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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Home away from home
 
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Don't forget....They risked millions when this place was a hellhole. Quote: While Kermit's point is well-taken, the Lefraks bought the land on JC waterfront when there were not many artists or gays here - just crime, weeds, and trash. Not quite true: Lefrak was GIVEN the land, scot free by Jersey City and was also given a GRANT by Jersey City for $40 Million in Federal Money to use any way JC deemed fit. THe word "BOUGHT" never entered the Lefrak equation. In fact, back in the real estate slump of the early 1990's when it was revealed that Lefrak wasn't making it's "in-lieu of tax" payments to the city and was essentially in default, Lefrak took a full page in the Jersey Journal telling investors not to worry because "not one penny of Lefrak money was tied up in Newport." Lefrak got a GOOD deal when they accepted 600 acres of prime real estate a mile from Manhattan gratis. edit: BrightMoment, sorry if my post echoes many of your statements...I wrote mine after reading only the first couple dozen posts. But we are in COMPLETE agreement.
Posted on: 2008/6/24 12:03
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Home away from home
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Not only are the LeFraks takers, but so is our infamous past Mayor who sold JC out when he liquidated LeFrak's $40 million debt for $5 million so Brett Schundler could make his bones so as to claim he balanced the municipal budget before runnin' for Gov. I hope those not here then go to this site to read the whole story: http://www.stopbretschundler.com Quote: "City ready to sell stake in Newport?. Price: 10 percent of '85 UDAG loan" read Brian Donohue's JJ front page article, 1/5/98. "Thirteen years after the city jump-started waterfront development with a $40 million loan to the Newport development, Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler plans to sell the city's interest in the project for 10 percent of that amount. With $ 4 million included in the city's introduced budget to stem a tax increase?. Under the terms of its partnership, the city was to have retained an equity interest in Newport's first phase, including Newport Center Mall and 1,500 units of housing once the loan was paid off." Councilmen Cavanaugh and Bettinger persuaded the Council to have Sam Lefrak buy an annuity that through time would pay back the $40 million due the City. The UDAG loan was flipped into an annuity but shortly thereafter, Schundler sold it for an immediate $5 million to plug his FY2000 and FY2001 budgets. Council members Bettinger, Cavanaugh and Donnelly voted against the sale but were out voted. Once again the City with its Gold Coast has to sell out at 12.5 cents on the dollar so as to cut the budget deficit.
Posted on: 2008/6/23 21:31
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Home away from home
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One huge service Lefrak has done for the community is to provide low-rent space at Newport for the old Cornerstone school, which got taken over a couple of years ago by Stevens. As far as I know, Lefrak is the only developer in the whole area who's made any concrete effort to provide school space for tenants' children or the children of people from the outside community. In Paulus Hook, the managers of Portside have created room for the Waterfront Montessori, but my understanding is that Waterfront has to pay market rate rent. I think another issue maybe the level of fundraising skills in Jersey City. I know, for example, that I should go to Lefrak and ask for money for my daughter's school, but I'm just plain too chicken to do so? Shane612: it's possible that you have actually gone to the LeFraks yourself, so you know exactly what happens. If so, do people talk to you but give you the run around; simply refuse to talk to you; or, say, give you a $50 check, but a lot less than you expected? Finally: fundraising requests made during the past year aren't necessarily a great indication, because the economy has been terrible, and, right now, the LeFraks may figure the most charitable thing they can do for Jersey City is to avoid going bankrupt.
Posted on: 2008/6/23 20:08
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Whatever happened to medfever? He was really "out there" and I appreciated reading his posts.
Posted on: 2008/6/23 18:34
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I bet a lot was given back to the then current politicians and their friends. " The mayors office in Jersey City is the road to riches and a jail term"
Posted on: 2008/6/23 13:41
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Quite a regular
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LeFrak cleaned up in Jersey City. As true as it is that those abandoned railroad yards were replaced by his towers, it's that true that he's profitted mightily. My question is did he give back? Anything to the school system? Nope, not a penny. To York St. Project, Boy/Girls Club, JC Recreation, anything to enrich the city that helped him see his profits.
Greatness should be judged not on how much a person takes but by what he/she gives back.
Posted on: 2008/6/23 12:53
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Just can't stay away
 
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Wow, this is a blast from the past. Anyway, thanks for helping me find out that I missed a Debbie Gibson concert in Newport. My life will never be the same.
