Matthew Speiser | The Jersey Journal

The Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood of Jersey City, which has struggled with pockets of poverty and crime, is getting an economic shot in the arm from the city.

Representatives from the city's Redevelopment Agency led a group of 40 local realtors and real estate agents on a bus tour of the neighborhood to show them eight of the 23 abandoned properties the city hopes will be restored.

"We're having these tours to showcase the possibilities that exist in a place that has gone a long time without any economic stimulation at all," said Anthony Cruz, director of Housing, Economic Development, and Commerce in Jersey City.

Cruz pointed out the city's plan to spend $20 million to create a a City Hall annex with 200 employees at the Hub shopping center on Martin Luther King Drive. The mayor hopes that these new jobs will help kick-start commercial retail in a shopping center that has been devoid of it since it opened in 1993.

Couple that with the Light Rail station on MLK Drive and a $2.5 million city investment in 22 new town homes within two blocks of the Hub starting next spring, and Cruz believes you have the makings of a great redevelopment plan.

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