Journal Square Towers gets one step closer...

[Case]

"It will be sited on a bluff high above Jersey City's downtown, with Manhattan and Hudson River views from each unit."

Sounds like they have this in mind:




New Buildings to Dance in the Wind
By Bill Christensen

posted: 22 May 2007 12:00 pm ET

A series of rotating buildings based on Dynamic Architecture will be built around the world, starting in Dubai, U.A.E. The Dynamic Architecture concept was introduced by Florentine architect David Fisher.

The rotating buildings [VIDEO ] get their electrical power from wind turbines that are placed between floors and which rotate freely with the wind. Additional power is provided from solar cells on the tops of the individual floors.

Each individual floor is able to rotate slowly, based on commands issued by the owners of condos or apartments on that floor. I assume that the building owners can also take control, for coordinated movements of the floors. Note that the rotation of the floors is slow and uses power - the rotation of the floors does not produce power.

The building is constructed around a central core; each floor is composed of individual pie-like sections that are pre-built and hoisted up the central core (see illustration). The builder claims that rotating buildings can be constructed by just ninety people on the construction site; compare this to the typical skyscraper construction site, which may have up to 2,000 workers at a time.

Construction dates for the first building have not yet been announced, but the first one will be built in Dubai. Pre-fabricated units for the tower will be produced in a facility set up in Jebel Ali (a port 35 kilometers southwest of Dubai). The same units will then be shipped to eleven other major cities, including Moscow, Milan, New York and Tokyo, where similar towers will rise.

[Soshin]

call me kooky, but this following spoonfed statement is physically impossible, no?

"It will be sited on a bluff high above Jersey City's downtown, with Manhattan and Hudson River views from each unit."

No, not impossible. But they won't be great, panoramic views. If you angle the building properly, you can get at least a partial view of Manhattan/the Hudson from three faces, so as long as there are no apartments with windows only on the west-facing side, then all apartments will have "Manhattan and Hudson River Views," no matter how partial those views are.

Even on the lower floors?  It's gonna be hard to see over the concrete carbunkle...eh...sorry I mean PATH station.   

[Bobblehead]

call me kooky, but this following spoonfed statement is physically impossible, no?

"It will be sited on a bluff high above Jersey City's downtown, with Manhattan and Hudson River views from each unit."

No, not impossible. But they won't be great, panoramic views. If you angle the building properly, you can get at least a partial view of Manhattan/the Hudson from three faces, so as long as there are no apartments with windows only on the west-facing side, then all apartments will have "Manhattan and Hudson River Views," no matter how partial those views are.

[Kindelan]

Take me to the bluff. I want to see this motherfucker.

[NON]

call me kooky, but this following spoonfed statement is physically impossible, no?

"It will be sited on a bluff high above Jersey City's downtown, with Manhattan and Hudson River views from each unit."

[Kindelan]

Here is a picture of the newly designed Journal Square towers. Looks pretty cool.  Enjoy!


http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g245/jcwalkingman/?action=view&current=renderingofproject-1.jpg

GEE WIZ That sure does look cool! Gee willikers thanks for taking time out of your day to post this on here.

You sicken me.

[Bobblehead]

Here is a picture of the newly designed Journal Square towers. Looks pretty cool.  Enjoy!


http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g245/jcwalkingman/?action=view&current=renderingofproject-1.jpg

Holy crap. "Gee, let's jam in every possible ("upscale") retail tennant at street level, and build some green space ON TOP of that, so only OUR tennants can enjoy it."

I would think developers of the tallest building in New Jersey could give back a little to the neighborhood for stealing all their sunlight.

Oh, wait, there will be a Starbucks.  Never mind.

[MCA™]

Article from developer rag The Real Deal:


Bargain prices, new development stir interest in Jersey City's Journal Square
Harwood Properties building tallest towers in Jersey City
By John Celock

Jersey City is beginning to look inward. As the city sometimes called "New York's Sixth Borough" grows, it is expanding westward from its waterfront. As part of this trend, developers are turning their eyes to Journal Square, a historic neighborhood located three PATH stops from Manhattan. A hub for the city's burgeoning Indian American community, Journal Square is filled with small shops and low-rise buildings -- but two planned residential towers will set a height record not only for the city, but for New Jersey overall.

A middle-income area of the city -- named for the Jersey Journal newspaper, which has been headquartered there since 1912 -- Journal Square has also been attracting growing commercial interest, as demand for Class B office space for back-office operations rises.

In the past, Journal Square had not seen the same boom as the city's waterfront, which is dotted with luxury condo and office towers, or downtown, which has attracted new shops and cafes as well as residents. However, with prices going up on the waterfront, and land running out, Journal Square, historically a retail and commercial center, is generating more interest.

