Construction has begun on $90M Hyatt hotel in Downtown Jersey City

By Jonathan Lin | The Jersey Journal
on August 12, 2014 at 8:52 AM

Jersey City inched closer to becoming a bustling destination for visitors, tourists and businesses yesterday with the groundbreaking of a $90 million, 13-story Hyatt hotel near the city's waterfront.

"In our 28-year experience, we have never undertaken a project as exciting as the one we're undertaking here today," said Mark Laport, the president and CEO of Concord Hospitality, a hotel management company working with Hyatt to develop the 258-room hotel at 1 Exchange Place.

In his address at the ceremony, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said the hotel ? an extended-stay "Hyatt House" ? will add restaurants and other retail stores to an area of the city that, in hindsight, wasn't planned with enough retail options.

The hotel, which could open as early as December 2015, will feature 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space, a rooftop, outdoor lounge, and an upper-level lobby.

The 92-year-old building currently at the site formerly housed the First National Bank of Jersey City, the first bank ever built in the state. The structure will be renovated and expanded as part of the project. Nearby vacant structures will be demolished to make way for a 10,000 square foot addition.

A 20-year tax abatement for the project received City Council approval in June.

After addressing a small crowd this morning, city officials and developers signed an 800-pound support beam that will become part of the hotel's foundation. Fulop wrote a message along with his signature: "We are excited and thankful for investing in JC + creating jobs!"

The project, which will be the city's sixth hotel and second Hyatt property, will generate 350 construction jobs, 80 permanent and 60 part-time hotel jobs. The hotel will rake in $1.6 million in annual revenue for the city, according to a press release.

"The development of this hotel is an industry indicator of business and tourism growth, and as Jersey City continues to grow and thrive economically, we are excited to add to the momentum by introducing the first Hyatt House hotel to the city," said B. Anthony Isaac, head of select service strategy and development for Hyatt.

City councilwoman at large Joyce Watterman, Ward F councilwoman Diane Coleman, county freeholders Bill O'Dea and Anthony Romano and about 50 other dignitaries attended the catered event, which featured live music, food and TV screens with renderings of the completed hotel.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... developers_break_gro.html

Agree with this:

JC is an ideal place to have hotels. You get easy access to NYC and you can use EWR over Laguardia (a nightmare of an airport to get to).

I use the PATH-NJ Transit-Monorail link when I am traveling light. When carrying a lot of baggage, I pay the $28+ tip for car service to the terminal. Before the ramp to the Skyway was blocked off (construction), it took all of 15 minutes to get to EWR.

I think some of the old guard in charge of things in JC don't really understand public transportation and how/why people use it.

True, travelers probably won't take the light rail. But via a $2.00 Path ride from Newark, in 15 minutes they would be at the doorstep of this hotel. EXTREMELY accessible.

Also, who that is staying in JC to visit NYC or to do business in JC is going to want or need a car?

From EWR, it's also a very easy cab ride for about $25 ... for those travelers who are too spoiled to take a subway train (or to be fair, have lots of luggage or small children).

Of all things, the red flag for some of these JC officials is parking?

Jersey City Planning Board green-lights old bank building becoming new hotel

August 23, 2012, 9:01 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

A Downtown Jersey City office building will be transformed into a 250-room luxury hotel with a public space on the roof that will boast sweeping vistas of the Manhattan skyline, thanks to the Planning Board?s near-unanimous approval of the project?s final site plan.

The building, located at One Exchange Place, would look largely as it does now, with the exception of a glass-enclosed, three-story addition on the top, an exterior elevator on the building?s south side that would ferry non-hotel guests to the top floor, and a narrow, 10-story extension on the east.

Seven Planning Board members voted Tuesday in favor of the final site plan, while Nidia Lopez, also the Ward C councilwoman, abstained. Board member Karen J. McIntyre called the design ?very, very simple.?

?I think it?s a great showcase for Jersey City,? McIntyre said. ?I love this.?

A city official in June said Concord was acquiring the Exchange Place property for $14 million. The 10-story structure was built in 1920 as a bank.

Lopez called the project ?beautiful,? but said she abstained from voting because she?s concerned about the lack of parking at the hotel. Concord officials said that hotel guests will park at nearby private parking facilities, or will arrive via the PATH train or the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail.

That idea struck resident Yvonne Balcer as unrealistic.

?Let?s be realistic. Unless the Light Rail goes out to Newark Airport, no one?s going to take the Light Rail to come here,? Balcer said.

City planning officials recommended the project receive approval, while planner Jeff Wenger cautioned that they have ?concerns? regarding the design of a pedestrian plaza and drop-off area on the proposed hotel?s northern side, an area now used by commuters headed to the Exchange Place PATH station.

Tuesday?s approval had the condition that Concord redesign a portion of the plaza to make it more pedestrian-friendly.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... y_planning_board_gre.html

Developer buying 10-story Exchange Place tower in Jersey City

June 22, 2012, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The developer who is acquiring a 10-story Exchange Place tower in Jersey City plans to add three stories and open a luxury hotel at the location, with a public restaurant and skyline viewing area at the top, city officials revealed last week.

One Exchange Place, which once housed a Cosi restaurant on the ground floor, closed almost entirely last April after the lobby ceiling collapsed. City planning officials said at last Monday's council caucus that the structure's interior is "very dilapidated."

But the building, which city records show has been owned by Onyx Equities of Woodbridge since 1978, is being acquired for $14 million by North Carolina-based Concord Hospitality, which plans to open a "boutique" hotel on the property, chief of staff Rosemary McFadden said.

"They feel it will be very successful down there," McFadden told the council.

City Planner Jeff Wenger said the developer plans to install an express elevator that would take riders directly from the ground floor to the top-floor restaurant and viewing area.

