There are actually two parts of the Manischewitz building

1) The cinder block warehouse portion that fronts Marin Blvd and much of Morgan and Bay Streets

2) The 100+ year old portion that fronts Provost Street and abuts the embedded rail line and cobblestone street. This portion of the Manischewitz building used to house part of the A&P headquarters back in the early 1900's and recently was used for manufacturing matzos.

Obviously, no one will shed a tear over the cinder block building being leveled, however, the historic portion of the building should be rehabbed.

April 6, 2007


Re: Toll Brothers Development Plans for the Manischewitz and Caputo Lots in the PAD

Dear Friends,

As you know, the Powerhouse Arts District (PAD) is being redeveloped at lightning speed. As a neighborhood, our residents expect ?indeed welcome ?development. However, we believe this development should be done with an understanding of the intrinsic character of the neighborhood, a sense of history, and the wishes of its residents in mind.

As many Downtown residents recognize, the City?s failure to support its own laws as they related to the 111 First Street settlement established a precedent that developers could effectively negate zoning law which impacts their ability to maximize profits.

This precedent is now having a ?domino effect? on other planned development in the PAD. A proposed development for the Manischewitz Matzo Factory lot and the adjacent ?Caputo? lot (directly East) could represent the next domino to fall.

Toll Brothers, a national developer, is circulating a proposal to City Council and City Planning for the Manischewitz / Caputo sites that would radically change the look and feel of our growing neighborhood. If this proposal is approved, it will forever alter the scale and character of the PAD ? and not for the better. The Toll proposal will among other things,

? Demolish irreplaceable historic warehouses,
? Double the building density permitted by law,
? Build four times higher than permitted by law,
? Appropriate and destroy one of the last cobblestone streets in Jersey City, and
? Cast large portions of the neighborhood into permanent shadow.

Developers, the City Administration, and the Planning Department agree that this proposal violates the PAD Redevelopment Plan ? a long-term plan adopted by the City to encourage sensible and stable development of the area and to create a lively arts district to benefit all Jersey City residents. To date, the Redevelopment Plan has been very well received, spurring the development of a number of very successful projects.

Moreover, neither Toll nor the City has conducted environmental impact studies on how Toll?s proposed doubling in housing density would affect existing sewer, water and electrical service, traffic and parking within the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods, and overcrowding at the Grove Street PATH station and on trains.

Over the past several months, PADNA has worked diligently to make our concerns known ? meeting with various City politicians and employees, members of the press, and repeatedly attempting to meet with Toll. In addition, we are conducting a door-to-door voter registration drive to ensure that we have a strong voice in the future of our neighborhood and the City in the next election.

However, we also have come to realize that we will need legal counsel to help us understand our options and the strategies we can use to enforce existing laws and the goals of the PAD Redevelopment Plan.

Accordingly, we are appealing to you to support the PADNA Legal Fund by donating $500, $1,000, or $5,000. While we will likely need tens of thousands of dollars to be effective, any amount that you or your organization is able to contribute will help us reach our goal. Any donated funds will be used solely to aid us in addressing the Toll Brothers proposal that intends to eviscerate a historic area of the City and other similar ill-advised future development.

Additionally, we encourage you and your members to get on our email list by writing to us at padna.communication@gmail.com. We will keep you up to date with all breaking news. Please visit our new website at www.padnajc.org

If we don?t stop the Manischewitz/Caputo domino from falling, the Powerhouse Arts District, as sensibly envisioned in 2002, will cease to exist. There are many dominos located throughout Downtown. We can either choose to stand up now or look forward to fighting this battle elsewhere as
the same sort of developer greed creeps into other historic Jersey City neighborhoods.

Sincerely,



Rich Tomko
PADNA President

P.S.: Please make checks out to ?PADNA?, with ?Legal Fund? written in the memo section, and mail to the PADNA, PO Box 3834, Jersey City, NJ 07303-3834. Please contact us at
padna.communication@gmail.com with your comments or thoughts. The Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association is a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation, and all contributions are non-refundable and tax-deductible; we will send you a receipt for tax purposes.

