Bergen Ave... near Belmont is gang/drug central. I have a property on Belmont (near JFK) and have lost tenants due to the violence and generally crap behavior from the residents of the section 8 apartments.

Ah yes, the looney bin! It was the Jersey City Sheltered Boarding Home. Home of Marta (with no H), the gentle giant named Frank, the odd couple, LeRoy the Space Cowboy who perpetually dressed like a cowboy wearing ski boots and his mate Gloria, of the bleached blond hair. Not to leave out the Beret wearing Broom and Mop Lady and the Ancient Jogger. We fondly referred to them as "the Residents." Sadly the place got so raunchy and panhandler ridden in later years we were not sad to see them leave.

I believe that corner has (or had) been slated for redevelopment of some sort with the Doe Fund.

If you are talking about the blocks on Summit between, say Jewett and Grand/Communipaw, I think that area is Bergen Hills - or maybe that's a subset of Bergen-Lafayette?

Anyways, for a couple of years I rented a beautiful apartment in a beautiful building on Summit around there but this was seven odd years ago.

My observations from that time: not having a car I ended up walking about 15-20 minutes to Journal Square most of the time. There was a bus stop right outside my house but service was very erratic. The 99S to Port Authority did stop there early mornings though, in those days. Going back home was easier, if no bus appeared at JSQ, there are cabs. Never ever had a problem, used to walk all over the place, even late at night, but my downstairs neighbor, also white 30-something female had issues all the time so I'd say attitude is key here. On the corner of Fairmount and Summit was some kind of looney bin where I made several quite interesting acquaintances.

I moved for different reasons, commuting time was one of them - would not consider moving back to the area unless I had a car - try schlepping a stroller on unshoveled sidewalks all the way to JSQ or Garfield light rail stop in wintertime...

I do miss the air quality up there, downtown gets really bad sometimes in the summer but up on the hill it's much better. Never any flooding issues either.

Astor Place and Summit to Port Authority is an hour for sure. 20 minute walk to Journal Square, plus the bus. The NJTransit #87 bus is one block away from you and will also take you to Journal Square. I find the PATH much nicer and more predictable for almost all NYC destinations.

You could also do a 5 minute walk to the Light Rail which will take you to Exchange Place or Pavonia-Newport PATH stations, or a 5 minute walk in the other direction to Montgomery St and buses downtown to the Grove St PATH station.

As Qiu001 mentions, there is an established and moderately active Astor Place block association. There is also a well-organizes neighborhood planning association, Bergen Communities United. Astor Place itself and the neighboring blocks on Summit contain many long-term residents and it is a stable micro-neighborhood. Current and planned development nearby (Monticello Ave, the Beacon, perhaps McGinley Square) will only help this neighborhood. The new Key Foods supermarket on Monticello will help the neighborhood economy and walkable community.

Rentals are pretty good. I like the neighborhood a lot (live nearby on Duncan Ave and work in the surrounding neighborhoods). Friends are long-term neighborhood residents (on both Astor Place and Summit) and very happy with their choices to make this neighborhood their home.

Moved to Astor place about 2 months ago , find the neighbors very friendly and there is a block association which gets together every couple of weeks (still haven't had a chance to attend). I commute to midtown and it basically takes me a 5-10min drive to grove street path, 15-20 to 33rd st and another 10-15 to midtown. About 30-40 min commute each way (no bus traffic). The area guess is what they would call "up and coming" and would definitely recommend coming around at different times of day to check your tolerance level. I do see what seems to be new transplants in the area, but there are also many longstanding neighbors that take pride of their block. Think I know the house in Summit you may be looking at, really nice prominent prop. Not sure about the renting market here.

If your commute is to the Port Authority area, presumably the reason why you live where you now do, you might be better off looking in the Heights, which has similar good bus service there. Look at the 99S schedule. B-L is definitely going to be a harder commute.

As for the area, I say this to anyone moving to a less than luxury block: If I were you I'd spend some time there, walk around at different times of day & evening and see if you feel comfortable. Everyone has different comfort levels about where on the gentrification edge they want to be. This is what my wife & I did before we moved Downtown 14 years ago, walked and chatted with the people we met.

There, Pookie. Wasn't that diplomatic enough?

What kind of commute are you doing?
You are at least a 30 minute walk to the Journal Sq. PATH.
Maybe 45 minute walk to the Grove St. PATH.

Architecturally, there is amazing building stock there. Summit Ave. is very narrow and very busy though. And its a bit isolated from downtown.

I think the area gets dicey as you approach Grand and/or Communipaw. But things may really start to improve if they ever finish the Whitlock Cordage Development, which is fairly close to you there.

I would just buy a folding bike for my commute and ride it to Grove or JS PATH. or there are probably jitneys running along Summit to take you there.

I have a 3-unit I rent out on Communipaw Ave. and use craigslist.org and other resources to rent it out without using agents. I have always found good tenants within a week or two of listing apts. Many love the apts, since they are clean and newly renovated, but some are scared of the area. So I usually have maybe 20 ppl who want to see it because of the photos of the apt., but only 3 end up applying for it once they see the area. Hopefully things will improve. I just kind of accept the situation as it is for now.

miles

Jclist is likes to promote Downtown Jersey City, so be prepared to hear many negative comments about the area in question.

I would ask the same question on wiredjc.com, as well.

Hi I'm new to the JC area, currently living in Weehawken/Union City. I picked Weehawken initially because of the quick commute to NYC, 20 minutes into the city without traffic and the urban, yet suburban feel. We are looking now to buy a multi-family and our realtor took us to a property on Summit Avenue and Astor Place yesterday that is beautiful. I like what I see in terms of space, it's a 3 floor duplex for the owner apartment and alot larger, nicer, and a little less expensive than what we've seen in Union City. I am wondering if we need to start exploring more JC homes than Union City/Weehawken for those reasons.

I have a few questions, 1) What is the commute time wise to the city from that area? The listing says 35 minutes but when I put it in hopstop, it says 1 hour 11 minutes to Port Authority in NYC. Also, does the commute include alot of walking?

2) How is the rental market there? Would we have difficulty renting apartments around there or do those rent out pretty fast?

3) Any other observations about that area?

Thanks!