Wenger said that asbestos has to be removed from the building, which would then need to be renovated.

Six businesses operated inside 1 Exchange Place before the lobby ceiling collapsed. Only two, a Dunkin' Donuts and a Subway restaurant, are open today, according to Fire Director Armando Roman.

The council would have to approve amending a redevelopment plan for that site before the project can proceed.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... buying_10-story_exch.html

Quote:

I would love to see that. Ironically, when Fleet Bank owned it, they renovated the lobby and received one of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy's first Preservation Awards for doing so. Shortly thereafter PNC took over the space and wrecked it.

Jersey City Officials - watch and learn how smart development works. The following article on the development of the Brooklyn Waterfront should be informative.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/br ... =rss&utm_content=Brooklyn

It would be nice if they could keep the old bank lobby, it was quite impressive and would work well as a hotel lobby.

Quote:


How so exactly?

Someone needs to sue the City Council - this a CLEAR ABUSE of power. And where was Fulop who imo is full of sh_t like the rest of the members.

while this project should be able to be done via the existing zoning/variance process, it is to be done instead by designating this single lot as "an area in need of redevelopment."

though we are used to the continued abuse of our state redevelopment law from the administration, the council unamiously approved the designation and the first reading of the redevelopment plan opening door to a likely and assured "waterfront" tax abatement agreement.

the time to stop this coming abatment agreement was at the start, not wait and holler at the abatement approval vote ....

Would be cooler if it was turned into a boutique hotel, versus a large chain.

New hotel planned for One Exchange Place
Renovation to finish in 2014, will boost city tax revenues

June 17, 2012
by E. Assata Wright
Hudson Reporter staff writer



A dilapidated, nearly-vacant office building at Exchange Place will be transformed into a 13-story, 247-room hotel, complete with an observation deck and restaurant with sweeping views of the New York skyline. If current plans for the site stay on schedule, the hotel should open sometime in fall 2014, according to the hotel?s project manager.

At present, the site at One Exchange Place is home to just two businesses after the Jersey City Fire Department issued a vacate order in April 2011 following a ceiling collapse on the ground floor. The city?s Building Department subsequently issued a Notice of Imminent Hazard and a Notice of Unsafe Structure.

Last week the City Council unanimously declared One Exchange Place in need of redevelopment, which clears the way for a massive renovation of the site by the Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company. Concord has acquired One Exchange Place and will spend the next two years renovating the building. The council also introduced the One Exchange Place Redevelopment Plan, which could come up for a vote on June 27.

Concord owns and manages 84 hotels across the country, including five in northern New Jersey. The company?s portfolio of hotels includes such brands as Courtyard, Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn, Renaissance, MainStay Suites, Hilton Garden, Doubletree, and Sheraton.

One Exchange Place will be the company?s first site in Hudson County. Christopher Brenner, Concord?s project manager for the Exchange Place project, said last week the company has not yet released which of its brands will open in Jersey City.

From ?dilapidated? to ?upscale?

Originally built in 1920 as a bank, Once Exchange Place had become a run-down 10-story office building at the foot of Montgomery Street by the time it was condemned by the city last year. At present, only two tenants, Dunkin? Donuts and a Subway sandwich shop, remain in the building on the ground floor.

In a presentation last week, city planner Jeffery Wenger told the City Council that while the ?exterior of the [One Exchange] is in good condition, most of the building?s interior is non-functioning and is in need of serious repair.?

The building has active leaks and water damage, there is asbestos which will need to be removed. Several walls have holes, some additional ceilings have collapsed in the year since the initial collapse in April 2011. All of the upper floors, Wenger said, are ?completely dilapidated.?

The building will, however, be completed gutted and remade into a new hotel.

According to Brenner, Concord plans to do a substantial renovation of the property.

?The existing building constructed in 1920 is 10 stories. We are adding three stories to the existing building and a story addition at the southeast corner of the property,? said Brenner. ?The 13th floor, or roof terrace level, will have?views of the Jersey City waterfront and the Manhattan skyline. The first floor of the existing building will have 10,000 square feet of commercial retail space.?

The entire facility, he added, will have a total of 190,000 square feet.

?Demolition is [already] in progress,? said Brenner, ?and will continue through December 2012. We expect to commence construction on the new addition and renovations in January of 2013.?

Exactly which hotel brand will move into the site will, Brenner said, be announced later this summer.

?We are currently in conversations with two of the top global brands to develop an upscale hotel,? he added. ?We will announce the brand in the next few weeks.?

New site will boost hotel tax revenues

The Concord project will be Jersey City?s sixth reputable hotel. The city currently has a Westin, a Doubletree, and a Courtyard Marriott in the Newport neighborhood. The Hyatt is just two blocks from One Exchange Place. And there?s also a Ramada Inn on Tonnelle Avenue in the Journal Square area.

The nearby Hoboken waterfront also includes a W Hotel that is not far from Jersey City?s Newport community.

A long-planned mixed-use Hilton development at the end of Marin Boulevard, near Liberty Harbor North, has yet to break ground. In 2010 the city approved an $8 million loan for the $118 million development, which was supposed to include 342 hotel rooms and 470 residential units.

Still, the addition of the Concord property to the city?s roster of hotels will boost local revenue from the hotel tax. Municipalities throughout the state of New Jersey receive a tax from each hotel room booked within their city. The hotel tax charged is not uniform, and varies from one city to the next. Jersey City currently receives a hotel tax rate of 6 percent from every hotel room booked at the city?s hotels.

Jersey City currently gets between $4 million and $5 million annually from the hotel tax, according to the administration of Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy.

http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/fu ... ce=lead_story_left_column