New development projects could change the face of Jersey City's Journal Square

By Summer Dawn Hortillosa | The Jersey Journal
August 12, 2014 at 11:36 AM

With new construction projects continuing to crop up around Journal Square and other neighborhoods, Jersey City is poised to undergo major transformation over the next few years.

Developers have long had their eye on Journal Square, the city's old heart and transportation hub, yet development has lagged in the area.

However, Journal Square got its first high-end residential building as Kennedy Lofts, a new project, opened on Wednesday.

Now, construction has begun on "Journal Squared," The KRE Group's three-tower project between Magnolia, Pavonia and Summit avenues which will include the tallest residential building in New Jersey, a 70-story tower with 700 units. The other two are 60 and 54 stories tall.

The development's phase I tower is expected to be complete by 2016, while the second phase will be finished five years after the first tower is built, said Jonathan Kushner, president of The KRE Group.

In many ways, Journal Square has been aching for more development, progress and revitalization. But some have had their reservations. In 2012, Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano, who was then the president of the Hilltop Neighborhood Association, said while he was pro-development, he had reservations about the towers well, towering, over homes in the neighborhood.

?Nobody in this city listens to the neighborhood. Nobody listens to the people of Jersey City,? he said at the time.

Since then, however, the project has gotten support from local politicians including Boggiano who voted to award the project a 30-year tax break in November 2013. "This project is necessary and vital to Jersey City,? said Councilman At-large Rolando Lavarro in 2013.

Two other massive projects, one that will preserve The Jersey Journal's former building at 30 Journal Square and another to be built on the empty lot next to the PATH station across the street, have been planned for the area.

Also, while the Mana Contemporary art center and the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre call Journal Square home, the former's continuing expansion and the latter's impending transformation into a major concert venue could help change the face of the Square.

There's also significant development in Downtown Jersey City. Yesterday was the groundbreaking of a new Hyatt hotel at 1 Exchange Place, built in the footprint of the First National Bank of Jersey City, which was the first bank ever built in the state when it was erected 92 years ago.

Hyatt House will be a 258-room, extended-stay hotel that will feature 13 stories, 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space, a rooftop, outdoor lounge and an upper-level lobby. The $90-million project is expected to open as early as December 2015.

Mayor Steven Fulop praised the project for adding much-needed retail to the area as well as creating 350 construction jobs, 80 permanent and 60 part-time hotel jobs. Also, the hotel could reportedly rake in $1.6 million in annual revenue for the city.

SILVERMAN is also planning two new projects for Downtown -- Charles Co. and Two Ten Ninth Street, which will both be mixed-use buildings slated to open by next year and the end of this year, respectively.

Jonathan Lin and Terrence T. McDonald contributed to this report.

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