoping this will subside when more people move in and we are not such a novelty to have around.

I wouldn't attribute any logic to comparing real estate pricing (increases or drops) between the East and West coasts.

This is the web address that discusses the selling and repurposing of charch art and artifacts:

http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/200 ... 7/livelli-closedchurchart

This site mentions St Boniface specifically and includes pictures of the beautiful windows.

Here is the advert describing the property:

"Saint Boniface Church and rectory are on a 71? x 100? lot and there is a garage and small parking area at the rear (22? x 100?) leading to Second Street. The Church holds about 250 people and has a balcony, three meeting rooms and a sacristy. There is a parish hall under the Church with a bathroom and boiler room. The rectory building is attached to the Church and has an unfinished basement and four levels. The first floor, which is below street level, has two small meeting rooms. The second level has three offices (one with a connecting door to the Church) and a bathroom. The third level has a kitchen, bathroom and large living room. The fourth level has three bedrooms and two bathrooms."

I don't know about any restrictions that the historic designation would put on removing the windows, but the church authorities not only think they can do this, apparently there is a regular business going on nationwide with church groups selling art and artifacts from closed churches to other church groups. Apparently they only deal with selling to the public as a last resort (lest a stained glass window of saints end up in a night club) and they often involve the families of the original donors, if any can be located alive, in determining how the art or artifact will be re-used or who it will be sold to.
In addition to the buildings already mentioned there is a garage and a parking lot out back of the church that goes all the way to Second Street that is also part of the property.

The church and associated buildings are for sale. The artwork and pews, etc. are being relocated.

"Crafted in Innsbruck, Austria, more than 150 years ago, the stained glass windows of the now-closed St. Boniface Church in Jersey City, N.J., will find a new home in the mortuary chapels at cemeteries where some of the original parishoners are now buried. (Kevin Livelli/CNS)"

I used to shop at Whole Foods in Edgewater, but I now shop at Garden of Eden, which is cheaper, and has a french creamy blue cheese that is the best in the world - The two of us go through a pound a week! They also have prepared foods that keep better than Whole Foods prepared does. If you go before 11:30 on Saturday or Sunday it is even possible to get parking right outside the store. Unfortunately its a small store so they don't have everything I need. I still go to Pathmart or ShopRite for dog food, cleaning supplies, seltzer, and paper products.
When I saw that a Trader Joes was coming to Edgewater I went to the one off of route 17 in Paramus to check it out. I wasn't impressed overall. True they are cheaper than Whole Foods and Garden of Edan, but everything is packaged. There is no butcher dept or fresh sea food dept. The cheeses were nicely displayed, but like the rest of the store it is self serve. There is no one to serve you anything or answer questions, or make suggestions. Still, the store was well laid out, the staff was friendly, and the place was packed.

It looks like the Beacon Complex will be getting a school:

From the New York Times: "Negotiations are under way with the 75-year-old Little Harbor Academy, a Roman Catholic-sponsored school, currently at a site on Marin Boulevard, that offers prekindergarten through eighth grade to children of any creed, said George Filopoulos, president of the Manhattan-based Metrovest Equities."

Having a school on site will encourage families to consider the Beacon as an option to leaving town and moving to boring suburbia.

I bought at the Beacon and I'm not worried about the people who live in Montgomery Gardens, I grew up in a public housing project in Connecticut called Washington Village. We were poor, but like most folks around us, our parents were law abiding and hard working - when they could find work. The people in Montgomery Gardens are the same.
There was a public housing study done in the mid to late 90's in Jersey City that found that 50% of the police calls were produced by less than 17% of the units, so even when there is a problem there, it's just a few problematic people, not the majority. It's also true that a lot of the problems in public housing are caused by the outside elements that public housing often attracts, and the lack of anything constructive for people under 18 to do there. The city should address that. What we don't need is a greater police presence. If the Beacon has a police mini station it won't reduce crime significantly, it'll just mean the paperwork gets done faster.
The thing I don't like about living near Montgomery Gardens is that the place is unattractive, hasn't aged well, and is an outmoded form of public housing that is difficult to police and maintain. When you add to that the projected cuts of 60 staff to the Jersey City Public Housing Authority expected in 2007, its not a good solution to the need for low income housing in Jersey City either.
Project Hope IV, which is a federal program to replace outmoded high rises with lower density buildings and townhouses that blend better with a community and have a relationship with the street, is a much better solution to housing for the poor. Jersey City has two Project Hope IV sites and hopes to expand them in the next 5 years.
Montgomery Gardens in not in the current 5 year plan for Jersey City Public Housing, but the plan is amended from time to time. With Democratic Control of Congress about to exert itself, there may be more money to expand Project Hope IV sites in Jersey City and across the country.
Wanting something better than Montgomery Gardens does not have to be an expression of racism or NIMBY, it could be a reflection of how we, as a society, care for the least powerful. I'm constantly amazed at how cynical some of the posters are on this site.
The people who are buying at the Beacon, at least the ones I've talked to, are decent people buying a home, not speculators, who are looking to get as much for their dollars as they can. They bought at the Beacon knowing what was around the complex, no one at the sales office told them anything was going to be demolished, and they bought anyway, why not wish them well?
Who is more a part of the problems in a city, those who put money into an area and hope it improves, or those who say I would never buy there because its overpriced, and the area is bad, and the developers are dishonest, and so on? What would the area you live in look like today if others had felt that way about the rest of Jersey City over the last 20 years?