Brookfield Properties and G&S Investors welcomed lenders, project partners and public officials on Tuesday to break ground on an 802-unit luxury apartment tower at 420 Marin Blvd., the latest phase of the sweeping redevelopment known as Hudson Exchange — Photo by Peter Dant/Courtesy: Brookfield
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture has broken ground on a high-rise that will add more than 800 apartments to downtown Jersey City, in the latest phase of a plan to transform a well-known retail property.
The 60-story tower, located at 420 Marin Blvd., will also provide a new home for the busy ShopRite that has long anchored what’s known as Metro Plaza, about a half-mile south of the Holland Tunnel. The structure is now set to rise in the coming months after its developers, Brookfield Properties and G&S Investors, welcomed their lenders, project partners and public officials on Tuesday to mark the start of the 1.3 million-square-foot complex.
“Jersey City is leading from the front in supporting development that balances the needs of new residents and the existing community,” said Robert Pears, a vice president at Brookfield. “We’re proud to build upon the success of the first phases of Hudson Exchange, which include two residential towers, both of which were fully leased in record time, demonstrating that demand for quality housing in Jersey City continues unabated.”
Designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, the new tower will rise just west of the two-building, 850-unit property on Warren Street known as VYV that kicked off the master-planned, 18-acre Hudson Exchange development. It’s also set to occupy what is now a surface parking lot for the Metro Plaza ShopRite, which will remain open during construction but will ultimately occupy 85,000 square feet at the base of the new building.
That will allow the grocer to not only expand by 20,000 square feet, but continue to serve the neighborhood after three decades.
“It might seem like a small thing for the people here visiting today — as we’re all proud of a new building coming up — but this ShopRite, this supermarket that fosters relationships and food access for thousands of people weekly is something that this community relies upon,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said. “It was probably the biggest concern that people had, with regard to what will happen to our access to a supermarket in this particular area.”
Fulop credited Abe Naparstek, a partner at G&S Investors, for navigating those concerns and a host of others in the complex project. Naparstek, for his part, noted that the redevelopment is more than a decade in the making but marks the evolution of a property that took shape 30 years ago, when company founders Gregg Wasser and Larry Traub “visited Jersey City and saw something in this site that almost no one else saw at that time.
“They believed they could attract national retailers to build in Jersey City in the middle of an industrial area with remnants of train tracks still running through the middle of it,” Naparstek said. “Greg and Larry were willing to invest because they believed in the promise of the waterfront views, the access to mass transit and the future growth of Jersey City.”
“In the end, that vision proved true. Their initial redevelopment to create Metro Plaza has been a tremendous success. Having millions of dollars in annual revenue and economic activity on this site, with the help of great tenants like ShopRite, has helped create an environment to foster additional investment.”
Residents of the 634-foot high-rise will have sweeping views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines, with upscale units and amenities such as a rooftop pool, a social lounge, a fitness center and a game room, according to a news release. All told, the property will have 115,000 square feet of retail space, including the new ShopRite, which will have internalized parking and loading facilities.
The site will also have more than 20,000 square feet of publicly accessible green space that includes a plaza to serve as the gateway to the planned Sixth Street Embankment, an elevated rail line that Jersey City is transforming into a public park.
“As third- and fourth-generation grocers, we take pride in listening to our customers to understand what they want and need from their neighborhood supermarket,” said Larry Inserra Jr., chairman and CEO at Inserra Supermarkets, the owner and operator of the Metro Plaza ShopRite. “This ShopRite location has supported the Jersey City community for three decades and we’re thrilled to be able to provide them, as well as our staff, with an exceptional experience at Hudson Exchange.”
At full build-out, Hudson Exchange is slated to encompass 6 million square feet of development including 5,500 residential units, the news release said. The existing 36-story buildings, VYV North and VYV South, house a combined 850 residential units, 20,000 square feet of retail and 450 parking spaces, along with a ground-level entry plaza and an eighth-floor amenity deck.
Lenders for the 802-unit second phase include Union Labor Life Insurance Co., Washington Capital and AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.
“The Hudson Exchange development illustrates how union labor can partner with a great development team to redevelop a complex urban project,” said Herbert Kolben, senior vice president at Union Labor Life Insurance Co., or Ullico. “We are honored to join Washington Capital and AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust in providing capital that will help bring this important project to fruition.”
