Path to glory - Jersey City development is on the march to greater heights

By MAX GROSS - New York Post

August 16, 2012

Like some desperate boy on the make, Brooklyn and Long Island City spent a long time trying to convince apartment hunters to give them a chance.

Now it?s Jersey City?s turn.

Like Hunters Point and Williamsburg, Jersey City is close to Manhattan ? only one train stop away (a PATH train, true). But new apartments are a lot cheaper, and a lot more plentiful, here than in the city.

And while new construction often seems stalled or small-ball in the five boroughs, Jersey City is shooting for the moon.

Manhattan trends including eco-friendly living are starting to appear at developments like Madox, the new rental building that will be the first LEED-certified residential building in Jersey City (as well as the first smoke-free one). Madox will open the Paulus Hook neighborhood this fall.

?It might be the first smoke-free [residential] building in New Jersey,? says James Caulfield Jr., a principal with Fields Development Group, which is putting up Madox.

Prices haven?t been set yet for the 131 apartments (there will also be at least two commercial spaces), but one can expect them to be in line with other newer Jersey City luxury properties (in the upper $30-to-lower-$40-per-square-foot range, per year).

In the next 15 months, Paulus Hook will get another boost of development with the Warren at York. This will be a 12-story, 139-unit rental building featuring one-, two- and three-bedrooms that range from 714 to 1,350 square feet.

?We?re going to have a gym, a media lounge, a pool table, a movie screen, sitting areas and a green roof,? says Jonathan Schwartz, senior vice president of BNE Real Estate Group, which is developing the Warren at York.

Clearly, eco-friendly has been accepted by more than one Jersey City developer.

Madox and the Warren at York are smaller than other Jersey City developments in the works. The new 18 Park, which broke ground this summer, will be an 11-story building with 422 apartments; the residences will sit atop the 34,000-square-foot Boys & Girls Club of Hudson County and 10,000 square feet of retail. The development should be finished by early 2014.

?This was kind of a win-win transaction,? says Josiah Wuestneck, senior vice president at Ironstate Development, which is building 18 Park with KRE Group. The Boys & Girls Club ?needed a new home and an endowment to ensure longevity of organization. They had an existing site, so we worked out a deal where we would build them the new space and relocate them.?

While this sounds mammoth, also on Ironstate?s plate is Harborside Financial Center, which is being developed in partnership with Mack-Cali Realty. This is a three-phase project that will bring over 2,000 units to market, as well as several million square feet of office space.

?We?re going to break ground on the first building, which is 69 stories,? in the fourth quarter of this year, Wuestneck says. Ironstate is planning 766 apartments in this first tower. This first phase of Harborside, should be finished in early 2015. (The other two towers are expected to be similar in design and size.)

And if that?s not enough, Newport is also planning more buildings ? although so far the developer LeFrak has been mum about any of the details.

Eat your heart out, Long Island City!


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