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cyclotronic

Re: Up to 30% of all properties have 'illegal' apts -- Healy wants to put them on tax rolls

#31

Home away from home

Quote:

tern wrote:
How easy is it to legally convert a one family home into a two family?

Asumming the zoning is correct (other houses in the street are all 2 and 3 family), and the size of the house is adequate (this is a 4 story building, so could comfortably accomodate two families), what is the process to make it a legal two family?

Robin.

If you live in a R-1 zone (1 and 2 family homes), it's relatively simple. I think you just submit your plans and they will be approved. But you can't always assume what your block's zoning is based on what you see around you. You might discover that you actually live in a R-3 zone (low-rise apartment buildings), and even though what you want to do is less dense than zoning allows, you'll still need to get a zoning variance. Between the architect, lawyer, professional planner, and fees, it could run $10k. I speak from experience here. Your best first step is to call zoning and find out what you're actually zoned for.

Posted on: 2010/8/5 19:32

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cyclotronic

Re: Opportunity for Mcnair to Receive half a million dollars

#32

Home away from home

Quote:

JCorNYC wrote:
...no matter the racial makeup...

Do they no longer enforce the racial breakdown of one-quarter each white/black/asian/hispanic?

Posted on: 2010/8/5 19:05

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cyclotronic

Re: New Journal Sq. Path Station Deli - Avoid

#33

Home away from home

I had an egg sandwich here this morning. The quality of the bagels isn't great, although they are better than the awful ones that Deli Plus sells. I'm not sure I see this place surviving. The location is really bad. Non-bus commuters would never even know it's there.

Posted on: 2010/8/5 19:01

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cyclotronic

Re: Statewide Granite on Kennedy Blvd.

#34

Home away from home

I used Statewide for a small kitchen in studio apartment and took advantage of their free granite remnant deal (free material, but you pay for the labor of course). My job was 3 approximately 2' wide pieces with eased edges and a 4" backsplash running over a farmhouse sink and around a corner. It was $665, which works out to $45 a square foot. Regular pricing would have been over $100/ft, as I was able to get a remnant of one of the more expensive granites. The workmanship was excellent. Highly recommended.

Posted on: 2010/4/30 20:10

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cyclotronic

Re: Refinishing hardwood floors

#35

Home away from home

Avoid Conquer. They're sloppy. The longer I live with my floors the more I regret I hired them.

Posted on: 2010/4/21 16:17

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cyclotronic

Re: Iron Work Restoration

#36

Home away from home

Willow Ironworks
67 Pollock Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07305-1109
201-432-1156

This is the local firm I see recommended the most and they did a very nice job on a custom basement access door for me, although I didn't work directly with them as they were a sub on a much bigger project.

Posted on: 2010/4/21 16:13

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cyclotronic

Re: JC School Board Election * April 20, 2010 * VOTE

#37

Home away from home

More proof that signs don't vote, people vote. I'd like to see Gerry McCann walking down Kennedy Blvd with a scraper, un-doing his previous acts of vandalism, but I'm not holding my breath.

Posted on: 2010/4/21 13:02

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cyclotronic

Re: School Board Election, Apr 20: Fulop Announces Candidates Support

#38

Home away from home

Quote:

stepanstas wrote:
I'm kind of interested in Patel. I don't get her whole point about yoga in school and whatever but she talked about turning off the lights when school was not in session and switching to recycled paper. I don't really care about the schools going green, but those two things will actually save money.

Recycled paper is actually more expensive then standard paper:

$46 a case:
http://www.staples.com/Staples-Multip ... e-Paper/product_SS1003387

Versus $60 a case:
http://www.staples.com/Staples-100-Re ... y-Paper/product_SS1027991

Posted on: 2010/4/20 16:40

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cyclotronic

Re: The Precinct at 769 Montgomery - buying preconstruction

#39

Home away from home

Quote:

cyclotronic wrote:
They also inserted floors right in the middle of big windows, in what must have been a 2-story open space. It does not look good.

To illustrate this -- note the thick white bar through the big windows at bottom:

Resized Image

This is the upstairs apartment:

Resized Image

And this is downstairs:

Resized Image

Totally awkward if you ask me. They should have made some awesome 2 floor lofted apartments in that part of the building.

Posted on: 2010/4/1 1:08

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cyclotronic

Re: The Precinct at 769 Montgomery - buying preconstruction

#40

Home away from home

Quote:

ResidentJC wrote:
It mentions that it has some parking, but I can't figure out where they are talking about.

It's indoors, not under the building. The building is historically significant as one of the earliest (or first?) police buildings in the country with an attached garage for the police cars.

Quote:

The building is in a great location as it is probably around a 10-15 minute walk to Journal Square.

10 minutes. 15 only if you're a very slow walker.