PADNA Board
Janine Berger (VP, Marketing), Jill Edelman (At Large), Sanket Khanna (VP, Communications), Kevin Pollack (At
Large), Kara Tomko (Secretary), Mike Wentzel (Treasurer).

PADNA Development Committee
Jill Edelman,- Head, Development Committee (Architect), Evan Gourvitz (Attorney), Brian Gustufson
(Artist/Professor of Art NJCU), Robert Koch (Artist), Kathy Kocian (Graphic Design), Kathryn Leonard (Media),
Margaret Santos (Architect/Professor, Temple University), Antonio Santos (Architect/Professor of City Planning
NJIT)), Marc Simon (Architect/Commercial Real Estate Broker), Leigh Smith (Attorney), and Rich Tomko (Media)



Toll Brothers Development Plan Summary

The following is a summary of what Toll Brothers is permitted to do under existing city law (the PAD Redevelopment Plan) and the details we have been able to gather regarding Toll Brothers? new development proposal.

As you will note, Toll?s development plan is in direct conflict with the language and the spirit of the PAD Redevelopment Plan. It shows a complete disregard for the scale of the neighborhood, as well as the texture and character of the existing warehouses.

March 2006. Toll Brothers - a national luxury housing developer - purchased the Manischewitz matzo factory (Lot 171).

Fall/Winter 2006. After the City?s settlement of the 111 First Street lawsuits, Toll Brothers also acquired a majority stake in the adjacent lot (Lot 140, commonly called the Caputo Lot), through a joint venture with Hoboken-based developer Fields Development Group.

December 2006. Toll Brothers began circulating their vision for the development of the Manischewitz/Caputo sites which includes:

- All existing structures on both sites, including the two historic warehouses, would be demolished.
- The Manischewitz and Caputo sites would be joined, tearing up Provost Street - one of Jersey City?s last remaining cobblestone streets. Toll proposes to replace the
cobblestones with a 200? x 200? concrete plaza between the two building bases.

Manischewitz Lot (Lot 171):

Permitted by existing law:
- The 6-story warehouse (formerly the A&P Annex) at the eastern side of the site would be rehabilitated. The remainder of the site could be leveled and built new.
- New construction would have a maximum FAR (Floor Area Ratio) of 7, a height limit of 90? (excluding setback penthouses) and maximum lot coverage of 80%.

Tolls Development plans:
- Demolish the historic A&P Annex building
- Erect a 200? x 310? five-story retail and parking base, filling out almost the entire block.
- Two wall-like towers on top of the parking base, oriented East/West - essentially blocking all sun to 150 Bay Street.
- Both towers would rise from the lot lines and have no setbacks.
o The southwest tower would rise 409 feet ? more than four times the legal limit.
o The northeast tower would rise 329 feet ? more than three times the legal limit.
- A proposed FAR approaching 15 ? more than twice the legal limit.

Caputo Lot (Lot 140):

Permitted by existing law:
- The 5-story J. Leo Cooke warehouse at the eastern edge of the site would be rehabilitated and turned into residential units and ground floor retail and galleries.
- The 2-story warehouse at the southeast corner of the site would be rehabilitated and converted into a black box theater.
- New construction up to 170? high, without setbacks of residential units, would take place on the site of the former parking lot. There will be ground-floor retail and galleries as outlined by the PAD plan.

Tolls Development Plans:
- Demolish the historic J Leo Cooke warehouse building
- Erect a 200? x 200? seven-story retail and parking base, filling out almost the entire block.
- One wall-like tower across the entire base, oriented East/West, blocking all sun to 140 Bay Street.
o The tower will rise 288 feet - almost twice the legal limit.
o Provost Street, one of the last cobblestone streets in Jersey City, would be taken over and torn up by Toll to create a 200? x 200? concrete plaza between the two bases.

For visual representations of the proposed Toll Brothers plans for the Manischewitz and Caputo sites and the legally approved development rights, click here http://www.padnajc.org/Keeping_the_PAD.html