Yvonne wrote:
Quote:

Jiuk wrote:
The Heights is really being torn in two directions right about now.
One side is pulling towards cool rehabilitation of older homes and the other towards salmon colored boxes with hideous stainless steel and chrome railings.

I shop in Bayonne a lot and I must say, they do not have the steel and chrome railings. As to why the Planning Board allow this, I cannot say. One of the problems with new construction which happens across JC, there are no set backs. New construction should follow the character of the block and not stick out. Where is the planning in the Planning Board?

rescuelife wrote:
There are many lifelong republicans and conservatives who strongly oppose the current administration and much of what they stand for. Not all protesters are liberals/democrats/snowflakes/etc...

itgirl wrote:
Quote:

JCGuys wrote:
Was gonna order something, but $4.99 is too high. lol

Maybe if you live downtown, but where I live the delivery pickings are slim. It's a fair price to get delivery from a place that wouldn't ordinarily deliver to me, and I'd have to visit in person to pick-up/dine in (with tip, etc.). I'm looking at you Razza.

Going to try this out this weekend.

dr_nick_riviera wrote:
Quote:

MDM wrote:
Quote:

brewster wrote:
That property we're discussing shows how ridiculous a disparity there is between comps and cap rates. Ignoramuses like Yvonne have complained about this before, that houses are valued more than commercial, and now it's going to be on steroids.

I suspect there will be many investment properties that are technically residential (4 units or less) that might become cash flow negative after the reval. I wonder if we will have a flood of buildings for sale hitting the market say about six months after the reval take effect?

I do think a positive, unintended consequence will be that it will finally get the owners of a lot of vacant lots that dot Downtown to stop waiting around for a super lucrative offer and finally sell. I also think a lot of the slumlords will find their properties too expensive to carry and may force out some of the remaining riff raff.

Yvonne wrote:
Quote:

JCGuys wrote:
Screw channel 1 and move everything online.

There is no Channel 1, JC had Channel 1 for years on Comcast, it is valuable and Comcast wanted it. We gave it away under Fulop. It is now Channel 96, yes it is already on line but it takes weeks for it to appear and the audio is poor. The audio is better on television. There are people in this city that did watch the city channel and the mayor has no right to take this away from them. By the way, the Board of Ed has Channel 97 and they do show public meetings on education.

stillinjc wrote:
Nominated for 2017 Darwin Award.

jcgirl wrote:
Make sure you do your due diligence, especially regarding the potential for soil contamination. Will the city be responsible for any environmental responsibilities if they come up?

edg2103 wrote:
Quote:

OneSkirt wrote:
I suggest we all...
TAKE THE SURVEY HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/WTzyEUO8k71koVcw2

consider what this huge density jump will do to traffic - on roads, in public transit, etc.

A dirty little secret about the PATH train is that they run service at precisely the frequency that makes sure it is packed NO MATTER how many riders there are...I've seen trains packed at 11am, when the ridership volume is about 1/3 of what it is at rush hour. Why? Because they run less frequently when there are fewer riders. Why do you think they only run it once every 35 minutes at night or only once every 10/15 minutes at 8pm or at noon? If you have more riders, they will provide more frequent service. The only true bottleneck is at rush hour. But the PA's latest capital plan calls for buying more cars now that the new signal system has been installed. That should increase frequency/capacity about 18% starting in 2018. Guess what? They never would've bought the cars to increase rush hour frequency if ridership hadn't increased. Capacity can further be increased about 50% in the future by accomodating 10-car trains and cars with open gangways. These aren't insanely expensive moves--they are feasible, and the PA has already done studies on 10-car operation and started construction on the station modifications that would be necessary.

Even if we leveled half of downtown into a giant parking lot (which many people here would love), the PATH would STILL be packed, because they'd just reduce service frequency to compensate. And on top of that, you'd be waiting 20 minutes for that packed train. That's exactly how the Staten Island Rapid Transit trains are run.

