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Re: more condos: 39 Duncan = The Brevard
#61
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Quote:

cyclotronic wrote:
Looks like the rumors are true. Everyone's least favorite building on the block (Duncan between Bergen and JFK) is most definitely going condo. There's a huge Liberty Reality sign out front declaring it "The Brevard". The property's never been well maintained, especially compared to the nicer pre-war buildings nearby (47, 53, and 61 Duncan) so this is a very good thing. But the apartments look small and I think it's priced higher than the very well-renovated Basilico around the corner. I hope they get buyers. There's a lot of inventory coming on-line in this town.

The pics of the sample apartment aren't so hot, but is that first picture a rendering of new landscaping out front which is to come later?

http://www.libertyrealestate.com/publ ... ?listing.listingID=626344



This is good news.

Posted on: 2007/8/11 19:52
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Re: NAACP picks wrong target -- decision to single out Goldman as the villain is an odd one.
#62
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.Quote:

Jeebus wrote:
Yea, it sounds like another Jesse Jackson style shakedown operation. GS does so much more for JC than the NAACP.

Quote:

NNJR wrote:
I haven't heard NAACP mentioned once regarding any abatement process. It sounds as if they are just another organization coming to GS with their hand out, pathetic.


Doesn't quiet seem like a shakedown. It more appears like they're calling for GS to live up to their promises (or make more of an effort). GS becomes the easier target because of their greater resources and need to maintain good public standing. At no point in the article, does the organization call for any monetary renumeration be sent their way.

Posted on: 2007/7/26 5:04
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Re: Hidden office discovered in old medical center -- Ornate room may have been where \'Boss\' Hague
#63
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Congrats, Billc. I'm looking forward to meeting you and Mary in about a month when I close. Thanks again for the update.

Posted on: 2007/7/25 22:38
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#64
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Quote:

JSalt wrote:
Quote:

JPhurst wrote:
What confuses me is why Richardson is going after this particular development. 39 units is not a large concentration of housing. This is a small development which is being put together by some private developers. It's not one of the mega JCHA projects.

Jersey City has plenty of low income developments, both JCHA and other private (though subsidized) housing, scattered throughout the city. And while it's true that Ward F has a large concentration of poverty, it's not because all of the low income housing projects have been dumped there.

Sure, there have been affordable housing developments in Ward F, but there's also a lot of market rate housing going up in that area. The Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan will have some. The Beacon is perhaps the most prominent luxury project going up right now (although that's just on the Ward F border).

Something else has to be going on here.


That was my first thought too - sometimes "mixed income housing" is a way of disguising the fact that you're providing less low-income housing than you used to, e.g. when New Brunswick tore down the projects and build Hope VI housing, the aspect they played down was that the new units weren't even enough for half the project residents (many of whom wound up having to leave the city).

Even if you don't like projects or public housing, you have to accept the fact that these people have to live somewhere. Maybe you think you can just pass poor people off on some other town, but those towns are probably thinking the same thing about Jersey City. If no one addresses the situation, eventually you're going to wind up with shanty town slums like you see in other countries, and those are problems for everyone, not just the poor.



I agree. What happens is it becomes someone else's issue. Just like the New York City landscape changed, so will that of its surrounding areas. See recent article from the USA Today:


Advertisement


Pa. officials concerned about migration from N.J.

By Charisse Jones,

USA TODAY

ALTOONA, Pa. ? Robin Moore had never heard of this city in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, so far in distance and feeling from her home in Newark.
Compelled by a desire to stretch her dollars and find space and safety, Moore dialed a phone number she spotted on a flier in a Newark welfare office. "I always liked Pennsylvania, so I kind of took a chance with Altoona," says Moore, 37.

In March, she moved with her husband, three daughters and grandson to a public housing development here.

"I wanted to protect my children," she says. "I wanted to protect my husband because in New Jersey, there's a lot going on. This town had more of what I wanted, a little more peace."

Moore's is one of at least 16 lower-income families who in recent months moved more than 200 miles across state lines from Newark and nearby urban enclaves to Altoona, population 47,000.

Home for Moore is a four-bedroom, two-story unit that has a back deck and mountain view, a marked change from the Newark public housing project, rife with drug dealing, where she once lived.

The arrival of Moore and others, along with inquiries by dozens of other New Jersey residents seeking subsidized housing here, has triggered concerns by Altoona housing officials that New Jersey is steering its poor to Pennsylvania, kindling tensions between longtime residents and the newcomers.

The migration is one reflection of the shortage of affordable housing in many metropolitan areas. Teachers, police officials and other middle-class workers often live far from where they work because they can't afford adequate housing in those communities.

The poor aren't much different, says Danilo Pelletiere, research director for the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

"More and more, it's not so much economic opportunity, but it's the lower housing costs" prompting poor people to move, Pelletiere says. "We have been losing low-cost rental units in most major metropolitan areas ? to condos in some cases, in others to neglect, and to even higher-priced rentals."

The Altoona phenomenon is popping up elsewhere:

?Lancaster, Calif. Communities in the Antelope Valley have seen an influx of families from Los Angeles, 70 miles away. Their public-housing vouchers enable them to afford nicer homes than they had in the city.

?Columbus, Ohio. Barbara Clark, head organizer for the local chapter of the affordable-housing advocacy group ACORN, says local families use their subsidies to find homes in the suburbs. "To find a nice home, you have to move way out," Clark says.

Then there's New Jersey, which has the nation's highest per capita property taxes and some of its most expensive housing.

Tory Gunsolley, spokesman for the Newark Housing Authority, says the agency did not direct local residents or applicants to Pennsylvania. But, he adds, "we certainly understand that if there are people desperate to find affordable housing, they will look beyond what Newark will provide."

A curious trend

It was about a year ago that the Altoona Housing Authority began getting six to eight calls a day from New Jersey residents seeking applications for subsidized housing, Executive Director Cheryl Johns says.

She found it curious that those seeking to move here had no idea where the city was.

When she finally asked an applicant why she was interested in Altoona, the caller said her welfare case worker had referred her. Johns decided to take action. "When I have almost half of the people on my waiting list from the New Jersey area, it's an issue," Johns says.

She contacted a state senator whose office tracked down two fliers, posted in a Newark welfare office, that gave the phone numbers of the Altoona Housing Authority and an apartment development in Williamsport, Pa., that accepted government rental vouchers.

Bruce Nigro, welfare director for Essex County, N.J., says that once he learned of the fliers, he banned them.

A person who qualifies by income for subsidized housing can apply for a unit anywhere, says Donna White, a spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but most people stay in their local communities. Of the 1.8 million families in the rental subsidy program, 7%-10% get a voucher in one area, then use it in another, she says.

In Altoona, roughly 20% of the population qualifies for subsidized housing based on income, Johns says. Local residents get priority.Waiting lists range from 18 months to two years.

"We're not trying to discriminate against anyone," she says, but "I'm responsible for taking care of the residents of the city of Altoona."

More drug trafficking

Some Altoona residents and public officials blame an increase in drug crime on recent arrivals from New Jersey and other states.

John Grum, 48, says the city should not offer subsidized housing to out-of-towners "or at least get a good background check on them before they do." Those committing many of the crimes are "from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey. They're not Altoona people."

Kevin Harley, spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, says that in the past five years, drug dealers from larger cities have moved into smaller cities such as Altoona "where they can essentially be a big fish in a small pond."

Since January 2005, he says, more than 600 street-level drug dealers have been arrested in Blair County, which includes Altoona.

Robin Moore says such statistics have nothing to do with her. "My daughter's a productive member of society," she says. "My husband is, and I am, so even if it's just us three, that proves right there that (not) everybody from Jersey is ? into drugs and crime."

Moore was paying $795 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Newark when she called the Altoona authority in January 2006.

She won't say what she pays in Altoona, but her family lives in an apartment that's larger yet cheaper than their last home in Newark.

Her husband, Corey, is a groundskeeper. Moore, a former customer service representative for a computer services firm, is looking for work and heads the tenants council in the 170-unit complex.

She says she knows some Altoona residents resent her presence. But sitting with her front door open, her children playing outside near picnic tables, she pays it no mind.

"I didn't even allow my kids to go outside when we lived in (Newark public) housing, though we had a playground," she says. "The drug dealers had taken it over. ? I know what my purpose is for coming here."

Posted on: 2007/7/19 22:09

Edited by MrWolf on 2007/7/19 22:35:17
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No \"more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#65
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Quote:

stani wrote:
Quote:

MrWolf wrote:
Quote:

stani wrote:
Quote:

Your taxes and mine provide more in subsidies to the rich (hundreds of times over in comparison to housing subsidies to the poor) - SEE Corporate Welfare. There is no comparison when one compares the problems created by the affluent versus the poor.


