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65 stories total! Poor Trump wont be able to say he has the tallest residential towers in NJ anymore.

SAY DEMOLITION WILL START JAN.
Building in Square will start in April, builders tell city

Friday, September 14, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Demolition and site work for the two-tower development slated for the heart of Journal Square will begin in January, the project's builder told a roomful of Jersey City department heads yesterday.

Actual construction on the foundation and the seven-story base is scheduled to begin next spring, said Bruce Becker, president of Fairfield, Conn.-based Becker + Becker, an architecture, planning, preservation and development firm that has a 12.5 percent stake in the development.

Some of the buildings at the site have been demolished, while others still have tenants operating businesses.

Becker revealed the latest timetable for the $500 million mixed-used development planned for the block adjacent to the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center at a meeting of city officials called by Housing, Economic, Development and Commerce Acting Director Robert Antonicello.

It is the second such gathering for a group Antonicello has dubbed the Smart Development Interdepartmental Team (SDIT), which will be responsible for coordinating and tracking development projects in the city. Yesterday's meeting was roughly 40 percent presentation by Becker, 60 percent brainstorming session.

Along the way, Becker revealed the project was reconfigured from two more or less equal-sized towers to a development that will now feature a north tower rising 58 floors above the seven-story base and a south tower that will add 38 stories to the base.

The redesign makes the project more profitable by taking better advantage of views of the city and upping the number of studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom rental units from 1,200 to 1,500, he said.

The seven-story base will contain five levels of parking and three levels of retail, both components having one level below grade, Becker said.

A terrace level on the seventh floor will feature a swimming pool, fitness center, and courtyard terrace, he said.

The seven-story base and north tower will be built first and the market will drive when the south tower gets built, Becker said.

The plan goes before the Planning Board on Sept. 25 for site plan approval.

It sounds like McDonalds is holding things up. Evict their asses. I can't wait until that eye sore is sent into oblivion.

Man, end of the year? They were supposed to break ground this August. At least it's moving forward.

LESS LOCAL
Outside money shrinks Square builder's share

Saturday, August 25, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City-based company designated more than a year ago to develop a key block in Journal Square is now a minority owner in the mixed-use, $400 million project.

At a meeting of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency earlier this month, representatives of the partners said that Harwood Properties, headquartered in Journal Square, now has a 22 percent stake in the development.

The majority owner is the deep-pocketed Multi-Employer Property, based in Bethesda, Md., a national real estate equity fund that invests union pension funds. That company has a 66 percent interest in the project, representatives said.

MEPT has already invested $36.2 million, according to its Web site, mostly to help purchase the 1.5-acre site adjacent to the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center.

With $6.2 billion in assets, MEPT is expected to self-finance most of the construction, giving the project the advantage of eschewing conventional financing from banks, city officials said.

The third partner in the development is Becker + Becker, an architecture, planning, preservation and development firm based in Fairfield, Conn., which has a 12 percent stake in the development.

According to representatives of the companies, Becker + Becker has worked with MEPT on several projects, most notably "The Octagon," a 500-apartment renovation on New York City's Roosevelt Island.

Lowell Harwood, managing partner of Harwood Properties, said the reconfigured development team is a sign of confidence in the project.

"They came to Jersey City and they like what they saw and they are doing what should have been done in Journal Square many years ago," said Harwood, whose company has mostly built and owned parking lots.

The Journal Square project, which started out conceptually as two towers of equal size, is due to return to the Planning Board Sept. 25 for preliminary site plan approval.

As currently conceived, the north tower, to be built first, would be 62 stories - 55 stories of residential units sitting on a 7-story base consisting of parking and 150,000 square feet of retail, city officials said. The number of stories for the south tower would be in the "low 40s," the officials said.

Overall, the project could contain as many as 1,500 residential units, officials said.

The city is still in talks to try to relocate a McDonald's, a dentist's office, and a card store located at 15-16 Journal Square.

By the end of the year, the entire 1.5-acre site will be leveled so the expected two-year construction period can begin, officials said.

They made a change from two 40 story towers to one taller tower, one shorter. They had to get it approved.

I thought the JSQ plan for the Harwood towers was already appoved

Journal Square Redevelopment plan & two downtown abatements get OK

Thursday, August 23, 2007

In other business at yesterday's council meeting, members approved a 20-year tax abatement for a market-rate condominium project at 120 York St. and a 10-year abatement for a market-rate project at Grand Street and Marin Boulevard in the Liberty Harbor North Redevelopment area.

The Council also approved an amendment to the Journal Square Redevelopment plan, where a mixed-use complex will rise on the Square.

The amendment allows for a plan to build two residential towers , one approximately 58 stories high, the other 38 stories, with retail space on the ground floor of each.

EARL MORGAN