At the end of the day, more people actually means more frequent service on public transit.

iGreg wrote:

Ouch !

Anybody else hear the reverb of that Bitch Slap ?

#make JC great again


Quote:

Sutherland wrote:
That's ok, Dan. But you're nobody's Mayor.

Quote:

DanL wrote:

#notmymayor

neverleft wrote:
"In Jersey City, where Kushner Cos. has invested in five major projects in recent years, both Jared and his father have a close relationship with Mayor Steve Fulop. "

I just pray that Kushner Cos. still start and finish all of their Journal Square projects now that Jared is in DC.

MDM wrote:
Quote:

JCGuys wrote:
Let's bring the NYC 7 line to Jersey City. I need an alternative to get to work than PATH.

C'mon Trump, make it happen.

I am hoping his planned budget cuts go through (ie. a 20% reduction in the federal workforce) and his infrastructure projects get bogged down in Congress.

The United States has a massive debt bubble to deal with. Right now interest rates are basically negative in real terms, which has made the debt cheap to finance. A lot of the debt notes though are short term. A spike in interest rates will increase debt service significantly.

Other debt issues:

Social Security went cash flow negative in 2010. In the not too distant future, SS payments will be reduced.

Medicare is even in worse shape than Social Security.

State level public pension funds are in terrible shape. If there is a market correction, the chances of a State level pension default(s) is high (IL and RI will probably be the first to go). Since interest rates were kept so low, more and more of the pension assets were invested in higher risk investments (chasing yield). China for example has a very high debt load denominated in dollars. As the dollar strengthens, those debts are going to get harder and harder to service, which will lead to defaults.... which means investors (i.e. pension funds) will have to write off assets.

hero69 wrote:
Quote:

JCGuys wrote:
Quote:

hero69 wrote:
why is this project getting an abatement when there is no provision for affordable housing? am i missing something?

https://jerseydigs.com/13-35-carbon-pl ... lvd-jersey-city-proposal/

Provision for affordable housing is not a condition of receiving an abatement. It's just an excuse Fulop uses to continue to give 30 year abatements to downtown properties.

State law need to be reformed.

so what is in it for the city, taxpayers?

hero69 wrote:
why is this project getting an abatement when there is no provision for affordable housing? am i missing something?

https://jerseydigs.com/13-35-carbon-pl ... lvd-jersey-city-proposal/

mfadam wrote:
so check this out - 133 Mercer St being listed for $3.595mm. They list in their financials page that they pay about 21K in property tax. If they even get 2.5mm they are still gonna see a big uptick in property taxes.

This building is cut up into 4 floor through rentals. It is well maintained and still has a lot of detail.

Maybe I'm underestimating the feeding frenzy in DTJC but I'm not sure 3.595mm is realistic with a $131K rent roll. Perhaps others who know mutli family finance can chime in on what a typical multiple is to annual roll.

Here's the webpage for the building with details...
http://www.133mercer.com/financials.html

hero69 wrote:
Quote:

JCman24 wrote:
Quote:

TheBigGuy wrote:
Wow... 40 Story Building??? That baseball field will disappear. I am curious where the families that use that field will park.

It get pretty busy over there on weekends. Can't imagine what it will be like if that proposal goes through.

Where do they park now?

i suggest they put parking underground with a park on top of the parking lot.

K-Lo2 wrote:
And now OLC....

https://jerseydigs.com/silverman-field ... rin-development-proposal/

he properties consist of a mostly vacant Z-shaped lot on the south side of the street in front of St. Peter?s ballfield (don?t worry dive bar fans, the property does not include the Golden Cicada), plus a parking lot at the north side of the street directly adjacent to Our Lady of Czestochowa.

The residential portion of the project will help Our Lady of Czestochowa, a Catholic school, pay for an expansion of their academic facility across the street.

stateaidguy wrote:
Quote:

bodhipooh wrote:
Quote:

JCGuys wrote:
Quote:

stateaidguy wrote:
Jersey City's taxes will definitely be below 2% post-reval, but this has nothing to do with the reval so much as it does the increase in Jersey City's Equalized Valuation.

