The Journal at 36 Journal Square Plaza in Jersey City — All images courtesy: Kushner
By Joshua Burd
Call it a big bet on Journal Square — or just conviction in a rising market.
Both can be true, according to Michael Sommer. Look no further than The Journal, the landmark new residential development in Jersey City, where Kushner has brought more than 1,700 luxury rentals online in less than a year as part of an orderly yet ambitious delivery schedule.
The firm’s confidence is being rewarded.
“It’s played out remarkably well,” said Sommer, Kushner’s chief development officer, noting the two-tower project is already 50 percent leased. That includes the 966-unit north tower that is filling up quickly after hitting the market last summer, as well as the 757-unit south tower that opened in mid-January and is also leasing well.
The Journal, a $1 billion project that is more than a decade in the making, hit the impressive milestone earlier this week. That’s no small feat but perhaps not surprising for a property that sits directly south of the Journal Square PATH station and has the feel of a high-end hotel, providing condo-level finishes, sweeping views and an exhaustive set of amenities behind its gleaming glass exterior.
The Kushner team said as much this week during a ribbon-cutting ceremony that drew dozens of colleagues, project partners and other well-wishers to the 64-story towers at 36 Journal Square Plaza. Also on hand was New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek, an appearance aimed at highlighting the NBA regulation-size basketball court that creates the ultimate wow factor for The Journal.
“We tried very hard to create a product that didn’t exist in the market,” said Nicole Kushner Meyer, Kushner’s president. “So we have people who are moving because their needs are different, and then I think we have people that are entering this market because … the commute and accessibility to New York City haven’t changed, but the quality of the product has changed.”
She also pointed to the 40,000-square-foot Target store that’s set to open inside The Journal’s ground-floor retail space, providing a vital service to residents and the community at large, as well as the new public plaza along John F. Kennedy Boulevard that has enlivened the area around the transit hub.
“I think, for us, this project is not just about building a building. It was really about reshaping Journal Square and the way the community interacted with the PATH and the plaza,” Meyer said, pointing to the new daily flow of commuters that pass through the beautified, landscaped area.
“Everything has just been a breath of fresh air.”
The response to The Journal has matched not only the scale of the project but the anticipation of its 2022 groundbreaking. The Woods Baggot-designed property had been in the works since 2014 but was delayed for years, thanks in part to litigation over a tax abatement that city officials denied in 2017, but the lawsuit was settled in fall 2020, allowing development to move ahead.
The property welcomed its first residents in late June, and renters have continued to respond in force. Kushner, with The Marketing Directors as its leasing team, has filled 77 percent of the first building. The south tower, meantime, has secured more than 100 leases and continues to draw steady interest from prospects seeking east-facing views, specific floorplans and other features that may no longer be available in the earlier phase.
SLIDESHOW: Inside The Journal
Both are on strong footing following Kushner’s phased approach to construction, which began with the podium that supports both buildings. That gave way to the north tower, which the firm topped out in spring 2024 while also starting on phase two.
“Frankly, it was a bet on ourselves and a bet on Journal Square, in that we knew the demand would be there in order to justify and finance the construction of the south tower,” Sommer said, later adding: “The market is really reacting well to both towers at the same time.”
The Journal’s 40,000 square feet of amenity space has been a differentiator. That begins with the basketball court, Meyer said, noting that residents quickly started an intrabuilding league. But it’s also just one piece of the property’s vast health and wellness offerings, which also include a 75-foot-long indoor lap pool, an outdoor pool, saunas, a climbing wall, a squash court and an expansive fitness center with sweeping skyline views.
Residents, meantime, have access to social spaces like a sports lounge, a screening room, bowling lanes and multiple outdoor terraces with seating, grills and firepits. Other areas include coworking spaces, a podcasting studio and a virtual golf simulator, among many others that complement its wide selection of upscale apartments.
“When you’re renting, you don’t want it to feel temporary,” Meyer said, referring to the homes’ ultra-luxury finishes. “You want to feel like you’re living there forever, and we are enabling someone to grow from a studio to a three-bedroom here.”
And while the project follows thousands of other units that have come online in Journal Square in recent years, it marks the single-largest infusion of inventory to date and a new anchor for the resurgent neighborhood.
To that end, Sommer called back to a declaration he made at the project’s groundbreaking.
“I can say it with even more conviction today — this is the center of gravity in Journal Square,” he said. “We are literally on top of the PATH station, and while there are plenty of other projects in and around the square that have done very well and continue to, this was really the one that I think the entire market was waiting for.
“It has catalyzed additional interest in the square, it has catalyzed additional development in the square, and the good news is that we’re doing incredibly well, but there are plenty of other buildings that are also doing incredibly well.”