I don\'t think this is true. Here are some programs that are subsidies for the poor that are quite large (not an exhaustive list):

Cash payments:
Earned Income Tax Credit
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Payments in kind:
Medicaid (~$330 billion in 2005)
State Children\'s Health Insurance Program
Food stamps
Housing assistance
Energy assitance

Maybe you can post a list of corporate welfare programs.



To be specific, I compared housing subsidies for the poor to corporate welfare and the costs therein, not government aid to the poor. As for corporate welfare, it is generally accepted to mean any government spending program that provides unique benefits to specific companies or industries in the way of direct grants, tax breaks or other specific preferential treatment. Some examples include agricultural subsidies (a good portion of which goes to large corporate farming concerns), R&D grants to private companies, trade barriers, tax preferences (i.e. tax credits awarded to large public companies ), to mention a few of many . Should you wish more information on this issue, you can search out the Cato Institute (No I am not a Libertarian), as they have been wrangling the government on this stuff for years.


What\'s the point of comparing one form of subsidy (housing) to all coporate welfare? For that matter why not compare the housing subsidy to educational spending, millitary spending, government bureaucracy spending, social security payments, etc (pick your large government spending category).


Took two flashpoints, of different scales, to provide perspective. It is a relevant comparison in that they both represent things that gall people. Conveying the disparity in cost of the two illustrates the relative smallness of the expense.

Posted on: 2007/7/19 21:31
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#66
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Quote:

stani wrote:
Quote:

Your taxes and mine provide more in subsidies to the rich (hundreds of times over in comparison to housing subsidies to the poor) - SEE Corporate Welfare. There is no comparison when one compares the problems created by the affluent versus the poor.


I don't think this is true. Here are some programs that are subsidies for the poor that are quite large (not an exhaustive list):

Cash payments:
Earned Income Tax Credit
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Payments in kind:
Medicaid (~$330 billion in 2005)
State Children's Health Insurance Program
Food stamps
Housing assistance
Energy assitance

Maybe you can post a list of corporate welfare programs.



To be specific, I compared housing subsidies for the poor to corporate welfare and the costs therein, not government aid to the poor. As for corporate welfare, it is generally accepted to mean any government spending program that provides unique benefits to specific companies or industries in the way of direct grants, tax breaks or other specific preferential treatment. Some examples include agricultural subsidies (a good portion of which goes to large corporate farming concerns), R&D grants to private companies, trade barriers, tax preferences (i.e. tax credits awarded to large public companies ), to mention a few of many . Should you wish more information on this issue, you can search out the Cato Institute (No I am not a Libertarian), as they have been wrangling the government on this stuff for years.

Posted on: 2007/7/19 19:43
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#67
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Quote:

hero69 wrote:
Yes, financial crimes are bad too but at least I don't have to worry about ending up in the hospital or morgue as a result of them.



Sometimes you do. The issues they create just aren't as apparent on the surface.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 20:04
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#68
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Quote:

Dwntownguy wrote:
Quote:

There is no comparison when one compares the problems created by the affluent versus the poor.



Mr. Wolf

Can you list them for me please?




DTG


Just a few:

Unsustainable forein conflicts (i.e. war, supporting criminal regimes, etc), corporate theft and malfeasance (i.e. Enron), environmental crimes, civil rights matters (i.e. slavery, jim crow, indian land grab, etc.), etc., etc., etc.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 20:02
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#69
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Quote:

hero69 wrote:
I agree 100% that the poor in these ghettoes are affected more by crime, etc. than those not in these areas.

However, everyone is affected by crime emanating from the projects. You don't have to be Einstein to realize that projects and ghettoes breed dysfunctional behavior. Just look at Paris, where all the poor africans and arabs were stuck in the suburbs.


And if you've ever been to the projects as I have on many occassions, you would know that the language and reading skills of many of the residents (parents as well as teenagers) is sub-par. If you're only surrounded by people speaking Ebonics, then you speak Ebonics.

Open your eyes, Mr. Wolfe. And wouldn't you think Ms. Richardson knows whats better for her district.



I must not be making myself clear, because I do agree with Ms. Richardson. As an urban planning tool, "projects" do not work. That said, I don't think I need someone whose occasionally stepped their toe in the project waters to illuminate me on the happennings. Trust me, I've more than occasionally visited the "projects" and have a fair perspective on the environment. My problem with the commentary is that it is stigmatizing and prejudiced. Your use of stereotypes and blabbering on about ebonics makes you appear racist, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

This is the thing, before you condemn or judge a group of people, perhaps you should try to walk a mile in their shoes. Taking potshots at the poor is ineffective when it comes to identifying (and correcting) the problems of society. It's the chicken and the egg, really.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 19:56
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#70
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Quote:

hero69 wrote:
Last time, I checked almost all of the crime was coming from a few neighborhoods where the poor/underprivileged/under-educated are concentrated. If housing projects didn't create such problems, do u not think Ms. Richardson would welcome them with open arms?

Get real! Half the kids (teenagers) around the projects or MLK can barely speak proper english, let alone read. All they really seem to care about is listening to the latest 50 Cent song. The truth can be harsh.




Based on your tone, there is no possible way you could know what's happenning with these kids today, no less make any determination on whether they can read and speak proper english (forget the fact that they are subjected to an inferior education). Your comments are prejudical and rely solely on unfair stereotypes. That is not to say that the issues in urban areas are not significant, the problem is that life is so difficult there, it breeds all types of b*llshit that would not be so pronounced if the poor were better integrated into society (i.e. better education, quality of life, etc.). Remember, the honest law abiding citizens that live in these areas are most affected by the crime and are the most afraid.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 18:26
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#71
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Quote:

bdlaw wrote:
Quote:

MrWolf wrote:
Quote:

hero69 wrote:
I agree that poor people should not be housed together in just one neighborhood, but if they are and are receiving subsidized housing then I think society should demand that they send their children to school and learn and to stay out of trouble.


Can we at the same time demand that the affluent send their children to school to learn and also stay out of trouble? Especially those parents who raise intellectually and morally challenged brats that drag the country in no-win military engagements mostly fought by ....... you know ....... POOR PEOPLE.


I take it you're referring to John F. Kennedy, Jr, Lyndon Johnson, and VIETNAM?


Sure, they get to go on the list too, but there are some very conspicuous omissions from your entries. Then again, I'd rather try to forget they ever existed, lest I ever wake up from this bad dream.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 15:59
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#72
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Quote:

hero69 wrote:
Dear Mr. Wolf -
The affluent in general don't get housing subsidies and in general affluent people (in general) make sure their children get an education and are not on the streets causing problems for the rest of society.



Dear Hero69 -

Poor people (in general) make sure their children get an education and are not on the streets causing problems for the rest of society (in general). They do this even with the difficulties and obstacles they need to overcome. There is no level playing field for the poor.

Your taxes and mine provide more in subsidies to the rich (hundreds of times over in comparison to housing subsidies to the poor) - SEE Corporate Welfare. There is no comparison when one compares the problems created by the affluent versus the poor.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 15:14
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Re: Ward F: Richardson opposes low-income housing - No "more projects for poor people bunched togeth
#73
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Quote:

hero69 wrote:
I agree that poor people should not be housed together in just one neighborhood, but if they are and are receiving subsidized housing then I think society should demand that they send their children to school and learn and to stay out of trouble.


Can we at the same time demand that the affluent send their children to school to learn and also stay out of trouble? Especially those parents who raise intellectually and morally challenged brats that drag the country in no-win military engagements mostly fought by ....... you know ....... POOR PEOPLE.

Posted on: 2007/7/18 14:15
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Living the high life in Jersey City
#74
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Living the high life in Jersey City

Sunday, July 15, 2007

By JENNIFER V. HUGHES
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD



JIM ANNESS / THE RECORD
Jersey City's skyline is growing.

JERSEY CITY -- Audrey Ng, 3?, is eager to show off her new home, even though there are still contractors painting the walls pale blue and there are wires hanging from the ceiling, awaiting light fixtures.

"Hey, come on, guys!" she shouted as she escorted her father, Darryl, and her mother, Jane, carrying little sister, Bridget, 17 months.

While Audrey is most thrilled about the pink princess ceiling fan in her room, the truly spectacular features of the two-bedroom condominium are the floor-to-ceiling windows, which run the length of one wall, revealing the stunning Manhattan skyline.

"You can't get a view like that in New York. In New York, you get the million-dollar view of New Jersey," said Darryl Ng. The family bought the condo even though it is smaller than the apartment they were renting nearby.

The Ng family plan to move into their new condominium at the south tower of the Shore Condominium Residences at Newport this weekend, joining about 11,000 other residents who make this section of Jersey City their home.

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Twenty years ago, Newport was essentially an abandoned rail yard. Today on the 400 acres, there are nine high-rise rental apartment buildings, two completed condominium buildings, the 1.2 million-square-foot Newport Centre Mall and 5 million square feet of office space -- with tenants such as J.P. Morgan Chase. There are about a dozen retail shops and restaurants, a playground, a health club and several private schools.

