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Literally never thought I'd ever agree with you on anything. Apparently, proven wrong.

Crown Fried Chicken was the site where Bobby Baccala shot the rapper 'in the fleshy part of the thigh' in the Sopranos, although they changed the name. You can see the Rodriguez Brothers bodega across the street (Communipaw) in the scene.

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Yvonne - that's awesome. I watched Season 1 of the Sopranos and saw a lot of DTJC film locations where they shot the scenes. Kind of cool to live so close to it :)

As for the topic at hand, agreed, the building parking lots are a sheer waste of usable space. The buildings, however, I was told, were the first high rises in all of New Jersey. If someone could pull the whole eminent domain on the parking lots and construct around the buildings for development, I think it would be a fair compromise.

For some reason, I feel that this debate has been going on for at least a decade (since I moved to JC and like many other readers on JCList, lived there until I realized there were better options!).

Thanks, Yvonne, I didn't know that!

The Metropolis or Gregory complex was built in the late 60's when the city blighted a dozen or so blocks of residential and retail buildings and reshaped the street grid. In the Godfather (1972) theres a scene where Clemenza says after the hit "Leave the gun...Take the cannolis". As they ride to that location on Caven Point Road the Gregory complex can be seen in the background.

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I am familiar with eminent domain. And as your Wikipedia summary suggests, it can be used for economic development... Not sure what I missed.

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I'm guessing you live there, and therefore insult and dismissal is your only recourse?

A total non-starter ... maybe. This is a forum on the Internet. It's for ideas and speculation, not insults.
"Inane to the point of drivel." You're just a troll. Strong logic with that comment.

I rented there when I first moved to JC. It is absolutely the worst. The ceilings will always leak, I give up trying to repaint it afterwards. Apartments are roach infested. The carpets in the hallway smelled like vomit mixed with dead rodent. The walls are permanently infused with rotten curry smell. Alarms randomly go off at middle of the night. Elevators stop working during rush hour. Constant water pressure issues. Management nonexistent other than sending you letters to increase your rent. The doormans are all part of some union and treat the resident like sht. I remember every time I ask for my mail delivery, it's as if she's doing me the biggest favor, full on bitch attitude. And from my understanding there are some major contaminated soils right next to the building they are trying to remediate.

By far the worst building in downtown JC.

After my lease was up they tried to increase my rent...hysterical. They also took few hundred dollars from my security deposit because of the paint ( from the water leak ). It was worth it never have to step inside that shthole again.

Interesting thread especially for a 1st post.

What is called Metropolis Towers is a rename of the Gregory Apartments. They were orginally built, I believe in the 1960s or earlier as low income/moderate price housing.

Please, please, please at least read a Wikipedia summary of Eminent Domain before posting on it.

A total non-starter, on just about every level anyone could possibly imagine. Inane to the point of drivel.

Although only built about 15 years ago, the Metropolis Towers cooperative buildings are the eye-sore of DTJC. What could be prime walkable retail space and beautiful redevelopment directly adjacent to the Grove Street PATH station is instead an abhorrent waste of horrific architecture, nonexistent maintenance, and driveway gravel. Given these properties? low values, I decided to take a look at the feasibility of eminent domain on this massive property.

I used 99 Hudson as a comp. It is a 1.74 acre property that sold for $71,000,000 last year, or about $934.21 per SF. The Metropolis Tower property (both towers) combines to form 8.34 acres. Yes, 99 Hudson is Waterfront, but the Metropolis Towers are closer to the Grove Street PATH, and this means more access to Midtown Manhattan. So even if we lower the sales price to $900/sf, the site is worth $325M before improvements.

The Metropolis Towers have 390 units. That means if the city applies a fair market value of $500k each to the coop owners (and they are worth much less than that), the city is looking at a profit of $130M. This really seems like a financial no-brainer of a redevelopment project for the city if it really wants to take advantage of Jersey City?s ?renaissance.? These funds could be applied anywhere, and city doesn?t just come up with $130M everyday.

Just some thoughts.