"There are a lot of people looking for close proximity and larger spaces for less money," Lynda Lee, a sales associate with DJK Residential, said. She noted that she has been doing more work in Jersey City as young professionals look for lower prices than those they find in Manhattan. "It's 11 minutes from the city, and for a lot of New Yorkers, it feels like they never left Manhattan," Lee said.

"They are running out of property on the waterfront," added Lowell Harwood, managing partner of Harwood Properties, which is developing the new complex. "The cost is higher on the waterfront."

Harwood Properties is planning a two-tower, 1,500-unit residential complex, with 150,000 square feet of retail space, slated to start construction in the first quarter of next year. According to Harwood, the project will consist of a 60-story and 40-story tower on top of a seven-story parking deck. The 60-story tower will stand taller than the Trump Organization's much-heralded condominium project in the Powerhouse Arts District along the Hudson River.

Currently, Journal Square is a relative bargain as existing condos run approximately $300 a square foot, while Jersey City's waterfront has been selling at roughly $500 a square foot for new construction. Manhattan condo prices, by contrast, ran nearly $1,350 a square foot in the third quarter, according to numbers from Miller Samuel appraisers.

One-bedroom rents in new construction on the Jersey City waterfront average $1,600 a month. Harwood has not yet announced whether units in the new complex will be for rent or for sale.

Yeon Benkovitz, a real estate agent with American Homes Realty, said that she is seeing more clients willing to look at Journal Square. She said the demographic that had been looking at the waterfront five years ago has been turning its head toward Journal Square in recent months. This includes young professionals, young married couples and suburban empty nesters.

Harwood identified all of these groups as key demographics he hopes to lure to his project. He also said that transit options played a key role in his selection of the site, along with the historic aspects of Journal Square. The neighborhood has long been known as Jersey City's transit hub, with a PATH Station providing service to both Lower Manhattan and Midtown, along with a New Jersey Transit bus depot providing service to the rest of northern New Jersey.

The project will sit across the street from the PATH station and steps from the bus depot. It will be sited on a bluff high above Jersey City's downtown, with Manhattan and Hudson River views from each unit.

Harwood plans to start demolition on the project in January, with groundbreaking slated for March. Completion is scheduled for the summer of 2010. Building amenities will include a fitness center, residential courtyard, rooftop pool, child care and a playground -- amenities that are lacking in many of the existing buildings in the neighborhood.

Architect Bruce Becker of Becker and Becker Associates, the designer of the Octagon on Roosevelt Island, said the design will incorporate the existing historic elements of the neighborhood such as the Loew's Jersey City Theatre. That approach is similar to what the firm did with the Octagon, where it incorporated historic elements from an old mental hospital into a modern luxury building.

Plans for the complex's retail component include recruiting an upscale grocery store, a Starbucks, a bank and several restaurants. There have also been recent talks about bringing a Staples to the area. There are currently no large bookstores and upscale grocery stores in Jersey City, though there have been unconfirmed reports that Whole Foods will be opening a store in the Jersey City waterfront district.

Harwood said that while service retail, such as banks and dry cleaners, will be brought into the new complex, he does not want it to be a main aspect of the site.

On the commercial front, the financial services clearing operation Pershing LLC has been a longtime presence in Journal Square. The square had been a commercial center since the newspaper moved there in 1912, but fell behind the 1990s boom when new Class A office buildings sprouted along the waterfront. In recent years, six Class B buildings have been constructed and rehabbed, and are being marketed for the back offices of financial services companies.

Jonathan Merrill of Time Equities said the square's reputation as a mass transit center, along with the new development interest in the square, contributed to the area being a destination for some office space.

Merrill said that while Journal Square remains in demand, it is lagging behind the burgeoning waterfront commercial space because of the lack of Class A buildings and the fact that waterfront properties are closer to Manhattan.

So even as new development comes into the square and more buyers show interest, the question is whether Journal Square will take off like the downtown and waterfront neighborhoods or remain an afterthought.

"Clients do not come looking for Journal Square; they come looking for downtown," said Lauro Arantes, an agent at Weichert Realtors. "I've shown them Journal Square when they are priced out of downtown."

[elgoodo]

I heard that there's a Whole Foods coming to Journal Square.

[bdlaw]

But they're gonna have a GAP!

A GAP!

[NON]

Here is a picture of the newly designed Journal Square towers. Looks pretty cool.  Enjoy!


http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g245/jcwalkingman/?action=view&current=renderingofproject-1.jpg

UGH! NOOOOOOOOOO MOOOOOOOOOOORE BOXES!

i was totally excited about the first design, largely because the towers were sleek and curved and a sort of response to the hideosity down the hill that is Newport box-town.