"In 1986, everyone thought this was a dumb idea," said Jamie LeFrak, the principal of the LeFrak Organization, which created Newport. The first apartments were marketed as a safe, affordable alternative to New York City, he said, adding that one of the big selling points of the early buildings was that they were gated.

"Now we're competing on the luxury market," he said, noting that the Shore condos have amenities such as a hot tub room with panoramic views of New York City.

Condominiums in the south tower of the Shorecondos started going to contract in September 2005, and 200 units sold in 100 days, said Lynette Hamara, sales director for Coldwell Banker in Jersey City.

The north Shore tower started selling about a year ago, and while it is only two-thirds complete, it's about 90 percent sold.

Hamara said new residents range wildly from young singles to empty nesters who long to be closer to the city. Many are couples with young children. Residents come from as near as Hoboken and as far away as Cranbury and Manalapan, where Manhattan workers seek a shorter commute.

Buyers tell Hamara that Newport's biggest draw is its proximity to New York City and the variety of public transportation. PATH trains depart from the Pavonia Newport station for both midtown and the World Trade Center. NJ Transit's Light Rail passes through Newport, giving riders options north and south. There is also a ferry terminal where boats depart for midtown Manhattan.

Newport was developed jointly between the LeFrak Organization and Melvin Simon & Associates, which built the Newport Centre Mall in the mid 1980s. LeFrak said his grandfather and father looked at Newport as "a blank canvas."

"They liked the idea of creating their own city from scratch," he said.

One of the biggest initial problems was purchasing the land from the many different owners, most of whom were banks who had foreclosed on railroad property. After that, there were issues of environmental remediation. For example, the company paid about $20 million to remove a deposit of coal tar left behind on several plots of land. In total, the company has spent about $2.5 billion to develop Newport.

Sonia Maldonado, who heads the Newport Waterfront Association, a residents group, said Newport in one respect has become a victim of its own success. She noted that so many people have moved in recently that mass transit has gotten more crowded.

In 1995, the annual ridership out of the Pavonia/Newport station was 8,759, according to Port Authority statistics. By 2000, that number had jumped to 12,841 and in the first six months of 2007 it is already at 15,502.

The organization is hosting a meeting in the fall to address the issue.

Maldonado said residents are also anxiously awaiting a new park and playground that is planned for the northern edge of Newport. As the area becomes more attractive to families, she said more schools -- public and private -- will be needed. Many residents are frustrated with how long it is taking for a planned waterfront walkway from Newport to Hoboken to be completed.

Maldonado came to the area a decade ago, moving out of her co-op at Park Avenue and 39th Street in Manhattan. She planned to stay only about a year when she first moved in to a rental apartment at the George Washington building.

"At that time there was a lot of grass," she said, laughing. "It was no longer just the tracks -- there were some buildings, but it was still different than it is today."

Maldonado said she liked the quiet lifestyle of Newport.

"It was calmer than Manhattan," she said. "It was very, very safe -- I loved that."

For many years she worked in Manhattan; recently she's taken a job as a tax professional down the street. Not long ago she moved to another Newport rental building, The East Hampton.

"There is nothing quite as nice as sitting on a bench on the waterfront and just relaxing ... watching the ships sail through on the Hudson," she said.

Ng is not only a Newport resident, he's also a business owner as the proprietor of a shop, Canis Minor, which is around the corner from the Shore condos and carries dog-related items, from food to swanky outfits. He has just opened a similar store in Tribeca called Pet Bar South, and like many Newport residents, he said the quick commute was a big factor in his decision to buy.

"That was by far the number one reason -- there is no other place that is so close to all those transportation hubs," he said.

Another reason was price. Prices in Newport are comparable to other developments on the Jersey side of the Hudson River, said Scott Selleck, broker and principal of New Jersey Gold Coast Real Estate. And, of course, the prices pale in comparison with Manhattan, where the average price for condos and co-ops tops $1 million.

While the vast majority of residents in Newport are renters, LeFrak said ownership is key to Newport's survival. For one, he said owners are important because they are more likely to be voters, and local politicians pay more heed to an area when constituents live there. Secondly, he said surveys have found that 80 percent of renters who leave do so to buy elsewhere.

LeFrak said he wants to persuade them to stay, and is planning accordingly.

"We will be bringing in a lot of family-oriented stuff," he said, noting that a skating rink should be opened soon and child-friendly shops and stores are in the works.

* * *
Newport by the numbers

? 3,476 units of rental apartments, all of which are occupied. There are 659 condos -- all of which are sold with another 220 to be finished by the end of the year.

? 4,500 more residential units are planned for the next 10 years.

? Studio apartments rent for about $1,700, while a two-bedroom can go for $2,500 to $3,700.

? A one-bedroom condo at the Shore Condominium Residences sells for about $500,000, while a three-bedroom duplex costs about $846,000. The most expensive unit in the development sold for about $1.7 million.

? Maintenance fees for Shore condos range from about $430 to $1,100, and service charges, which are payments in lieu of taxes, cost between $600 and $1,300.

Source: the LeFrak Organization



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Posted on: 2007/7/16 16:49
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Re: Is it safe for two single women to live in this neighborhood? Please help!
#75
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Quote:

Justiceiro wrote:

If I were you, I would buy in a place like this- its cheaper than renting in hamilton park, and its about to pop, so you could not only have a sweet pad, but a nice moneymaker as well.



+1

Those who invest in this neighborhood should do well in the coming years, as the the area has caught the attention of the investment community. You can bet the city will push hard to facilitate further development in this area and bolster their tax base. See recent NY deal mag article below:


http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/JUNE_2007/1180555691.php

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 2007

In Bergen-Lafayette, a canal runs through it
Jersey City neighborhood sees developer interest

By John Celock

A 14-unit mixed-use project called Library Hall Lofts will have residences replacing old bookshelves. Some New Jersey developers are banking on a downtrodden neighborhood next to Liberty State Park to become the latest hot spot in booming Jersey City.

Gentrification of the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood, an enclave just west of the park and south of the Morris Canal, known for its concentration of 19th century residential and industrial architecture, is picking up speed. A number of new projects as well as conversions of old factories and warehouses are under way.

The streets of Bergen-Lafayette lack the polish and flash of nearby Paulus Hook or Hamilton Park, other waterfront Jersey City quarters that are growing at a furious pace. Indeed, many of Bergen-Lafayette's frame homes still have bars on the windows and front porches.

But seven projects containing more than 1,000 units are under construction or almost ready to start amid the area's many blocks of elegant old brownstone townhouses.

The scale of new projects is slowly beginning to alter the look and demographics of this once blue-collar and slightly run-down area. This redevelopment may quicken as industrial areas around the Morris Canal get rezoned. It's a dramatic U-turn for a neighborhood that lost much of its vitality when nearby rail yards closed in the 1960s.

Landmark Developers is among the neighborhood's biggest builders. It has three projects under way: 180 loft condos in a six-story conversion at 125 Monitor Street, 245 units at 101 Monitor Street, and 265 units at 100 Monitor Street. Affordable housing will account for 57 units.

"I feel there is a natural course of development and felt this neighborhood is the next wave," said Frank Cretella, founder and managing partner of Landmark Developers. "I am vested in this area. I own the restaurant in Liberty State Park."

To draw customers who otherwise might be inclined to buy property elsewhere in Jersey City, Cretella is including swimming pools, weight rooms, meeting rooms, wireless Internet access and even a climbing wall. He cites some of the neighborhood's features -- the park, its light rail station, the nearby Liberty Science Center -- as other strong selling points.

"We are playing to that active person," Cretella said.

On the western edge of the neighborhood, a 14-unit mixed-use project called Library Hall Lofts will have residences replacing old bookshelves. Larry Brush, the project's managing director, said the project will be completed by the fall, and that he has four contracts out on the condos already.

An area called the Morris Canal Redevelopment Area has several new residential projects. The area takes its name from the adjacent Morris Canal, a 40-foot-wide, 107-mile-long waterway built in 1832 to connect New York's harbor with the coal fields of Pennsylvania. Traffic on the canal stopped in the 1920s.

Whitlock Mills is a two-building development near the canal. It combines a small new apartment building and the loft conversion of a three-story historic industrial building. The 330-unit rental project includes 198 affordable and 132 market-rate units. The development will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units to families making between 35 and 40 percent of the area's median income, which is $30,306 a year. By comparison, a waterfront resident's median income is $74,016, with the median income for the entire city being $41,639.

A third building in the area will grow out of the rehabilitation of another historic structure at 170 Lafayette Street. That four-story building, to be called Fresh Pond, will provide housing and work space for 45 artists.