Quote:

As far as the Pub goes...

It's pretty nice inside, but the owners had no idea how to run a bar. I hope they come way down on the price as I'd like to see someone reopen it who knows what they are doing.

Back to 769 Montgomery, I have not been inside, but I'm not really impressed with the quality of the work on the outside. The addition was done in brickface instead of real brick and looks cheap, and will only look worse as it ages. They also inserted floors right in the middle of big windows, in what must have been a 2-story open space. It does not look good.

Posted on: 2010/3/31 20:02

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cyclotronic

Re: Permit

#41

Home away from home

Good luck with that. Go in person to 30 Montgomery and they'll probably make you sit 4 hours waiting for it.

Posted on: 2010/3/25 17:20

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cyclotronic

Re: chocolate covered strawberries in JC?

#42

Home away from home

Lee Sims for sure -- support a JC institution of 50+ years. 743 Bergen Avenue, about a 10 min walk from the JSQ path train.

http://www.leesimschocolates.com/aboutus.asp

Posted on: 2009/12/22 21:44

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cyclotronic

Re: Village Voice - "Suez Canal" Egyptian fish joint rules near Journal Square @ 117 Tonnele Ave.

#43

Home away from home

Morgan Fish Restaurant at 2801 John F. Kennedy Blvd is very similar and very good and no cleanliness problems that I've seen the various times I've been there.

Posted on: 2009/12/22 1:49

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cyclotronic

Re: Stained glass repair

#44

Home away from home

Barbara at Artbuilders is the best. She's done a major window rebuild for me, built a new window from my design, and also some smaller repair projects here and there. Her pricing is extremely reasonable, which means she is popular and her time is tight, and you might have to wait awhile for her to take on your project. She has been working for the past few years on restorations (including real Tiffany windows) and new windows at the First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church in Newark, which takes up much of her time.

Posted on: 2009/12/22 1:40

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cyclotronic

Re: BJs - What are some of the good things to buy there?

#45

Home away from home

Quote:

thriftyT wrote:

One particularly good deal was the Berkley & Jensen Baby formula. It was roughly 1/2 as costly as a comparable Enfamil formula. The savings on that alone more then covered the membership fee....

Agreed. They sell a double-sized can for $20. The cheapest generic I've seen elsewhere is a standard-sized can at Target for $12 or $13. All the generic formula I've ever checked the label on is made by the same company. It's got the same ingredients as the brand name stuff.

Posted on: 2009/12/17 1:33

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cyclotronic

Re: Lincoln Park: Al's Diner patron shot in parking lot after an argument with another diner customer

#46

Home away from home

I'm always sad to read these stories -- and it seems like there's one a year, minimum -- since it's otherwise a really good diner. Don't let this scare you away from eating here during "normal" hours.

Posted on: 2009/12/14 19:48

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cyclotronic

Re: 340 Fairmount Ave

#47

Home away from home

Quote:

itgirl wrote:
I live a block away from the building you're looking at, and I find on this board that plenty of people who don't live here, or even nearby, have an awful lot to say.

Smartest statement in this entire thread.

Posted on: 2009/12/14 19:40

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cyclotronic

Re: 340 Fairmount Ave

#48

Home away from home

Quote:

IronicSupplement wrote:
Have you looked in the "island" section (ie: the area around Elizabeth and Magnolia streets). It seems pretty safe, is close to the JSQ PATH, and you can still walk to downtown restaurants if the weather's good.

An interesting area for sure, but I don't think there's much in the way of pre-war condos there. If you're looking for a 1960s house, by all means.

Posted on: 2009/12/14 19:36

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cyclotronic

Re: 340 Fairmount Ave

#49

Home away from home

Quote:

heights wrote:
You might feel as though you are living in Manhattan up on Fairmount with all the hustle and bustle.

Another ridiculous statement. Have you ever been to Fairmont Ave? Have you ever been to Manhattan?

Posted on: 2009/12/14 19:35

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cyclotronic

Re: 340 Fairmount Ave

#50

Home away from home

Quote:

wibbit wrote:
Quote:

1djcview wrote:
Gross, chicken bones, you mean like on Newark Avenue downtown?

yeah sort of but worse, the main difference is safety though, newark ave overall is considerably safer.

Do you have crime stats for both areas to back this up? I'm not sure I buy it. The closest corner to the building being discussed is Kennedy and Fairmont, one block from the St. Peter's campus. It's pretty safe.

Posted on: 2009/12/14 19:33

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cyclotronic

Re: Looking for antique door

#51

Home away from home

Recycling the Past is great. They're not exactly cheap, but definitely noticibly less expensive than Demolition Depot and Old Goode Things (where I don't like to shop anyway, since they're run by a religious cult. For more info, google "Church of Bible Understanding" or COBU). I've gotten an interior door there and subway tiles. It's an easy detour off the Parkway if you're returning to JC from the shore, assuming you're at LBI or further South.