Posted on: 2008/6/23 6:50
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Newbie
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Rewriting history? I don't think so. Unlike most transplants that have been here, uh, a week and a half and seem to know everything, downtown did indeed only make progress upon redevelopment in the early eighties. The following is from the NY Times:
"Plans to redevelop the waterfront date at least to 1963, with a report produced for Mayor Thomas Whelan. But Mr. Whelan was convicted of corruption in 1971 without making much progress, and it would not be until 1983 that redevelopment began in earnest. That year two partners, Michael W. Sonnenfeldt and David M. Fromer, persuaded Bankers Trust to lease 400,000 square feet at Harborside, a former Pennsylvania Railroad freight terminal the men had bought in 1982 for $25 million. In 1986, the partners sold Harborside to a group represented by Jones Lang Wooten Realty Advisors for $120 million, and the waterfront's investment potential was established. " Business, and by extension, an eductaed workforce with high disposable incomes, do not move to places because there is an alleged "art scene". That is revisionist history by those that have an inflated sense of self-virtue. There was no art scene in Jersey City in 1979, (okay, maybe a couple..)and only started to bloom in the mid to late 80's because artists, writers, musicians, etc, were priced out of Hoboken and anticpated downtown as "the next thing". Most of the downtown area in 1979 was blighted or empty. That being said, Newport was/is bad development: an enclosed mall and 1970's style towers that were inappropriate for the waterfront. My cred? My family history goes back almost 100 years downtown, and everyone in my family including myself, attended school here, before eventually moving out. I moved back into town to Paulus Hook 25 years ago.
Posted on: 2008/6/23 4:40
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Just can't stay away
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When is the Debbie Gibson concert? I don't see it listed under their events but it's advertised along 6th street.
Posted on: 2006/4/15 12:44
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Not too shy to talk
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Posted on: 2006/4/15 5:15
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Newbie
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20 years at Newport (from jc reporter) Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer The Jersey City community of Newport includes 600 acres of waterfront land, 3,922 residential units, and a major shopping mall, all between 18th Street and Sixth Street. Over the last 20 years, it has also seen a variety of office buildings, a private elementary school, and a child care center. There are high-end restaurants, a yacht club and marina, and several small parks and playgrounds. And it all started when New York developer Samuel LeFrak put a shovel in the ground near the Jersey City waterfront on June 4, 1986. He had completed numerous residential projects in New York City since the 1950s. Now he has built an area of New Jersey teeming with young professionals and shoppers who enjoy views of the Manhattan skyline. Starting Monday, Newport will kick off its 20th Anniversary celebration with the introduction of a new logo, website (www.Newport20.com) and in-mall Satellite Information Center. Over the next two months, there will be various events culminating on June 3 with the 20th Anniversary Celebration at Newport Town Square. The company will also be looking to the future, as there is a northeastern quadrant of their property near the Hoboken-Jersey City border that is still undeveloped. Seeing it from the beginning The city secured, during the administration of former mayor Gerald McCann, a $40 million federal grant to construct the sewers and roads before housing and retail space was built. Young Jamie LeFrak was only 12 when the groundbreaking took place. LeFrak is now 32 and an executive within the company who is organizing the 20th anniversary celebration. (The F is capitalized in the family's last name but not in the name of the company.) LeFrak remembers what was there before Newport. "I remember I was driven around the waterfront when it was just abandoned, and it was pretty dangerous," said LeFrak last week. "Kind of beat-up with junkyard dogs roaming around free. It really was a no-man's land." Now, LeFrak said, "Newport has served as the catalyst for the rest of the waterfront development for Jersey City. And it has changed the public's perception from 1986 thinking it's a dangerous place to more recent time with people thinking of it as a premier destination." Bill Wissemann, project engineer for Newport, goes back with the project to 1984, when he was working for an engineering firm retained by the Lefrak Organization. "The first time I came, I saw a sea of mud, and most of the warehouse buildings in the area had been demolished," said Wissemann. "In fact, they were shooting an adult movie." Cucci said he has come to appreciate Newport all these years later. He said it was an easy relationship between the city and the LeFraks, especially when he was mayor from 1985 to 1989. "I remember that Sam LeFrak came into my office and started yelling at me because I wanted them to put references to Jersey City on their development, since they were emphasizing this Newport City concept," said Cucci. "I told him to take his shovel and go home. And wouldn't you know it, about 24 hours later, they put Jersey City on every sign."