More rezoning is planned for the industrial areas bordering the Morris Canal. The reclassification is expected to be completed within the next four months, and current property owners will be designated as the redevelopers of their sites. The rezoning is aimed at creating a community feel with more mixed-use residential developments. Robert Cotter, Jersey City's planning director, said the area may be granted historic designation as well, which already exists for Paulus Hook and other waterfront neighborhoods.

"We want to be inclusive and have real neighborhoods," Cotter said.

Crime remains a worry for prospective buyers. The steel-barred facades of some houses look menacing. One of the last residential projects the neighborhood gained was a row of federally subsidized Section 8 townhomes. Agents say until recently, married couples shied away from the area and that young single men, mostly first-time homebuyers, represented a large segment of potential buyers.

Others say the area's reputation for crime is overblown. New lights and playgrounds were recently put into Liberty State Park. But a 2005 report by the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation notes that perceptions about crime pose a problem for future residential development in the area. Landmark Developers is including space for a police station in a new building.

Cotter notes that the area is perceived as high in crime, but that Jersey City has a low crime rate for an urban area.

"There is a perception about criminal activity and the bottom line is that Jersey City's crime rate is low," he said. "We are the second-largest city in the state, but our crime level is the 17th [highest]."

The first residential project to come to the neighborhood was the Foundry, a three-story warehouse-to-condo conversion across the street from a light rail station. Developed by David Silverstein, the Foundry's first phase was completed in 2005.

Sales have been slow. Staff said it could take 18 months to sell the remaining units, which are a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments. Prices run about $400 per square foot. Similar apartments in downtown Jersey City are between $450 and $750 per square foot.

"Buildings like the Foundry and other new developments in Bergen-Lafayette compare favorably with new developments in downtown Jersey City," said Christoph Schluender, the Foundry's sales director.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright ? 2003-2005 The Real Deal

Posted on: 2007/7/13 21:28
 Top 


Re: West Bergen: Evasive and uncooperative teen shot in hand
#76
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

fat-ass-bike wrote:
sounds like he had his hand in an illegal 'cookie' jar and was taught a lesson



I don't know if there is much humor in someone almost being murdered. No less a, kid. No less in the afternoon, when most youngsters are coming back from school. Hopefully, FAB, you won't one day have the misfortune of getting YOUR hand caught in the "cookie" jar.

There are many on this board who automatically jump to conclusions when they hear about a victim being uncooperative. They'll start blurting out "Baby Gangsta" or some other inane b*llsh*t, and assume the kid probably had it coming. The reality is that the route of being "cooperative" is rife with danger for anyone in these neighborhoods, and is a very, very hazardous way to go. These kids know the police can't and won't protect them (and their family), and now, the other criminal a-holes on the street know they've spoken to the police (making them a threat). The kid in this situation clearly knows the shooter, and has made a decision to not share it with the police for his own self preservation. Whether this evasiveness is rooted in fear, or the need to facilitate retribution, the silence on the part of the victim is telling.

These days, it really doesn't take much in the streets for one of these kids/adults to start shooting. It could literally be for ANY provocation (perceived or not), as the regard for human life in this day has dropped to Baghdad levels. Caught in the middle of this national disgrace are countless young people. I mean, make the simple mistake of wearing a red polo, on the wrong block, and it could mean your life. For a f***ing shirt! These kids live with this sh*t on a daily basis ... and all some people can do is be smug.

It is incredible to hear about some of the things these kids have to deal with today, in this, the most powerful country in the world. See the following article about the trials the basketball coach in nearby Irvington has had to endure. One more thing, if this shooting can happen to a kid in Jersey City at 4:30PM, it could happen to any member of this site or their kids.


HOOPS AS A HAVEN

Irvington High coach struggles to create a safe, positive environment despite the shooting deaths of two of his players

Sunday, June 03, 2007

BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

Star-Ledger Staff

The first time one of his players got shot, Irvington High School basketball coach Eugene Robinson rushed to the scene and cried over the body as it lay beneath a white sheet.

The murder occurred less than three years ago. The memories remain raw.

With a stiff jaw, Robinson led his team through the grieving over the inexplicable death of Keith McCarey, a 285-pound big man teammates called a "mama's boy" because his mother was so protective of him. Players cried in Robinson's office for hours and talked about their dead friend until they ran out of words.

When it happened again this past Mother's Day morning, Robinson knew too well the routine that would follow. This time it was 19-year-old Alex Flowers, a graduate from the previous year who had been the team jokester.

"I keep trying to tell these kids that this is not normal," Robinson said last week as he watched some of his current and former players battle in a half-court four-on-four.

"But the streets have changed with the gang situation. It used to be a fight and then everyone would forget about it. Now you look at someone the wrong way or wear the wrong color and the next thing you know, you have a gun in your face."

Robinson qualifies as an Irvington legend. He's the point guard who led the team in one of New Jersey's most downtrodden cities to a state championship in 1993. Now, he's fighting the same battle that cops, educators and parents have undertaken in poor cities everywhere. And yet, no matter how hard he and others try to insulate their kids, the streets keep turning them into collateral damage.

The murders of McCarey and Flowers remain unsolved. There are no suspects, and police said there is no evidence linking either victim to gang activity. They are dying proof of the old clich? -- they may simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And now Robinson's players are scared.

Almusal Carter, a 16-year-old sophomore forward, saw Flowers as a role model, a defensive standout who always guarded the other team's best player. He wears the same floppy braids Flowers did. Three weeks after Flowers' death, Carter considers his school and his house the only safe places in town.

"Even if you're not doing anything, you still could get killed," Carter said in the gym, his braids dripping with sweat.


SAD SITUATION

Robinson, 32, has the sad, baggy eyes and soft voice of someone with way more on his plate than he expected.

He grew up around the corner from the spot where Alex Flowers died and returned to his old school as a teacher in 2000 to show the local kids they could end up somewhere other than the streets. He took over the basketball program two years later, and this is where he wants to stay.

"I've been in their shoes," said Robinson, who played basketball for Felician College and with another six inches would be a dead ringer for former NBA point guard Mark Jackson. "I talk to them more about gang stuff than I do about basketball."

Irvington High School, a heavy gray and brown brick building on Clinton Avenue, has a worn, urban school look. The patchy grass on the football field is overgrown. Half the fluorescent bulbs in the weight room have blown. In hallways and offices, spackled walls wait for a repainting job that may or may not occur.

The school lags behind state averages in every category. SAT scores are 50 percent lower. In 2002, the freshman class numbered 527 students. Three years later, that same class, the school's seniors, had 306 members.

Within blocks of the school, it's easy to spot signs of a city where 30 percent of the households earn less than $25,000, according to recent census figures. People with little to do hang on the sidewalks outside corner groceries. Some are panhandling; some are just there.

"It's not just an Irvington problem; it's society in itself" Irvington Police Director Michael Damiano said. "We're seeing more and more violence with the young people."

This is the life Robinson wants his players to avoid.

No one, no matter how troubled, is too much of a burden for him. School principal Neely Hackett often gives Robinson names of students with mounting problems at home and in the classroom so he can make an extra effort to get them involved with an extracurricular activity.

"He's so much more than a basketball coach," Hackett said. "Every one of his players has his cell phone number. They call him about everything all the time. His connection with them does not end with the season."


GYM AS A SANCTUARY

The basketball team has become one of Irvington's brightest lights, finishing in The Star-Ledger Top 20 four of the past five years. Last season, they finished 20-8, including an early season upset win over Linden, one of the top teams in the New York metro area.

The program now serves as both a sports team and a tight-knit club. Its base is the airy school gym, where light streams in through the high windows, the floor badly needs a polish and the Blue Knights logo at center court is a faded shade of dark gray.

Opponents dread playing at Irvington because the court is a full 94 feet, as opposed to other high school gyms with shorter courts. Students pack the gym for games, and Robinson implores his team and the fans to make life as uncomfortable as possible for opponents -- from raucous noise, to the intense, physical style of play he pushes. His is not a finesse team. They lift weights all summer so they can bang with anyone.

Nearly every day, in season or out, current and former players are in the gym playing ball, running on the track outside or lifting weights. They usually wear only white and black, so no one confuses them for gang members, who often identify themselves with bright red or blue shirts and do-rags.

The age differences don't matter. LaMarr Williams, who graduated last year, stops in the middle of a pickup game to show Carter a move. Robinson, careful not to break state rules that prohibit coaching in the off-season, sits quietly on a bench nearby watching for hours on end.

They kids play together in summer leagues and attend camps at local colleges. They go to Robinson's house in Maplewood and mess around with his two sons, ages 2 and 6.

"I just want to keep them busy," he said. "I look around and I see what else they could be doing."


NO ESCAPING VIOLENCE

By all accounts, Keith McCarey was following Robinson's instructions the evening of July 13, 2004, when he walked around the corner to buy juice. McCarey and his mom lived in a section of Irvington west of the Garden State Parkway, on quiet, tree-lined Nesbit Terrace.