JC's EV is now $24 billion and will be even higher after the reval is completed.

JC's all-in tax levy is now $448.7 million. That rate will increase too, but not in proportion to the increase in the Equalized Valuation.

$448.7 million / $24 billion = 1.87%.

The tax rate will fall farther once the new EV is computed.

SAG, Thank you! I'm so tried of the complete and utter BS from the fearmongers and the ignorant. I saw a news report the other day saying it's a double edged sword because the reval will hurt people, but will also generate more money for the city.

Well, an ignorant reporter is just that... ignorant.

BUT, the values provided by the state are very different from what you present in your post.

The State of NJ puts the total JC EV at $21,643,490,206 (21.6 B) for 2015, and 25,679,882,705 (25.7 B) for 2016. The effective tax rate (as calculated by the state) is 2.216% for 2015.

Source for the above:
EV 2016: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxat ... df/lptval/2016/Hudson.pdf
EV 2015: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxat ... df/lptval/2015/hudson.pdf
Effective Tax Rate 2015: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/gtrhud15.pdf

How did you arrive at the total tax levy of $448.7 million? Do you have a source for that figure? Also, are you sure you are not using the valuation from valuation from 2016 and applying the effective tax rate for 2015? I ask because the figures are wildly different than what is on the State of NJ website. Thanks!

I admit I misremembered JC's Equalized Valuation, but that mistake doesn't change my argument that JC's all-in tax rate will be below 2%.

The FY2017 EV is $25,697,067,795. (it's a $4 billion increase from the year before, so I guess I got confused and wrote "$24 billion")

The FY2016 tax levy was $448,717,388. (source is the Property Tax Tables)

If you do the division, the estimated all-in tax rate 1.7%.

Oops. Sorry for the distraction with the wrong EV.

brewster wrote:
Quote:

vindication15 wrote:
http://www.housedetective.com/2009/11 ... ents-for-a-legal-bedroom/



The House Detective: by Barry Stone, Certified Home Inspector

Dear Barry: I am looking for the legal definition of a bedroom. I bought a house that was listed as a four-bedroom home. Two bedrooms are in the remodeled attic, with short, doorless alcoves for closets. And I?m not sure if these rooms are large enough to qualify as bedrooms. Can you help me to figure this out? Christine

Dear Christine: Here are the basic requirements for a bedroom:
1) A bedroom must be at least 70 square feet in area, with no dimension less than 7 feet.
2) The ceiling must be at least 7 feet high above the finished floor. If the ceiling is sloped, 50% of it can be less than 7 feet, but no part of it should be less than 5 feet.
3) There must be an openable window for light, ventilation, and fire escape. For light, the window size must be at least 8% of the floor area. For ventilation, the openable portion of the window must be at least 4% of the floor area. For fire escape, the window must be at least 5.7 square feet in area. The opening must have a minimum height of 24 inches, a minimum width of 20 inches, and a maximum sill height of 44 inches. (Note: There are additional window requirements for basement bedrooms, but this was discussed in previous articles.)
4) Contrary to popular belief, no closet is required in a bedroom.

Very informative! But like many internet pundits, he fails to cite his source. I don't believe there's a nationally enforced code on this, localities often can vary widely on codes, sometimes they subscribe to a widely published code, sometimes not..

stateaidguy wrote:
Jersey City's taxes will definitely be below 2% post-reval, but this has nothing to do with the reval so much as it does the increase in Jersey City's Equalized Valuation.

JC's EV is now $24 billion and will be even higher after the reval is completed.

JC's all-in tax levy is now $448.7 million. That rate will increase too, but not in proportion to the increase in the Equalized Valuation.

$448.7 million / $24 billion = 1.87%.

The tax rate will fall farther once the new EV is computed.