Posted on: 2006/4/14 19:21
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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DanL,
Of course compromises were made. They always are. You can easily connect to the Path in Hoboken or at Exchange Place. Who is going to need to connect to the Path after traveling one stop from Hoboken or three stops from Exchange Place on the light rail (Other than Pisces1979)? The light rail is meant as a supplement to the Path not a duplicate. What would the traffic impact be if you had the light rail running down Washington? - you'd certainly be complaining about that today. If it was built your way you'd still have all the people who currently take the light rail walking all the way from the path to the mall.
Posted on: 2006/2/27 9:29
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Home away from home
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 JCList Church of Sam Lefrak and JC developers of "y-ore".
Posted on: 2006/2/25 19:53
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Can people please stop responding to this thread? (self defeating, I know.) I hate to see the title everytime I log in. I say if people want to pray for the LeFraks, they should do it in a church on their own time.
Posted on: 2006/2/25 19:11
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Just can't stay away
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From the Jersey Journal:
Quote: Saturday, February 25, 2006
Posted on: 2006/2/25 19:04
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Just can't stay away
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Good idea Pisces - I hate crossing Washington at Pavonia (although Marin at Newark/Columbus is my least favorite). I think the PATH runs under Washington, which might be a reason the light rail doesn't run above.
Does anyone remember when they had a model of the light rail in the waiting room of the Hoboken train terminal? Wasn't the station in the middle of the plaza north of the waiting room? I don't remember how they proposed going of the NJ Transit tracks, but I was shocked the first time I took the light rail to find the Hoboken station so far south. Also - aren't two more light rail stations opening this weekend?
Posted on: 2006/2/25 18:24
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Yes,we have no bananas.
(Silver & Cohn, 1923) 
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Just can't stay away
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Well it would have been logical to put a light rail down the middle of Washington street, but there is nothing that can be done now. However, there is one infrastructure improvement you can install easily and relatively cheaply.
There needs to be a pedestrian footbridge across washington street, because that crossing is extremely dangerous, Washington street is more like a higway there, and the crossing is in an akward location. Plus it is really dangerous for pedestrians, for example, during rush hour you have commuters dodging cars to get across the street. A footbridge would go and make it much safer and quicker for people to get from the PATH to the mall and light rail. And it would improve traffic flow. A footbridge is something you could pay for as a public/private partnership, and possibly use a grant from the feds or state transportation department. You could sell advertising space on it to pay for maintenance. What do you guys think? Bad idea or good idea? Quote:
Posted on: 2006/2/25 17:59
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Home away from home
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Yep,
The Light Rail could have / should have run down the middle of Washington St. and connect directly with the PATH. Instead the Light Rail has direct access to the mall. Similiar problem in Hoboken with the Light Rail a decent distance from the PATH at the most opposite ends of Hoboken Terminal. Lots of compromises made when the alignment was determined. The opportunity for a direct connection has been lost. Yes, thank you for the blessed developers and the well thought out redevelopment plans proposed and adopted by the city. Quote:
Posted on: 2006/2/25 16:22
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Probably true.
Posted on: 2006/2/25 6:18
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Just can't stay away
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I wish a developer would build and maintain an underground tunnel connecting the PATH station at Pavonia-Newport with the light rail station at the mall. It is a pain in the ass to get from the PATH station to the light rail during bad weather and especially during the winter. Every day commuters have to walk across a busy highway with the winter wind coming off the hudson at 10 degrees below zero. It would be nice to have a heated tunnel to walk through, and the developer could pay operating costs by renting out space for advertisements on the walls of the tunnell. What do you guys think of this idea?
Posted on: 2006/2/25 5:35
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"Queer Eye for the Developer Guy" is in development. They are talking to Trump about hosting.
Posted on: 2006/2/25 1:55
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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While Kermit's point is well-taken, the Lefraks bought the land on JC waterfront when there were not many artists or gays here - just crime, weeds, and trash. The issue is more complex than just artists and gays - the TRUE visionary buys and develops the land before anybody has any idea - artist, gay, or otherwise. That's what the Lefraks did. Now, Newport leaves a lot to be desired from the architectural point of view - but the point remains that Lefrak had the vision. More power to him. Having said all that - following the gays to make a killing in real estate is the oldest game in town. The examples of that are countless. Hudson, NY is one of the most recent. Maybe Rabbitx2 can give us some RE investment tips? 
Posted on: 2006/2/24 23:54
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0299 ... -9149707?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Following up on Kermit's obsrervation: I read about this book, A Passion to Preserve, in a recent article by Herbert Muschamp - it deals with the role of gay men in restoring urban neighborhoods. I have not read it yet, Amazon is not as fast as it claims to be. For me, the irony is that gay men are probably the wealthiest minority in America because they had the balls to pioneer and make serious money in urban real estate. There is a prescient scene in Blow-Up (1966) where a wealthy man is driving thru a rundown area of London and he calls his broker and tells him to start buying up property in the area because he sees queers walking around.