McCarey, who was heading into his senior year, was a 17-year-old, 6-5 center being recruited to play football at North Carolina State. He was his mother's only child, and she was proud of overprotecting him, keeping track of his whereabouts nearly every minute. He suffered from a rare growth disorder that caused seizures and discolored "caf? au lait" spots on his body. But the disease didn't get in the way of his sports.

"He wasn't the greatest player, but that was his life," said Kathy McCarey, Keith's mother, who works in social services for Essex County. "His best friends in the world were his team."

That July night, Keith McCarey called his mother from the store to ask her if juice was all she needed. Minutes later, according to police, a white car approached McCarey, who had run into friends on Lyons Avenue at Lincoln Place. A passenger with a handgun got out, police said. The group scattered, but McCarey couldn't get away. He was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene.

"He was getting to that age where I couldn't keep him in my pocket all the time," Kathy McCarey said. "I did everything I could to protect him, the SAT tutor, a job at the ice cream parlor, the sports, and still someone took his life."

Whaheed Dixon, Keith McCarey's best friend and a forward on the basketball team, said he never thought the violence in his town would claim someone from a team that worked so hard to stay out of trouble. He tattooed Keith's name on his right biceps and rubbed it before every game the following season, when the team went 22-5.

"He was just passing through the area, one thing led to another and now he's no longer with us," said Dixon, who attended Mercer County Community College for a time and is now looking for a job and another school.

Kathy McCarey often looks through a scrapbook of her son's life, and still keeps his baby teeth, too. After his death, she made up dog tag necklaces with his name.

She gave one of them to a buddy from the basketball team named Alex Flowers.


A BRIGHT LIGHT IS PUT OUT

Flowers was a coach's dream, Robinson said.

A lanky, long-armed forward who wore his shorts low, his socks high and never got tired. He also would needle everyone on the team bus.

"I'd tell him to stop, but I didn't really care if he did because as soon as we hit the floor, I knew exactly what I was going to get from him," Robinson said.

The basketball court was a haven for Flowers. He grew up without his father near Nye Avenue in a dangerous neighborhood where dilapidated houses and refuse dominate the landscape, and the destitute drink from paper bags in the middle of the afternoon.

During the eighth grade, Flowers and his best friend and teammate, LaMarr Williams, made one of those corny promises to share their wealth if either made it to the NBA. Williams is now a 6-2, 195-pound guard with beige stretch marks on the dark skin beneath his collarbone from weightlifting.

Last week, between pickup games, Williams recalled a game against Newark's East Side High that symbolized their friendship.

In the final minutes, East Side intercepted an inbounds pass from Williams and was about to take the lead. Flowers stole the ball and drew a foul as he drove toward East Side's basket.

"I told him I'd have his back if he missed the foul shot, and when he did I got the rebound and put it back in," Williams said.

Irvington won by three points.

Last year, Flowers' mother died just before the end of school. Flowers moved in with his aunt and postponed plans to attend a junior college for a year to help care for his two younger sisters.

Around 1 a.m. on May 13, Flowers sat on a friend's porch on Nye Avenue near Maple Street, police said. Two men, one in a hooded sweatshirt, the other in a T-shirt, approached and shot him in his chest and his leg multiple times with semiautomatic weapon, police said. Flowers died instantly.

Robinson said he got the call around 8 a.m., just as he was settling in with his wife and children for Mother's Day. Instead of celebrating, he spent the day grieving with his players as they called, one by one, to see if the news was really true.

This time when he got to the site of the shooting, Flowers' body had been replaced with a pile of flowers and messages from friends.

Williams heard around 11 a.m., as he walked with a bag of his family laundry to the laundromat. He and Flowers planned to spend the summer working out and looking for a junior college to play for next season. Now he hopes there will be a next season for him at a school far away from New Jersey.

"After the death of my best friend, I sure don't want to hang around here anymore," he said.

Robinson isn't giving up on Irvington yet. The murder rate dropped by 25 percent last year to 24 and is on pace to be lower this year. An increase in youth sports and other activities get some of the credit, police officials said.

Still, Robinson said he can't blame Williams for wanting to get away.

"You never get over seeing one of your players lying in a casket like that," he said. "You've just got to find a way to be strong for the kids and move on."



Matthew Futterman can be reached at

mfutterman@starledger.com

Posted on: 2007/6/9 21:49
 Top 


Re: So much for all of you folks who predicted a JC/NYC RE Crash
#77
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

longtimeJC wrote:
So what will happen to Jersey City real estate after wall st. slows down a bit??? With this likely to happen in the next 2 years (possibly after a new president takes office who will possibly be a democrat) what will happen then? Any thoughts?



I'll tell you what will happen, Manhattan will get more expensive (See London), and more and more people will want to live there (international buyers fueling sales). The outer boroughs will continue to reap the spillover effects (JC included), further growing as they continue to build out.

There is only one NYC in the world and a limited amount of real estate surrounding this financial/cultural center of the world. Ten years from now, it will be nuts around here (e.g. density, cost, etc.).

Posted on: 2007/5/28 21:21
 Top 


Re: 5-year revised abatement is up for a vote tonight
#78
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

JCLAW wrote:
The PILOT economics and politics are so bad for the builders that almost none of them are even applying for them anymore (other than perhaps the brief 5-year abatements).



JCL - If this is the case, why in the world would JC developers require an abatement from the city as a precondition to building? The prominence of these arrangements do not seem to jibe with the reality of their economics to the developer (as suggested by the prognostications). Is it that they are designed to create certain savings to the developer at the beginning of the deal?

Posted on: 2007/5/9 14:26
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Re: American Can/ Canco Lofts
#79
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Published: April 22, 2007
JERSEY CITY

Paul Hawthorne for The New York Times


THE American Can Company factory building here ? which was the birthplace of the modern American beer can ? is undergoing conversion into more than 500 condominium lofts that will retain a distinct industrial flavor, spiked with ultramodernity.

The new condos will have a look that is both retro and sleek, according to architects from SBLM of Manhattan, the company hired by the developer, Coalco New York, to transform the million-square-foot Art Deco-era industrial building.

Its classic factory elements, like ceilings that soar up to 24 feet and concrete columns as big around as giant redwoods, will be set off by white-lacquered kitchen cabinetry, wide-plank white-oak flooring and stone countertops in every unit, said David Nicholson of SBLM.

?It has been quite fascinating working on an adaptive reuse like this,? Mr. Nicholson said. ?The building has such strong character of its own, and we are trying to play to that, honor that, while at the same time going to the cutting edge with the apartment designs.?

A separate architecture firm, LOT-EK of Manhattan, was hired to create a ?destination? lobby at the condominium project, called CanCo Lofts. It has come up with a startling low-tech-high-tech design that combines stacked lumber used as benches and ?ceiling sculptures?; a wall decorated with industrial piping; extensive glass; and two dozen plasma television screens that will show live scenes of the Manhattan skyline as well as community news flashes.

?This wall will truly be a spectacle,? said Giuseppe Ligano of LOT-EK, describing the wall of piping as reminiscent of a Chinese screen. It will be lighted from behind so that from across the room the piping appears as stripes on an interior wall.

The TV screens mounted on the wall may be viewed as art in addition to their role as instruments of communication, Mr. Ligano said. ?For one thing, they can be used creatively to repeat the view of New York, so that it seems to be everywhere in the room, or splitting it into fragments so the screens make a whole ?painting? or to produce a panorama.?

In addition, five ?conversation areas? will be created around the lumber benches, whose seating section will be wrapped in leather. The lobby will also have a mailroom, with desks for opening mail.

The CanCo building is a natural haven for commuters ? nine blocks from Journal Square and a PATH station, from which passengers can reach Wall Street in less than 15 minutes. So the screens will also constantly report on weather and traffic, said Edward Yorukoff, marketing director of Coalco New York, a division of Coalco International, a diversified development company based in Russia.

Coalco will open sales next month on the first 100 loft units. Construction has begun after a long phase of environmental cleanup at the property and completion of a sales lobby and model kitchens, baths and a loft space, Mr. Yorukoff said.

One-, two- and three-bedroom units will be offered at prices ranging from the high $200,000s to the upper $600,000s, Mr. Yorukoff said. The apartments come with garage parking, numerous amenities and shuttle service to the PATH train.

The first residents could move in by the end of the year, he said.

The building, which was shut down as a can factory in the 1970s and has mostly been empty since then, is a local landmark. With its five towers, tall smokestacks and stone Deco details, the brick structure is part of a historic industrial district established by the city.

The developers have picked up on the theme with a piece of artwork installed inside the sales lobby?s front door: a wall-hung sculpture composed of paint cans of a type once manufactured on the site.

