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If you had seen the house prior to the work, you might understand the cost. You might even understand the cost if you knew the real price of restoration.

It would be nice if the city was able to put this much effort into all of its historic homes, but it seems like there are various areas that are still left to die.

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You missed it, the $700 was for landscaping and exterior tweaks. they already spent $4.1M on historic renovation! I wonder if Dan Wrieden had a hand in this pie?

It takes $700k to renovate a relatively small building such as that?

Christ.. that blows the biggest project I ever did on a $ / sqft basis out of the water.

Chinedum Emelumba/The Jersey Journal

George Washington led a rag-tag band of American colonists to victory in the Revolutionary War in 8 years.

If only the renovation of one of the war's historic sites could be completed as quickly, Jersey City residents would have a real reason to set off fireworks.

A wreath-laying ceremony this morning, Presidents' Day, at the Apple Tree House on Academy Street in Jersey City was a tribute to first President George Washington. It was there, local legend has it, that Washington met with French Major General Marquis de Lafayette in 1779 to discuss war plans.




But the 30th annual event also served as a somber reminder that 15 years after the city purchased the property from Provident Savings Bank, the site is still closed for repairs.

?Basically everything on the inside is done,? said Edward Meehan, president of George Washington Society of Jersey City, and vice president of the Lincoln Association.

The event featured brief remarks by Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Meehan and Richard Winant, who was dressed as George Washington. After the ceremony, the crowd gathered at Jack Miller?s Pub, also on Academy Street, for a toast.
Decades of planning, preparation and $4.1 million in funding have gone into repairing the home that previously had served as a funeral home.

?The building was supposed to be demolished, but we were able to get 5,000 signatures in two weeks to stop the destruction,? Meehan said of the building, which has been closed to the public since 1990.
The renovation has been plague by fits and starts from the beginning. The much-heralded fix-up was panned fro August 2005, but the kickoff was delayed until May 9, 2006.

Now the project is close to completion, Jersey City officials say. The final stages of renovation -- Phase III includes landscaping and other exterior fixes -- will be done with a $700,000 grant.

?It?s just landscaping that remains to be done,? said Meehan, surprisingly optimistic about the Apple Tree House being opened sometime next year. ?Hopefully, it can be complete by next year, but we have kept up the public pressure.?

City officials have said in the past that building, constructed in 1740, would serve as a museum or the city?s Cultural Affairs office, but at the moment, there are no concrete plans for the building's use.