Thanks for the info -- do not catch your previous post. Glad to hear they are finally building something new on this strip. Welcome any retail stores as well. The bit about the building names is cute.
Stay warm!

the guy does a lot of projects around JSquare...I posted this a while ago. 3 buildings going up I think the one on Skillman is almost done.

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It looks like there is movement on the old AC Chevrolet /Volkswagen land over by St. Paul?s and JFK Blvd. (and behind on Skillman) There were BIG plans to do something with the property a few years ago but the economic meltdown killed them.


JC Planning Board meeting minutes?.June 2012

15. Case: P12-021 Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan w/ c variance
Applicant: Journal Square Estate LLC
Attorney: Charles Harrington
Review Planner: Jeffrey Wenger
Address: 71 Skillman Avenue aka 65-67 Skillman Avenue
Block: 6304 Lot: 2.01
Zone: R-3 Multi Family Mid-rise
Description: New 5 story, 46 unit building with 22 parking spaces.
Variance: Minimum side yard.



16. Case: P12-020 Preliminary & Final Major Site Plan with deviations
Applicant: Journal Square Estate LLC
Attorney: Charles Harrington
Review Planner: Jeffrey Wenger
Address: 3075 Kennedy Blvd.
Block: 6304 Lot: 5
Zone: Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment Plan
Description: Construction of two 6 story buildings with 85 residential units, 19 parking spaces and ground floor retail.
Deviation: Building height, building stepbacks.



PS ? in keeping with the Chevrolet car dealer theme. The local architect has car names for the 3 buildings. Like Malibu, Caprice, and ?? Cool idea.

For the last several weeks, there has been construction going on next to the Public School on Kennedy Blvd between 139 and St. Paul's. It's nice to see some activity there since it's just been empty lots for years. Does anyone know what is being built? ... hopefully, not another gas station.

Although I agree that there are not that many green spaces for kids to romp around and play in over by the square, I think you guys are exagerating a bit when you mention traffic delays that are any worse than they are now. I mean, The volkswagon dealership probably created more car traffic than what's going up in it's place, when you consider the number of people going for test drives and bringing there cars in and out for service. This, in comparison to people commuting to and from work, who I bet, most of them are looking for easy access to the city, i.e. walk to the path. I live around there and I have yet to see droves of cars pulling into the garages of the new apartment buildings that just went up. For years, this area has suffered from neglect and it's great to see that something is finally being done to all the property that was currently unoccupied and an eyesore to the community.

Getting in and out of the parking lot of the old VW showroom used to be a bit of challenge even then, with all the traffic.

Now add hundreds of people and scores of additional cars.

Unless there are major road changes, this is doomed for gridlock city.

Expect additional traffic lights and one-hour commutes to go four blocks.

My concern is that it will lead to more traffic...and with the new 600 residential units going up in the old American Can Company building, and a new industrial warehouse on tonnelle circle, I am afraid quality of life will suffer even more. JFK is like a highway during rush hour, and it is extremely dangerous to cross even with with the light.
Also, Tonnelle avenue gets all the heavty truck traffic coming though narrow residential streets right off the highway. Not to mention that India row is a perpetual traffice jam, especially on the weekends, when people from all over New Jersey drive to india row.
Half the neighborhood has asthma from the traffic, and there is no safe place besides the street for kids to play, so they are in constant danger of being run down by some fool who drives 100 mph down narrow residential streets.
My question is whether or not the new development will be geared towards people who will walk to the PATH station, or will it be for people who will drive to work, and is there a better way to re-route the rush-hour traffic and a way to encourage people to use mass transit on the weekends when visiting india row?

Yeah -- it should really give a lot of foot traffic to the Little India area of Newark Avenue -- I also think it will go a long way to making Journal Square safer!

I just read about this, too... I am pretty excited about all the changes that will be happening in Journal Square over the next couple of years.... Hopefully it will spawn the desire for some more diverse shopping options other than the 99 cent stores that currently dominate the landscape. I also think that with all the condo's going up, there will be more pedestrian traffic, not just the car traffic the article makes mention of.

3-building condo complex for old VW showroom
Monday, April 10, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Condos are coming to Journal Square. But will the traffic bear it?

Journal Square Estates Group, a Jersey City-based limited partnership, has proposed constructing a 249-unit three-building condo complex at the site of the old Volkswagen showroom, on Kennedy Boulevard, just north of St. Paul's Avenue.

Always a heavily-trafficked area, the site is a block from where Route 139 runs into Kennedy Boulevard, and cars shuttle down a ramp to the Tonnelle Circle.

The owners of the limited partnership - Kotla Srinath, and brothers Ravi and Murali Adusumulli - have given the city a study showing a limited affect on traffic, but that hasn't erased neighborhood concerns.

"It's a problem," said Luis Santiago, president of the Brunswick Condominium Association, about the additional traffic.

But Santiago is in favor of the new development. He praised the designs of the new buildings and said traffic congestion in the area is a group problem, to be addressed by the community, government and the developers.

Having met with the local residents twice in the past six weeks, the Estates Group partners have already altered the plans to help alleviate traffic.

Instead of having one common 263-space parking garage, which residents would enter and exit from Kennedy Boulevard, the developers now plan to build two separate garages. Roughly 100 cars will use a garage with access from Skillman Avenue.

The $75 million project will consist of seven-, eight-, and 11-story buildings, and will have ground floor retail space on Kennedy Boulevard. The project requires a height and density variance and goes before the city's zoning board on April 20.

This project, along with the proposed high-rise towers at the old Hotel on the Square building, and the roughly 200-condo units going in at the former American Can facility off St. Paul's Avenue are helping to fuel the resurgence of Journal Square, said Ward C Councilman Steve Lipski, the representative for the area.