Posted on: 2006/2/24 21:59
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Yes,we have no bananas.
(Silver & Cohn, 1923)
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Home away from home
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Well said, Kermit.
Posted on: 2006/2/24 20:33
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Quite a regular
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I'm reluctant to give too much credit to developers for the revival of downtown. Such revivals aren't caused by developers who build housing, they're caused by the people who make others want to live there. Generally, artists and gays.
Developers come when they see a promising investment. We all know they don't care about the community (not to the extent of risking their wealth, anyway). They built because they thought they could make a profit. There's no need to ask God to bless them, he already has--they've made and are making their profits. In answer to Pieces1979's question--artist housing is made available to qualifying artists who show a need for space to produce their art--so a painter or sculptor could qualify, a rapper or a writer could not.
Posted on: 2006/2/24 20:23
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Just can't stay away
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I agree with you that the downtown would not have been developed without tax abatements. However tax abatements are designed to meet the 1980's real estate market, when to get ANYONE who wasn't poor to come to JC was a miracle. Which is why the Lefrak developments are so fortress-like and car oriented, because they were built during the crack epidemic, and designed to keep the residents of newport from being mugged and carjacked. Now, Tax abatements should be be banned in downtown and instead should be used in neighborhoods that need it like the west side and greenville. Also the "affordable" housing requirements for tax abatements are a joke. The "affordable" apartments nowadays are ones that families making 75 -100 K per year would be stretched to pay for, and frequently they are a very small percentage of the units being built in any new development. I also for one am skeptical of the need to "protect artists housing". Frequently in cases like the waldo lofts it seems just like a way to rent market rate apartments. Artists can afford paying 250-500 a month for a studio apartment or there own room in an multi bedroom apartment, not 1000-2000 a month. Also, who qualifies a "certified artist"? Do rappers and graffitti artists? or is just folk singers and painters and whatever the establishment finds "safe"?
Posted on: 2006/2/24 19:56
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Newbie
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My subject heading was mean't tounge in cheek. But i really do resent the kneejerk reaction to all developers by people that don't appreciate the important role they play in turning places around and sustaining them.
All they can quack is "abatement, abatement." Those abatements do help developers sell their units for more but they also make them more afordable for people that buy them in terms of monthly carrying charges. It was guys like Lefak that helped bring jobs here and Guys like Mocco who developed the Village Townhouse who had the balls to step up when this was a scary place. There impact should be appreciated. In 1983 Peter Mocco developed the first major downtown Jersey City non-subsidized market rate townhouse project in 40 years. The Village Townhouse Estates, located in the Village Section of downtown Jersey City, was an instant success, and spawned such developments as Newport, Harborside and Dixon. (Taken from www.libertyharbor.com) That said, I totally support subsidized housing for certified artists.
Posted on: 2006/2/24 1:52
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Home away from home
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WOW! I have to say that reading this thread's subject title, I thought I was reading the script of The Truman Show and that I was trapped in The Truman Show's Seaville.
The Truman Show reminds me the most of "Newport" and environs, particularly the tag line: "On the Air, Unaware". Check out these films if you've missed them or it's been awhile since you saw them: Just remember: Don't drink the kool-aid! Oh, and Lefrak: "Thanks, for the Memories... "    *The Truman Show *THX 1138 *Manchurian Candidate *1984 *Jim Jones Carribbean Adventure 
Posted on: 2006/2/24 0:02
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Re: God bless Sam Lefrak and JC developers of yore.
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Home away from home
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"These great men"? Yeah, they're right up there with Washington, Lincoln and M.L. King.
Posted on: 2006/2/23 18:58
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Thanks Lefrak, for the clean, safe and pretty environment I encounter each time I enter Newport to catch the Path. Today I saw a man sweeping up cigarette butts. Other times I see men shoveling snow and throwing down salts. Thanks for the green grass, trees, and beautiful flower gardens. Thanks for the dog runs to keep the dogs off the grass. Thanks for the elaborate Christmas light display I came across this past winter? it was awesome! Thanks for the many parking garages. Thanks for the nice gym to include pool, hot tub and sauna and the variety of retail shops. Thanks for all those nice bench?s so that I may sit down. And thanks for all those garbage cans so that I may throw my coffee cups.
It really is one heck of a Newport City!
Posted on: 2006/2/23 18:56
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