.
I guess this project will never get done. The pipeline guys are over at Johnston and Phillips digging. (2/7/13)

Who is going to build a 575-unit tower with retail next to a pipeline?

.
Update to what I saw on Johnston and Phillps last week (post # 3) . It looks like they now cleared brush about 10 feet in along Johnston. Maybe the city told the lot owners to clear it because trees and crap were hanging into the roadway.

I don?t think it has anything to do with the Jersey Avenue connection. (besides that has it own thread)

Hey SammytheT is that condo/retail project still on?

the new bridge WILL BE bike/pedestrian friendly, but we are at least a couple of years away from it. there is work being done from the community side for an interim replacement bridge, needs money and to be fast-tracked.

Quote:

Quote:

As someone who doesn't have a car, I really hope the new bridge is bike/pedestrian friendly, maybe they can stripe a protected path alongside the car lanes. (But I doubt it, NJ is kind of stuck in the past in the "complete streets" area...)

A police officer in the park, who was gaurding the area that they are definatley building a car bridge. Sad but to see the old one go but it will connect the areas better.

.
I was driving by Johnston Avenue and Phillips Street and saw some guys with chain saws in the underbrush. (first thought was some nuts just saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D and were doing a recreation) They were in that patch of underbrush and evergreen trees on the corner lot doing some cutting. Sad a lot of the trees have the orange ?X? kiss of death on them. (like I said in the pipeline thread I am a big fan of JC roadside underbrush, sad to see it go)

Well of course I first thought it had to be those pipeline bastards. But after looking around it seems the pipeline is not going there. But I did find this old thread (5/2007) and it seems that lot is pecked for a big development project. The thread is old and the below piece from the Hudson Reporter is old. Gee talk about location, location, location. Wow!

Hey if the project is still on the City/State should get them to build a new foot bridge. But something tells me with a project that big it will probably be the Jersey/Phillip connector they were talking about. (would be a big selling point for the condo?s, although it would bring congestion)

Any one know if that project is still on? Do a goggle map of Johnston avenue and Phillip Street jersey city to see the lot.

Hudson Reporter piece?

http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/fu ... t-with-three-condo-towers

If the city does not open the Phillips Drive to Jersey Avenue, will all these View residents be driving on Johnston/Ocean to get downtown?

The congestion thus created would be insane.

New views for 'The View'

Planning Board approves changes to 575-unit towers near Liberty State Park

Ricardo Kaulessar -- Hudson Reporter 05/25/2007
.
At Tuesday night's Jersey City Planning Board meeting, the board approved changes to "The View," a $135 million, three-tower, 575-unit condo complex on a three-story base overlooking Liberty State Park.

The three towers are respectively 30 stories, 25 stories, and 19 stories. The project is to be built by Bayonne developer Lance Lucarelli.

Fred Worstell of the engineering firm Dresdner Robin said at the meeting that the changes were made to open up a few "view corridors," or gap areas between buildings that allow better views, in order to receive a state waterfront development permit.

The changes included increasing a formerly 22-story building to 25 stories, making another tower much slimmer, eliminating a restaurant space, increasing a retail area, and eliminating underground parking to reduce the overall amount of parking spaces from 1,195 to 988.

The revised plan shows one of the towers undergoing a major decrease of 90 feet of width, from being 200 feet to 110 feet wide.

The board, by a 6-0 vote, approved the changes after presentations by the attorney, the architect, and the engineer involved in the project.

Changed for waterfront views

Advertisement

Audrey Zapp Drive will border the complex to the east, Johnston Avenue to the west, Mill Creek Lane to the north, and Phillips Drive to the south. Hovering above, next to the site, is a stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike.

The land on which "The View" will be built spans over 5.75 acres.

Attorney Nevis McCann, who represents the developer, said the changes had to be made in order to receive a Waterfront Development Permit from the state's Department of Environmental Protection. A waterfront permit allows for development near coastal waters, or in the case of the View, near a waterway connected to Liberty Harbor Marina and, to a larger degree, the Hudson River.

Planning Board member Leon Yost called The View "one of the nicer projects" he has approved while on the Planning Board. But he posed an all-important question: "When are you going to get started?"

After the vote, attorney Francis Schiller, who also represents the developer, said ground would be broken on the project by 2008.

A room and a 'View'

According to Worstell, to achieve the desired view from the Turnpike to the Hudson River, one building's width had to be decreased.

Hoboken architect Dean Marchetto presented two site plans he drafted for the project, the original one and one after the changes requested under the permit.

Marchetto explained the various changes, pointing out that the underground parking could not be built because studies of the soil on the site showed it was not feasible. The restaurant space, once eliminated, will be utilized for parking instead.

Heights resident Catherine Grimm asked if the project would be built to receive LEED Certification. LEED Certification is awarded to a building that meets standards for environmentally sustainable construction, such as water efficiency and using recycled materials.

But both McCann and Worstell concurred that there are no plans to build for LEED Certification.

The history

The Planning Board approved the project in November 2004. There were initially plans for towers of 30, 20, and 18 stories. There were also plans for underground parking with 1,197 spaces, commercial space, and possibly an upscale restaurant on the ground floor.

In April 2005, the Planning Board approved The View 2, another Lucarelli project located across from The View. That project is a 14-story mixed-use tower with 189 dwelling units and 16,265 square feet of retail space, and a garage with 381 parking spaces. There is no date set for the start of construction.

The View is Lucarelli's largest project to date.

Lucarelli has built three smaller projects on Jackson Street in Hoboken and an 11-unit project in Bayonne.

But he is most known for his Millennium Towers project, two 43-story towers that were slated for construction on 18th Street in Jersey City in 2000. The project was sidelined due to residents' objections to the project blocking the "view" of those who live along the Palisade Cliffs in the Jersey City Heights area.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com