The building?s facade will be completely renovated, according to Coalco?s president, Mikhail Kurnev.

The lofts will be designed to be exceptionally large and roomy, he said, with period 14-foot ceilings ? 17 feet to 24 feet on upper floors ? and eight-foot-high doors, plus the oversize windows typical of old factories. The baths will have oversize showers and soaking tubs, glass mosaic tile on the walls and cove lighting.

A 10,000-square-foot residents? club will feature a large fitness center, a yoga and Pilates studio and a half court for basketball. In addition, the community will offer a children?s play center, screening room, pet park and pet spa, game room for billiards and video games and an event room with an outside terrace.

The building?s basement, formerly a rail station, will become a residents? parking garage, accessible by elevator, Mr. Kurnev said.

LOT-EK, the lobby designer, is also designing a garden area outside the lobby, which will have a glass wall on the garden side. Although the setting for CanCo Lofts, situated at 50 Dey Street just off the clogged traffic artery of Tonnelle Road, is highly urban, the building is designed to offer a calm oasis to its residents, the developer said.

From upper floors, the views of Manhattan and the NewJersey coast and, westward, of towns perched on rolling hills are extraordinary. From the now-gutted upper floors of one of the towers ? empty save for concrete support columns 12 feet in circumference ? the full 360-degree panorama is available.

?It?s a good time to shop for the view you might like to own,? said Mr. Yorukoff, who added that prospective buyers would be allowed to take a look, if willing to don a hard hat.

He said he expected the lofts to be most attractive to buyers in their 20s and 30s, probably with no children or only a toddler, who might want to use the loft space in their units as either work space or spare bedrooms.

Next Article in Real Estate (6 of 24) ?

Posted on: 2007/4/22 7:51
 Top 


Re: American Can/ Canco Lofts
#80
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

dilettante wrote:
Quote:

momoomo2 wrote:
Funny, no one wants to discuss my comment regarding how disgusting and foul Little India really is. It really is absolutely disgusting.


That's because your comment is trivial.



+1

Posted on: 2007/4/14 22:16
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Re: McGinley Square: Council to weigh courthouse condos abatement deal
#81
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Just can't stay away


Quote:


The abatement is scheduled for introduction at tonight's meeting, starting at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.


Does anyone know what the verdict was on the abatement vote?

Posted on: 2007/4/14 1:27
 Top 


Re: American Can/ Canco Lofts
#82
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

jcaro28 wrote:
you missed y poiint!! i dont drink caramel latte!!

thats all there is, is little india!! when if you dont like indian food or the smell of curry????

Hoboken and downtown have many diverse restuarants, italian, spanish, indian, japanese, etc. all journal sq is is little india, thats my point!!


Ummm .... errr .... I actually think you missed my point. I mean, I don't understand why you don't like caramel lattes since they're quite tasty. Then again, I'm a Cuban espresso kinda guy myself.

Jokes aside, I was using latte as a metaphor for essentially all of the above, which would include:

Diverse restaurants, italian, spanish, indian, japanese ....

The point is that having communities like Little India, in a section of the city that has struggled in the past, helps fill in the blanks in creating a larger, more cohesive community. You add more development and additional like communities, and next thing you know, it all comes together. So yes, that smell of curry can be one of the catalysts to luring more commerce.

Posted on: 2007/4/13 20:45
 Top 


Re: American Can/ Canco Lofts
#83
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

jcaro28 wrote:
whats so great about Little India? If you dont like indian food or culture, you dont care about little india. I wish there was more around here BESIDES little india. thats the problem. too many condos, not enough different stores, shops, (nice stores). thats why most people go to downtown or hoboken to do much or all of there shopping and entertainment.



Cultural enclaves such as Little India help to foster a sense of DIVERSITY and lend CHARACTER to our still metamorphasizing city. Like Worm said, cookie cutter luxury condos are not the end all, be all. The more interesting and culturally robust the city becomes; the more people will want to live here. The more that happens, the more developers will want to build and others will want to rehab. The more all this happens, the more likely you will get an influx of the precious little stores you ache for coming into the neighborhood. It is an evolving process and it will take a synergy of varied forces. Try to remember that when you're sipping a caramel latte' somewhere in Journal Square a couple of years from now.

That?s what so great about Little India.

Posted on: 2007/4/13 14:35
 Top 


Re: So much for all of you folks who predicted a JC/NYC RE Crash
#84
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


March 23, 2007

Foreclosures Force Suburbs to Fight Blight

By ERIK ECKHOLM

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio ? In a sign of the spreading economic fallout of mortgage foreclosures, several suburbs of Cleveland, one of the nation?s hardest-hit cities, are spending millions of dollars to maintain vacant houses as they try to contain blight and real-estate panic.

In suburbs like this one, officials are installing alarms, fixing broken windows and mowing lawns at the vacant houses in hopes of preventing a snowball effect, in which surrounding property values suffer and worried neighbors move away. The officials are also working with financially troubled homeowners to renegotiate debts or, when eviction is unavoidable, to find apartments.

?It?s a tragedy and it?s just beginning,? Mayor Judith H. Rawson of Shaker Heights, a mostly affluent suburb, said of the evictions and vacancies, a problem fueled by a rapid increase in high-interest, subprime loans.

?All those shaky loans are out there, and the foreclosures are coming,? Ms. Rawson said. ?Managing the damage to our communities will take years.?

Cuyahoga County, including Cleveland and 58 suburbs, has one of the country?s highest foreclosure rates, and officials say the worst is yet to come. In 1995, the county had 2,500 foreclosures; last year there were 15,000. Officials blame the weak economy and housing market and a rash of subprime loans for the high numbers, and the unusual prevalence of vacant houses.

Foreclosures in Cleveland?s inner ring of suburbs, while still low compared with those in Cleveland itself, have climbed sharply, especially in lower-income neighborhoods that border the city. Hundreds of houses are vacant because they are caught in legal limbo, have been abandoned by distant banks or the owners cannot find buyers.

The suburbs here are among the best organized in their counterattack, experts say, but many suburbs elsewhere in the country have had jumps in foreclosures and are also working to stem the damage.

Outside Atlanta, Gwinnett and DeKalb Counties have mounted antiforeclosure campaigns while several towns south of Chicago are forcing titleholders to fix up empty houses, or repay the government for doing it.

Here in Ohio, there are more than 200 vacant houses in Euclid, a suburb of Cleveland north of here. In the last two years more than 600 houses in Euclid have gone through foreclosure or started the process, many of them the homes of elderly people who refinanced with low two-year teaser rates, then saw their payments grow by 50 percent or more.

Euclid has installed alarm systems in some vacant houses to keep out people hoping to steal lights and other fixtures, drug users and squatters. The city has hired three new building inspectors, bringing the total to nine, to deal with troubled properties and is getting a $1 million loan from the county to cover the costs of rehabilitation, demolition and lawn care at the foreclosed houses. (When the properties are sold, such direct maintenance costs will be recovered through tax assessments.)

The Euclid mayor, Bill Cervenik, said the city, with a population of 53,000, was losing $750,000 a year in property taxes from the empty houses.

At greatest risk in Cleveland?s suburbs are the low- and moderate-income neighborhoods where subprime lending has soared. The practice involves lenders issuing mortgages at high interest rates for people with lower incomes or poor credit ratings, usually involving adjustable rates and sometimes no down payment and no investigation of the borrower?s circumstances.

?What makes the subprime mortgages so devastating from a community perspective is that they?re so concentrated geographically,? said Dan Immergluck, a professor of city planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Rosa Hutchinson Yates, 62, had kept up payments on her tidy two-story house on Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights for 30 years. Now, she may well lose the house because of a disastrous refinancing deal in 2003 that brought her $24,000 in cash but bills she could not pay.

Ms. Yates, who has worked as a beautician and a cocktail waitress, was emotional and confused as she tried to explain what happened. Though she signed the closing documents, she said she did not realize that she was getting an adjustable rate mortgage that did not include taxes and insurance.

In 2006, broke and bewildered, she stopped making payments and the lender started foreclosure proceedings. A Shaker Heights city attorney said it appeared that illegally high fees might have been charged and that the broker had overstated Ms. Yates?s income, raising the possibility of a legal challenge.

Ms. Yates, preparing for the worst, has learned that she can move into a subsidized apartment for retirees. But the thought is devastating.

?When folks pay for a home, they expect to die in it,? she said, breaking into tears.

In a report for Shaker Heights, Mark Duda and William C. Apgar of Harvard University found that expensive refinancing deals had been aggressively ?push-marketed? in the city?s less affluent west and south sides, bordering Cleveland. They said that ?the rising number of foreclosures threatens to undermine the stability? of those areas.

?The moral outrage,? Ms. Rawson, the mayor, said, ?is that subprime lenders have targeted our seniors and African-Americans, people who saved all their lives to get a step up.?