And of course, design 2.0 is straight out of the Lefrak playbook.

UGH.

[10Huron]

Here is a picture of the newly designed Journal Square towers. Looks pretty cool.  Enjoy!


http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g245/jcwalkingman/?action=view&current=renderingofproject-1.jpg

[bdlaw]

I have a semi-related question.

Why are we always starting demolition in the middle of winter when the ground is firmer and thus in theory shock waves travel further and affect the surrounding buildings more?

[MCA™]

Final OK for Journal Square plan
by Ken Thorbourne
Thursday October 04, 2007, 5:18 PM

The two-tower development planned for the old Hotel on the Square block in Journal Square has received final site plan approval from the Jersey City Planning Board.

In a 7-0 vote on Tuesday, the board gave the half a billion dollar mixed-use project a unanimous thumbs up.

"The new buildings are quite impressive, very stylish," Leon Yost, the board's vice chairman, said today. "These are going to be icons for Jersey City."

The 1,500-unit project is to consist of a 7-story base with retail and parking, and two residential towers rising from the base -- a 58-story north tower and a 38-story south tower. Construction is scheduled to start in the spring.

The development team is comprised of three entities: The Multi-Employer Property Trust based in Bethesda, Md., a national real estate equity fund that invests union pension funds; Harwood Properties based in Jersey City; and the Fairfield, Conn.- headquartered Becker + Becker, an architecture, planning, preservation and development firm.

With $6.2 billion in assets, MEPT is expected to self-finance most of the construction.

"When pension funds start investing in your town, you know you're on solid ground," said Planning Director Robert D. Cotter. "They have deep pockets and need guaranteed return over the long haul. They are looking for sure things."

[MCA™]

Update from the JJ:


Building in Square will start in April, builders tell city

Friday, September 14, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Demolition and site work for the two-tower development slated for the heart of Journal Square will begin in January, the project's builder told a roomful of Jersey City department heads yesterday.

Actual construction on the foundation and the seven-story base is scheduled to begin next spring, said Bruce Becker, president of Fairfield, Conn.-based Becker + Becker, an architecture, planning, preservation and development firm that has a 12.5 percent stake in the development.

Some of the buildings at the site have been demolished, while others still have tenants operating businesses.

Becker revealed the latest timetable for the $500 million mixed-used development planned for the block adjacent to the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center at a meeting of city officials called by Housing, Economic, Development and Commerce Acting Director Robert Antonicello.

It is the second such gathering for a group Antonicello has dubbed the Smart Development Interdepartmental Team (SDIT), which will be responsible for coordinating and tracking development projects in the city. Yesterday's meeting was roughly 40 percent presentation by Becker, 60 percent brainstorming session.

Along the way, Becker revealed the project was reconfigured from two more or less equal-sized towers to a development that will now feature a north tower rising 58 floors above the seven-story base and a south tower that will add 38 stories to the base.

The redesign makes the project more profitable by taking better advantage of views of the city and upping the number of studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom rental units from 1,200 to 1,500, he said.

The seven-story base will contain five levels of parking and three levels of retail, both components having one level below grade, Becker said.

A terrace level on the seventh floor will feature a swimming pool, fitness center, and courtyard terrace, he said.

The seven-story base and north tower will be built first and the market will drive when the south tower gets built, Becker said.

The plan goes before the Planning Board on Sept. 25 for site plan approval.

[NON]

Holy crap, 36 million for an acre and a half?!   

that's including legal fees yo.

[bdlaw]

Holy crap, 36 million for an acre and a half?!   

[MCA™]

From the JJ:


New investors for Journal Square development
by Ken Thorbourne
Friday August 24, 2007, 5:56 PM

The Jersey City-based company designated over a year ago to develop a key block in Journal Square is now a minority owner in the mixed-use, $400 million project.

At a meeting of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency earlier this month, representatives of the partners said that Harwood Properties, headquartered in Journal Square, now has a 22 percent stake in the development.

The majority owner is the deep-pocketed Multi-Employer Property, based in Bethesda, Md., a national real estate equity fund that invests union pension funds. That company has a 66 percent interest in the project, representatives said.

MEPT has already invested $36.2 million, according to its Web site, mostly to help purchase the 1.5 acre site adjacent to the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center.

With $6.2 billion in assets, MEPT is expected to self-finance most of the construction, giving the project the advantage of eschewing conventional financing from banks, city officials said.

The third partner in the development is Becker + Becker, an architecture, planning, preservation and development firm based in Fairfield, Conn., which has a 12 percent stake in the development.

According to representatives of the companies, Becker + Becker has worked with MEPT on several projects, most notably "The Octagon," a 500-apartment renovation on New York City's Roosevelt Island.

