Page 16 - RENJ May 2021 Issue 53

14 MAY 2021
ON THE RISE
KRE Group unveils next phase of landmark project,
as momentum builds in historic Jersey City neighborhood
Jonathan Kushner thinks back to the original thesis behind Journal Squared, his family’s
pioneering development project in Jersey City. They believed the site,
business model for us in New Jersey and Hudson County,” said Kushner, the president of Kushner Real Estate Group. “What is amazing is that, even during the pandemic, when people are not commuting to New York five days a week, we still have enormous demand here. That speaks volumes about the neighborhood. People want to be here not just for the train — people want to be here because this is a great community.”
That demand has translated into a crush of leasing activity at Journal Squared, where KRE Group and
its partner, National Real Estate Advisors, recently unveiled the second of three towers at Pavonia and Summit avenues. Through early May, only about six weeks after
the launch of leasing at phase two, renters had snapped up more than
200 of the building’s 704 apartments.
It all points to continued momentum for Journal Square, a historic neighborhood that once served as Jersey City’s commercial and cultural epicenter and where a long-awaited revival is now coming into view. Seemingly undeterred by the COVID crisis, developers have started construction or obtained approvals for some 13,000 additional units in the area, part of a growing list of ambitious projects that will coincide with new place-making initiatives by city officials.
“One thing you’ve seen through the pandemic is that Jersey City has outperformed, relative to
New York City, in a lot of ways,” said Jeremy Kaplan, KRE’s chief operating officer, “because you get
a lot of the fully amenitized, luxury buildings and
you have all of
the street-level
By Joshua Burd
Jonathan Kushner
AT 68 STORIES, PHASE TWO IS THE TALLEST
of what will be three towers at Journal Squared. But the development has been a distinctive part of the Jersey City skyline ever since the arrival of phase one, which delivered 538 units in 2017 and was fully leased in just 10 months.
The newest tower has only expanded the offerings that helped fuel the project’s initial success, adding
some 70,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space to the complex, including a full-floor fitness center. That brings the total to nearly 100,000 square feet, all of which
is available to residents of either existing building and future residents of the third building.
“It’s really the mother of the entire project,” Kushner said of the second tower.
Phase two also features pieces by local artists, while highlighting Journal Square’s legacy of culture and business. To that end, a design team led by HWKN Architects and Handel Architects has adorned the amenity spaces with items such as
a vintage printing press from the Jersey Journal, the neighborhood’s namesake, along with historic photos of the area.
“It’s a new era for Journal Square, but we really wanted to give homage to the history of the place and the rich cultural background of the place,” said Marc Kushner, KRE Group’s chief design officer.
Admittedly, the pandemic was both
apartments to residents at roughly half the price of what they’d find across the Hudson River.
That strategy is alive and well and, if anything, has only been reinforced over the past year.
“We continue to think that it’s a great
located atop a major transit hub, would feed off the New York City economy while providing more than 1,800 new, upscale
experiences you want ... but it’s not as dense
as New York.
So people have been drawn to Jersey City.”
Jeremy Kaplan
Kushner Real Estate Group has opened the second of three towers at its Journal Squared project in Jersey City, bringing another 704 luxury apartments to a site that will ultimately include 1,838 units and 36,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. The development has led the transformation and ongoing revitalization of Journal Square, the onetime commercial and cultural hub of Jersey City.
Courtesy: Qualls Benson