99 Provost St. in Jersey City — Courtesy: Grid Real Estate
By Joshua Burd
Three restaurants are expanding in Jersey City with a series of newly announced leases by Grid Real Estate, the brokerage firm with longstanding ties to Hudson County.
According to the team, the deals include a 5,421-square-foot commitment at 121 Newark Ave. by Alessio’s Café. Grid’s Bobby Antonicello Jr., Chris Vitiello and Gregory Edgell arranged the lease, noting that the popular Italian café operator will occupy the former Roman Nose space for a regional family office with significant holdings in the city.
The brokers, meantime, represented Brookfield Properties and G&S Investors in a lease with Modcup Coffee, which will occupy 1,843 square feet at 99 Provost St. It’s one of two new deals by the local roaster, which has also taken 1,100 square feet in Jersey City’s Bergen-Lafayette section, where Grid represented the Weingarten Group and the Jasco Cos.
“Anchored by a 35-kg Loring, our new downtown roastery café gives us at Modcup the ability to compete with the world’s best roasters while staying deeply rooted in Jersey City, the place that shaped us,” said Travis Clifton, founder of Modcup Coffee. “This is about building world-class infrastructure without losing the soul, values or community that got us here.”
In the Journal Square neighborhood, Grid brokered a 2,100-square-foot lease by Wonder Bagels at 626 Newark Ave. The chain will occupy space adjacent to the new Honorable Frank J. Guarini Justice Complex, designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects.
The brokerage team noted that the deals bring established food and beverage operators to high-traffic locations in the downtown and Journal Square, continuing the firm’s longstanding work on behalf of the city’s landlords and developers.
“At Grid, brokerage is not just plugging vacancy for our clients, it’s about digging deeper and finding tenants that will evolve the neighborhood and at the same time pay top dollar,” Edgell said. “We take the art of placemaking very seriously as our roots go back decades in Jersey City and we want to see it to continue to grow.”