Lowell Harwood, managing partner of Harwood Properties, said the reconfigured development team is a sign of confidence in the project.

"They came to Jersey City and they like what they saw and they are doing what should have been done in Journal Square many years ago," said Harwood, whose company has mostly built and owned parking lots.

The Journal Square project, which started out conceptually as two equal-sized towers, is due to return to the Planning Board Sept. 25 for preliminary site plan approval.

As currently conceived, the north tower, to be built first, would be 62 stories -- 55 stories of residential units sitting on a 7-story base consisting of parking and 150,000 square feet of retail, city officials said. The number of stories for the south tower would be in the "low 40s," the officials said.

Overall, the project could contain as many as 1,500 residential units, officials said.
The city is still in talks to try to relocate a McDonald's, a dentist's office, and a card store located at 15-16 Journal Square.

By the end of the year, the entire 1.5 acre site will be leveled so the expected two-year construction period can begin, officials said.

[MCA™]

From the JJ:


Plan for Square towers revised
Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The twin-tower development proposed for Jersey City's Journal Square is changing shape.

Originally proposed as two towers of more-or-less equal size, the latest design for of the mixed-use development to be built on the block adjacent to the Journal Square Transportation Center calls for a south tower between 35 and 40 stories and a north tower stretching 55 to 65 stories, according to the developer.

The City Council is scheduled to introduce the change at its meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the Mary McLeod Bethune Center, 140 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

"Both towers have been designed to maximize views and unit layout," said Liz Opacity, spokeswoman for MEPT Journal Square Urban Renewal, LLC, the developer. "And the height difference is for aesthetics when you are looking at the towers."

Lowell Harwood, managing partner of Jersey City-based Harwood Properties - a partner in the limited liability company formed to undertake the development - said Monday the design change was made at the request of his development partner, Washington D.C.-based Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT), a national real estate equity fund.

MEPT referred all questions to Opacity.

Even though there is no change in the 1.2 million gross square footage of the development, Planning Director Bob Cotter said the design change would likely add more units to the projects, a number originally pegged at 1,034.

But, Opacity said, the developers are "still assessing the market and working on architectural drawings to determine the number and layout of units."

The $400 million development, to include multiple levels of parking and retail, is still considered a rental project, Opacity said, but "the feasibility of the condominiums will continue to be explored."

Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Antonicello predicted existing structures on the entire block would be leveled by the end of the year so construction can begin.

McDonald's, at 15-16 Journal Square, still hasn't relocated.

KEN THORBOURNE

[PhillyGirl]

And you have to admit, from the outside the Beacon looks like Arkham Asylum.

I dunno, if I get committed (which is not an entirely remote possibility) I'd be pretty psyched for those views!

[bdlaw]

you say that as if it's a bad thing?

I prefer Wayne Manor.

http://www.thewaynemanor.com/aboutus.html

[Mr_Grieves]

1 bedrooms in the new bldg. across from Rite Aid are going for about $1500 - the one I looked at was completely ordinary.  And there are virtually no amenities there.  And parking costs an arm and a leg.

When I read how much a one bedroom was going for, I nearly snarfed my coffee.  But, NON is right.  The Square has so much potential because of how completely derelict it's been for a while now.  If Harwood succeeds in building both these towers with all of the necessary amenities to make the  former citizens of Newport comfy, than I think  in time, those prices will seem within reason.  Right now however,that vision is  a little clouded by having to walk by the half a dozen vagrants who hang out by the handicap ramp and throw up by the dunkin donut's dumpster.

[NON]

Not knocking the hill, the view, or the heights in the slightest.  I was referring to Cyclo's pointE that it looks like Grove PointE's brother and sister.  I was envisioning a shining Grove PointE upon the hill.

oh, i think cyclo was referencing the state apartments in JSQ, which do have a grove pointEy "bricktorian" flair to them. at least they can use the excuse that they had to work in a pretty defined plot.

i think the JSQ towers as rendered below look pretty cool myself.

And you have to admit, from the outside the Beacon looks like Arkham Asylum.

you say that as if it's a bad thing?

[bdlaw]

Not knocking the hill, the view, or the heights in the slightest.  I was referring to Cyclo's pointE that it looks like Grove PointE's brother and sister.  I was envisioning a shining Grove PointE upon the hill.

And you have to admit, from the outside the Beacon looks like Arkham Asylum.

[NON]

I dunno.  At least Grove PointE isn't on top of the hill for all to see...

what is your thing against hills - first The Beacon, now these buildings in JSQ? The views from up on the hill are pretty damn spectacular (park your car on the top of the JSQ garage roofdeck for an idea of how cool the views from these building will be).

were you dropped from atop a hill at some small age? left on the side of a mountain like an unwanted spartan female infant?