About one-third of the residents in Shaker Heights and Euclid are black.

Early last year, James Rokakis, the Cuyahoga County treasurer, started a countywide foreclosure-prevention program, which pays community groups to educate people about loans and help defaulting borrowers negotiate with lenders.

In the late 1990s, Mr. Rokakis said, the flight of manufacturing jobs was the major cause of rising foreclosures but around 2000, the surge in careless lending began to wreak havoc.

Mr. Rokakis estimated that more than three-fourths of the current foreclosures in Cuyahoga County involved subprime loans, some of them blatantly unwise or dishonestly portrayed to buyers. Only last year did Ohio tighten its laws to require more complete disclosures to borrowers.

With so many homeowners running into trouble, the City of Cleveland has been unable to keep track of the number of vacant houses, said Mark N. Wiseman, director of the county prevention program. He estimates that 10,000 of the city?s 84,000 single-family houses are empty.

Suburbs like Shaker Heights are trying to avoid the experiences of blighted neighborhoods in Cleveland like the one where Barbara Anderson lives. Ms. Anderson, 59, said her block of East 76th Street was fully occupied three years ago, but now about half the houses are empty.

Many of the houses are filled with smelly trash and mattresses used by vagrants. They have been stripped of aluminum siding, appliances, pipes and anything else that scavengers can sell to scrap dealers.

?It stifles you,? Ms. Anderson said of the squalor. ?It lowers the value and affects the kind of people who are willing to move here. I?m embarrassed to say I live here.?

Ms. Anderson, who works for the city ombudsman?s office, is president of a street association that is working with a county-financed group, the East Side Organizing Project, to salvage some homes. But so far, she said, ?when we try to board the houses up, someone comes and tears the boards down.?

Things are not as bad in the Moreland section of Shaker Heights, but residents are worried and angry all the same. Robert O?Neal, 52, has lived there nearly all his life and, until recently, could not remember a house being empty for more than a month. Now on his block, 4 of the 12 houses are vacant, 3 of them for more than a year. Lost jobs, divorces and predatory loans have all played roles, he said.

?It?s sucking the life out of the neighborhood,? said Mr. O?Neal, the town?s chief probation officer. ?These are big empty houses near the Cleveland border, and people start worrying about letting their kids out to play.?



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Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Posted on: 2007/3/23 14:37
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Re: So much for all of you folks who predicted a JC/NYC RE Crash
#85
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Unfortunately, for too many, a bailout from the Bank of Mom&Dad is not an option ....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/bus ... 67b0a99bfc2222&ei=5087%0A



March 17, 2007

Mortgage Trouble Clouds Homeownership Dream
By EDUARDO PORTER and VIKAS BAJAJ


Perhaps the American dream of homeownership is not for everyone.

That may sound at odds with a bedrock notion of society promoted by presidents for decades. But many experts say it is a message that can be drawn from the rising troubles with mortgages provided to home buyers with weak credit.

Several large mortgage companies have stopped making new loans, and others have tightened lending standards.

Hundreds of thousands of families who bought houses in the last two years ? using loans with low teaser interest rates and no down payments ? are now losing them.

Their short tenure as homeowners calls into question whether the nation?s long drive to increase homeownership ? pushed by both public policy and financial innovations ? has overstepped some boundary of demographic and economic sense.

?Clearly we went too far,? said Joseph E. Gyourko, a professor of real estate and finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. ?It?s not the case that high homeownership is always good.?

Consider Nathaniel Shields, who expects to lose his four-bedroom Cape Cod house in southwest Chicago to a foreclosure in May.

He cannot afford his mortgage payment, which jumped to $1,300 a month from about $1,000 after his loan reset to a higher interest rate last summer. A divorce and the loss of his county government clerical job, which paid $14.80 an hour, have also hurt.

In 2004, Mr. Shields took out a popular hybrid mortgage that carried a fixed interest rate for two years before becoming an adjustable-rate loan for the remaining 28 years. In August, his loan?s interest rate rose from 6.6 percent to 8.1 percent, and to 9.6 percent now. ?I love the house,? said Mr. Shields, 47, who now works in a custodial job with the Chicago school district that pays $10.40 an hour. ?I put a lot of money in the house ? a deck and a new garage ? and they are just going to take the house.?

Kathleen Van Tiem, a counselor at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, has been trying to help him, but says that his weak credit and low income make him ineligible to refinance or modify his loan. Mr. Shields has put his house up for sale, but in a market with many homes available, he has found no takers.

There were surges in homeownership rates last century, but further gains have been slow going more recently, despite the hoopla of the housing bubble and the surge in home building.

The nation?s homeownership rate has increased by only about 1.4 percentage points since 2000, to almost 69 percent last year.

But subprime mortgages ? granted to borrowers like Mr. Shields with weak, or subprime, credit histories ? played a big role in achieving those levels.

This push, however, has meant intense financial strain for many families. Subprime borrowers will spend nearly 37 percent of their after-tax income on mortgage payments, insurance and property taxes this year, according to estimates by Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody?s Economy.com, drawn from Federal Reserve data.

This is about 20 percentage points more than prime borrowers and 10 points more than what subprime borrowers paid in 2000.

And their payments will get higher, Mr. Zandi estimates, as low teaser rates used to lure them into the market adjust upward after a few years.

When the housing market started weakening, subprime borrowers were the first to feel the squeeze. Almost 8 percent of subprime mortgages ? more than 450,000 loans ? were either in foreclosure or in arrears of more than three months in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the mortgage bankers.

Their unraveling means not only a string of failed lenders. Homeownership rates have slipped, and many low-income families, who dedicated meager savings toward a stake in their first homes, are facing foreclosure.

?I worry that people are overexposed to risk,? said Stuart S. Rosenthal, an economics professor at Syracuse University. ?We wouldn?t encourage people to buy risky stocks, so why do we encourage low-income families to invest in this risky asset, especially in tight markets??

But politicians have long encouraged the idea of homeownership. ?A nation of homeowners is unconquerable,? Franklin D. Roosevelt said. Promoting homeownership has been a cornerstone of President Bush?s ?ownership society.? He has declared June to be National Homeownership Month.

And government has played a substantial role in fostering homeownership ? including offering mortgage insurance and creating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them for sale to investors.

Moreover, the government has provided an ever-growing pile of subsidies to the buyers of homes.

The mortgage interest deduction, the biggest single subsidy to homeowners, will cost the federal budget about $80 billion this year, according to the administration?s projections. Deductions for state and local property taxes will cost $15.5 billion.

Allowing homeowners to pocket tax-free much of the profit from selling their homes is expected to cost $37 billion more. Altogether, this amounts to almost 5 percent of the federal government?s total tax revenue, and almost three times HUD?s entire $42 billion budget. Now even some in Washington are questioning the soundness of pushing homeownership so broadly.

United States policies in recent years promoted the idea of homeownership too hard and at the expense of rental housing, said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts. ?I wish people could own more homes,? he said in an interview yesterday. ?But I also wish I could eat and not gain weight.?

And the government?s efforts to promote homeownership are far from an unqualified success. From 2000 to 2005, homeownership rates increased significantly only among households in the top two-fifths of the income distribution, those earning more than $46,883, according to the Census Bureau?s American Community Survey.

Homeownership declined for families in the bottom two-fifths of the income scale. In the lowest fifth ? where families make less than $20,180 ? homeownership was only 42.4 percent in 2005, which was 3 percentage points less than it was 25 years earlier and 26 percentage points below the national average.

Part of the reason is the structure of government subsidies, which are worth very little to low-income families but quite a bit to families with big incomes. Those well-off families typically do not need government support to buy a home but use it to buy bigger places than they would otherwise purchase.

The mortgage interest deduction alone is worth about $21,000 to a taxpayer in the highest bracket of income with a $1 million mortgage. But for a typical family that bought, say, a $220,000 house with 20 percent down, the break is worth about $1,600.

Some economists question whether the government should be subsidizing homeownership in the first place.

Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard, said he could understand government ?giving a slight push to increase homeownership, but the current incentives are much more than a slight push.?

Economic studies do suggest that homeowners try to maintain the value of their properties ? tending to their gardens and investing in their communities. But it is not clear that homeownership itself fosters these behaviors; it could be that people who invest in their communities prefer to own their own homes.

Homeownership also has a more problematic side: it locks people into an asset and ties them to a place. ?Too much homeownership might restrict mobility, and that may not be a good thing,? Professor Gyourko said.

Take Adam Gardner, a 29-year-old appraiser who bought a three-bedroom, two-bath house 20 miles north of Reno, Nev., for about $255,000 two years ago. His wife is pining to move closer to town, but with housing prices falling all around him, Mr. Gardner doubts they can pull it off. ?I?m not sure we can sell the place we are in,? Mr. Gardner said.

