Grand Jersey Group LLC plans to build 515 apartments across two interconnected towers off Monmouth Street in Jersey City, in a project that would also include rooftop amenities, office and retail space and structured parking for 720 vehicles. — Rendering by MHS Architecture/Courtesy: Grand Jersey Group LLC
By Joshua Burd
A developer is eyeing plans to build two new apartment towers with a combined 515 units under a project that would transform more than five acres near Jersey City Medical Center.
The firm, Grand Jersey Group LLC, is under contract to buy the property from the Jersey City Redevelopment Authority after the agency approved the sale late last month. That has set the stage for its redevelopment of the once-contaminated parcel, located between the New Jersey Turnpike extension and Monmouth Street, which would include new infrastructure.
The West Orange-based developer would excavate and cap the property to make way for 515 apartments across two interconnected buildings rising 26 and 25 stories, according to the firm. The project, designed by MHS Architecture, would also include rooftop amenities, more than 172,000 square feet of office space, 38,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and structured parking for 720 vehicles.
Grand Jersey Group is slated to close on its $30 million acquisition next month.
“Jersey City is showing leadership and foresight by approving Grand Jersey,” the development firm’s Vincent Garcia said. “An overlooked part of the city with no infrastructure will be transformed by the project. Grand Jersey will bring utilities, streets and sidewalks along with excavating and capping the property, kickstarting the redevelopment of the area. We look forward to moving forward after closing the deal.”
Published reports have described the site as being used for unpermitted landfilling operations until the mid-1980s, citing reports by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But Grand Jersey Group noted that the state Department of Environmental Protection recently removed the “landfill” designation, which it says was mistakenly placed on the property in 2012.
According to the developer, the change is significant because the JCRA completed a multimillion-dollar site remediation more than a decade ago that was under the strict supervision of both state and federal regulators.
As MHS noted in a recent presentation, the development is part of the city’s Grand Jersey Redevelopment Plan. The overall redevelopment site consists of 38.2 acres split among four distinct districts, including the roughly 2.26 acres of developable land that is now as-of-right for Grand Jersey Group’s proposal.
“The characteristics of the neighborhood area and site are opportunistic for this mixed-use development based on the proximity to major highways, employment centers and most importantly walking distance to public transportation,” MHS wrote in its presentation to the JCRA. “From an employment perspective the local professional office market contains approximately 8 million (square feet) of occupied office space within a one-mile radius and 156 million (square feet) within a 30-mile radius of the property.”
