A rendering of a new Inserra ShopRite at University Place and Route 440 in Jersey City — Courtesy: Crossroads Cos. LLC
By Joshua Burd
A development group is moving ahead with plans for a new ShopRite on the west side of Jersey City, as part of an ongoing plan to expand the campus of New Jersey City University.
Crossroads Cos. LLC, in partnership with The Hampshire Cos., expects to break ground next spring on the roughly 73,000-square-foot store at University Place and Route 440. Inserra Supermarkets Inc. will operate the business as part of its vast network of ShopRites, bringing a grocery store to what the developer says is an underserved section of the city.
“The new Inserra ShopRite store is expected to open in 2021 and will create over 200 full-time equivalent jobs with over 300 full- and part-time positions,” Crossroads, which is based in Mahwah, wrote in a description of the project. “In areas such as Jersey City, between (80 percent and 95 percent) of all employees are estimated to live within a one-mile radius of the supermarket and the project is estimated to provide 125 union construction jobs.”
The project is a key component of the master-planned, eight-building University Place project, which is being spearheaded by New Jersey City University. The school has partnered with private developers on a handful of projects that will add 1,000 market-rate apartments to western Jersey City while creating facilities such as a performing arts center, restaurants and open space.
The developers are building the ShopRite with the help of an $8.75 million incentive under the state’s now-expired Economic Redevelopment and Growth program, which provides grants after a project’s completion based on the incremental eligible taxes it generates.
Crossroads noted that the new supermarket will be built in a neighborhood area that is considered to be a food desert. The area is served by one supermarket square foot per person, well below the national average of 5.29 square feet per person.
Developers break ground on next phase of NJCU-led redevelopment in Jersey City