Some people can bear tying up much of their wealth in a house ? those with a secure, well-paid job in a stable labor market, for instance. But others might need more freedom to move: the young in pursuit of love or careers, say, or workers in declining job markets.

The American dream of homeownership may continue to grow over coming decades, if only because the population is aging and older people are more likely to own their own home. But for now, even industry insiders acknowledge that, at the very least, it is going to take a breather.

Ted J. Grose, a mortgage broker in Los Angeles, said, ?For the moment we may have plateaued.? For all the concerns about low-income families facing foreclosure, some economists believe that the development of the subprime credit market has, over all, been a boon for people with low income.

Harvey S. Rosen, a professor of economics at Princeton who was a former economic adviser to President Bush, put it this way: ?Ultimately the public policy choice is going to be whether to make it harder for people to get these loans, and just shut people out, or let people make the choice and know that sometimes they will make mistakes.?


Stephen Labaton contributed reporting from Washington.


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Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Posted on: 2007/3/19 4:38
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Re: I.M. Pei in Jersey City
#86
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Quote:

bdlaw wrote:
Quote:

injcsince81 wrote:

Isn't Liberty State Park in Jersey City?

Isn't it 1,100 acres of green?



I don't think that the state park, a flat meadow of grass, is where the building we are discussing will be built.

Not trying to bust your balls or start a fight but the reference I was making was to IBM's headquarters in Armonk, NY, designed by Pei, which is beautifully integrated into the surrounding forest and hills. I probably should have made some clearer references and / or linked to some pics.


Well, there's always the open terraces that will be integrated into the rooftops of the Koolhaas building.

Best future sign at 111 First - NO DOG FRISBEE ALLOWED!

Posted on: 2007/3/5 22:48
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Re: Rem Koolhaas to design 111 First
#87
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Jersey City hopes image will rise with proposed Koolhaas tower


By JANET FRANKSTON LORIN
Associated Press Writer

March 4, 2007, 7:12 PM EST

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- With its prime location across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan, Jersey City has been drawing new residents and businesses for years with its stunning views of the New York skyline and cheaper rents.

But now New Jersey's second largest city is commanding something more than a quick commute to Manhattan: the cachet of an avant-garde 52-story condominium and hotel tower to anchor an arts district, designed by internationally acclaimed architect Rem Koolhaas.

He announced plans last week for a 1.2 million-square-foot building with an unusual design: three rectangular slabs stacked perpendicular to each other. City officials have called it a 600-foot-tall piece of art.

The new building will replace a brick 130-year-old former tobacco factory, now being demolished. Developers with the Athena Group and BLDG Management Co., both of New York, said its 300 condominium units are expected to have a price range of $500,000 to $1 million.

Like many cities around the world, Jersey City is trying to use architecture to upgrade its image, said Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for the New Yorker magazine.

"Architecture is increasingly one of those bootstraps that cities use to bootstrap themselves up a couple of notches," he said. "It shows that Jersey City has reached a new level and it makes sense to do something like this today."

Robert Ivy, editor-in-chief of the Architectural Record, agreed.

"Developers and cities are realizing that architects have the power to draw attention, international attention, to their location. That was true in Milwaukee, and in Bilbao, and it's going to be true in Jersey City," he said, referring to Santiago Calatrava's Milwaukee Art Museum and Frank Gehry's design for the Guggenheim Museum in Spain.

In other words, design can change perception, he said. Imaginative or poetic buildings change the entire perceived personality of a city.

"I have no way of knowing whether Koolhaas' building can do that, but really great buildings can do that," he said.

Koolhaas' $400 million building at 111 First St., to be complete in three or four years, will add to Jersey City's emerging real estate portfolio.

The city already has a sleek and elegant new office tower designed by Cesar Pelli for Goldman Sachs, the tallest building in New Jersey. Goldberger described it a 2004 New Yorker magazine critique as "the anchor of a new city, a kind of Shanghai on the Hudson, that has sprung up over the past decade on what was once industrial land."

In addition, the city has approved plans for a second Goldman Sachs tower, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, but it won't be built until the first tower is filled, said Jersey City's planning director Robert Cotter.

Another established brand in real estate, Donald Trump, has attached his name to two condo towers, expected to sell $1 million apartments.

The Koolhaas tower will put Jersey City on the world map for other reasons, said Hilary Ballon, a professor of architectural history at Columbia University.

"People will want to see a Koolhaas building," she said. "It's not that he's just a famous architect. It's what his work stands for."

The Dutch architect, a winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architectural Prize, has also designed the Prada store in New York, the Casa da Musica concert hall in Porto, Portugal, and the China Central Television Headquarters, under construction in Beijing.

He said in an interview with The Associated Press that he wants the Jersey City building, with its mix of uses, to inspire social interaction, life and energy. In addition to condos and a hotel, it will include artist lofts and studios, gallery and retail space, as well as several levels of public space.

"We are creating something slightly more memorable and slightly more energetic," he said. "What New Jersey lacks is some visible evidence of a new beginning."

That new beginning began creeping across the Hudson two decades ago with the Newport, a 600-acre project by the New York development family LeFrak, which has more of a suburban feel and includes its own PATH stop as well as office space, housing and a shopping mall.

The more urban Koolhaas building wouldn't have been possible 20 years ago, said Michael Beyard, a senior fellow with the Urban Land Institute, a Washington-based think tank that promotes responsible development.

He said the building will raise the value and importance of Jersey City's location.

"As the value is added, as the area becomes more acceptable as a destination for residential, office and retailing, the value of the property continues to rise," he said.

More is likely to follow, Ivy said. He said Koolhaas' name alone will draw attention.

"Let's say the intellectual investment will attract scrutiny and perhaps attract others to join the party," he said.

Cotter, the planning director, said the Pelli building was a crucial piece of the city's waterfront development, but the Koolhaas project is a step beyond, a breakthrough for Jersey City.

"We will now have a building that people will come just to see," he said.


Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

Posted on: 2007/3/5 6:32
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Re: Whitlock Cordage Interrupted?
#88
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Thanks again for the update, Parkman.

It is great to see the continued development of JC ..... especially in its interior.

Posted on: 2007/2/26 16:41
 Top 


Re: So much for all of you folks who predicted a JC/NYC RE Crash
#89
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


Link from New York's Sixth:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/arti ... ey_city_an_interview.html


The Development of Jersey City: An Interview with James H. Hughes, Ph. D, Dean of Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

By Justin Woods

(Woods) Considering the history of Jersey City development, overall what are the major trends and or changes it has seen in recent years?

(Hughes) "Going back 100 years ago Jersey City was known for manufacturing, rail yards, and it's distribution centers."

"During the 50's and 60's they disappeared."

Jersey City has gone through a post economy in the past 25 years

- very high paying jobs
- there is more office space in Jersey City then there is in downtown Pittsburgh Penn.

{ Basic trend for J.C}
New office buildings
Will continue residential developments
The planning of residential developments will continue

Note: Jersey City has an overbuilt office market

(Woods) Historically why did New York City grow but Jersey City did not?

(Hughes) - It grew in different ways, it's an accident in history.
- The Dutch settled in Manhattan.
- During the earlier settlement, Manhattan was just easier to get to when traveling by water.

(Woods) Is the development in Jersey City speeding up? Do you think it's going too fast?

(Hughes) "Office development is slowing by itself, I don't think any of it's going too fast."

- new high rise
- new sites
- seeing in field development, vacant lots
- not only the waterfront

(Woods) Can Jersey City ever be the next New York? And why?

(Hughes) "Nothing can compare to New York."
- New York has so much wealth,
- Large office space

Jersey City is always going to dwarfed by New York City."

(Woods) What do you think attracts developers like Donald Trump to Jersey City?

(Hughes) "Housing prices have gotten so high in New York City."

The things that attract developers....

- Are the lower cost
- Jersey City has great views of Manhattan

"Jersey City has geography going for it."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007 ? Associated Content, All rights reserved.
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Posted on: 2007/2/22 0:30
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Re: So much for all of you folks who predicted a JC/NYC RE Crash
#90
Just can't stay away
Just can't stay away


JC rents have undergone considerable price inflation in the last five to ten years. As its profile continues to expand, it will only become a more and more desirable place to live. I actually think that the thousands of units coming on line in the next few years will only serve to further enhance its standing and push rents further north. Thinking otherwise suggests that the amount people who will want to live here will remain static or at least not increase as quickly as the new units come online. Long term, I don't think this is likely, as we will see more and more people move into the city, eschewing living in NYC for the hot new "borough". This market is unlike any in the country and JC is simply filling the land void. As nuts as current prices seem (in town), they aren't close to what you'll pay in Brooklyn/Manhattan.

I just don't see how Jersey City will avoid becoming another Brooklyn from a price standpoint (rent or buy) in another five to ten years.

Posted on: 2007/2/21 15:18
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