Again I ask, who negotiated the air rights for us and where's my money?

Two Jersey City residential developments awarded millions in state tax credits

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
April 10, 2013 at 3:00 AM

Jersey City officials are cheering the news that two high-profile residential projects will receive a total of $66 million in tax credits via the state Economic Development Authority.

One of the projects, a three-tower development just outside the PATH station in Journal Square, is one city officials hope will lead a long-awaited resurgence in the heart of the city.

The $33 million in tax credits will support the first phase of the Journal Square project, a $203 million residential tower that will have 540 rental units and more than 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

The other project set for state aid is The Beacon, the massive redevelopment project at the old Jersey City Medical Center on Montgomery Street. The EDA yesterday granted tax credits totaling $33 million to the second phase of the project, which is estimated to cost $125 million and will transform two dilapidated buildings into rental apartments and commercial space.

?We are thrilled that the EDA selected these two important projects,? Mayor Jerramiah Healy said in a statement. ?This is a further testament to the EDA and the state?s confidence in Jersey City being the economic engine of New Jersey.?

The credits for both projects will extend over 10 years. They were awarded as part of the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Program, which has handed out more than $1 billion since 2010 in an effort to attract development to cities with active transportation hubs.

The tax credits for the Journal Square project is especially good news for the Healy administration, which has been under attack by mayoral hopeful Councilman Steven Fulop for its record regarding the area.

Fulop is challenging Healy for the mayoralty in the May 14 election.

In a debate last week at the Landmark Loew?s Jersey Theatre, Fulop said Healy?s plan for Journal Square is ?not working,? while the mayor defended himself by saying the Square was a ?bigger mess? when he was first elected in 2004.

Asked to comment on the EDA award, Fulop issued a statement from his campaign saying that ?anything that helps Journal Square is a good thing.?

?But residents heard a similar song from Healy, when he put on a hard hat and announced right before the last election that Journal Square would be redeveloped,? Fulop says in the statement.

Fulop was referring to a stalled twin-tower project that Healy hailed as imminent in the months leading up to the 2009 city election.

That project, set for a still vacant property directly across from The Jersey Journal office, is separate from KRE?s three-tower plan, set for a lot near Summit and Magnolia avenues.

The Beacon was originally intended to include luxury condos in the eight Art Deco buildings that made up the old medical center.

But the project stalled after only two of the buildings were developed, and restarted again only recently, reimagined as luxury rental units.

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