Posted on: 2009/11/23 16:50

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cyclotronic

Re: Wave of gentrification that leapfrogged the Hudson has reached new heights - Jersey City Heights

#52

Home away from home

This is why Jersey City needs more than the few downtown historic districts. We need them in parts of the Heights, near Lincoln Park, Bergen Hill, etc. Everyone loves bitching about the added overheard and cost of owning a home in a historic district, but downtown would be just as patchy, covered in vinyl, etc, etc if it wasn't for them. It's a shame this wasn't done years ago. In my own neighborhood I've seen so much destroyed in the 7-8 years I've been here.

Quote:

tommyc_37 wrote:
Here's my opinion on the Heights. I think a large majority of the housing stock up there is just rather ugly. Vinyl or aluminum siding, stand alone houses, that just look like somebody built them without giving a rat's a** about style or architectural detail. Compare that with some of the jaw dropping brownstones of Downtown, in which attention to detail is an understatement.

Disclaimer - I know there are some very pretty Victorian houses on certain blocks. But I feel that these are far and few between.

Posted on: 2009/11/16 20:53

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cyclotronic

Re: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS -- Restoring Journal Square to its original glory.

#53

Home away from home

Quote:

regulator wrote:

1) from browsing some of the more animated beacon threads, i've been led to believe that the main reason the beacon area will never come close to equaling downtown is because of the crime (due to the projects) and the distance to the PATH. JSQ suffers from neither of these two deficiencies

I suspect you're much more likely to get mugged with a few blocks of JSQ than within a few blocks of the Beacon. I'd think most of the projects-related crime (such as drug dealing, and the violence that can go along with that) largely stays within the projects. But it's impossible to say without pulling the actual crime stats for both areas.

Posted on: 2009/11/16 20:34

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cyclotronic

Re: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS -- Restoring Journal Square to its original glory.

#54

Home away from home

Quote:

construction is expected to begin on 1 Journal Square, the project's working name, by the end of the year

I'll believe it when I see it. Nothing has happened since demo, which was months ago.

Quote:

...the State Theater, a 130-unit rental building..."It filled up within 30 days," Harwood says.

Really? I thought there were still vacancies. Does anyone have more info about this?

Quote:

Diagonally across the street from The Beacon is M650 Flats, formerly the Calco Chemical Co. factory. Despite having entered the market last November, M650 has found buyers for nine of its 22 luxury lofts

I like this building a lot, but it's only fair to mention that a good number of those 9 sold units were bought by family members of the developers.

Posted on: 2009/11/16 20:30

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cyclotronic

Re: where to get a "rebuild letter" for mortgage application?

#55

Home away from home

Tony Lambiase is still the director of zoning enforcement:

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/hedc.aspx?id=1184

Posted on: 2009/11/10 21:07

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cyclotronic

Re: Jersey City collector's guitars go on the block - including Holy Grail - 1958 Gibson Les Paul guitar

#56

Home away from home

Title is misleading. Only that one guitar was owned by a guy who happened to live here. Just because your google "Jersey City" alert went off doesn't mean every single news story containing those words needs to be cut-and-pasted here.

Posted on: 2009/10/7 16:16

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cyclotronic

Re: 'Brick City' documentary stands out in a busy week on the Sundance Channel

#57

Home away from home

From memory, it's in TV Entertainment, then Sundance Channel, which is on the 2nd screen. All 5 episodes were up as of mid-last week.

Quote:

JRL wrote:
I looked on Comcast On Demand, did not locate Brick City. Where did you find it.

Posted on: 2009/9/28 20:28

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cyclotronic

Re: Newark Avenue/Journal Square: Navratri festival features song and dance in JC's India Square

#58

Home away from home

It does run late. I've driven by in past years well after midnight and there are thousands of people on those few blocks. It's quite a sight.

Posted on: 2009/9/28 20:25

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cyclotronic

Re: 'Brick City' documentary stands out in a busy week on the Sundance Channel

#59

Home away from home

I'm enjoying the show but think the audio mix is awful. I constantly find myself having to turn the volume up and down to keep the dialogue at a listenable level, even within the same scene. By the way, all 5 episodes are on Comcast On Demand already.

Posted on: 2009/9/24 2:41

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cyclotronic

Re: Con men back in town

#60

Home away from home

These scams, especially the "I ran out of gas" one, are ridiculously common around here. I've gotten them in parking lots, walking down the street, people ringing my doorbell, and on and on. It's almost funny to post descriptions of the scammers. You'd have to describe a couple hundred people, easily.

Posted on: 2009/9/1 4:28

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