JERSEY CITY | 2995 Kennedy Blvd. | ? FT | 51 FLOORS

No proposal for this site yet, and the White Castle must remain for at least 3 years, but zoning allows up to 47 floors if the site is developed with a mix of commercial and residential with inclusionary zoning.

An investor has acquired the site of a White Castle in Jersey City with the potential to bring a new mixed-use development to the property, in a deal arranged by EXP Realty.

According to the brokerage firm’s Minni Chalana, MNG Capital Inc. paid $13 million for the 23,025-square-foot building and the accompanying land at 2995 Kennedy Blvd. The deal in the Journal Square neighborhood came as part of a sale-leaseback with White Castle System Inc., she said, noting that the restaurant will remain for another three years on a triple-net basis.

During that time, the New York-based developer will look to gain approvals to build a luxury high-rise consisting of hotel, apartment and retail uses with amenities and perhaps parking.

Chalana added that “the vision for the development is still unclear,” though the property is located in a zone that calls for active and intensive use of parcels surrounding the Journal Square Transportation Center. The transit hub is a short walk away, providing easy access to rail and bus service, while it’s located in the city’s historic commercial district.

“It will most likely result in a luxury building with a combination of the Zone 3 permitted uses,” Chalana said, including hotels, residential, retail, live/work units, restaurants and structured parking. “They are interviewing architects to design the plans and not in a rush to develop as White Castle maintains a sale-leaseback for the next three years.”

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Will any new development include a White Castle :european_castle: restaurant in the ground floor?

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This one also has a rendering from Manchanda Group, listed at 51 stories and 400 units.

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This the final design?

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It’s the rendering currently on the developer’s website, so I suppose it’s “official”. Per apophenic’s first post, the White Castle will remain until at least early 2028. Also the rendering specifies 51 floors but per the post the zoning only allows 47 stories. Also also of all the projects on the developer’s website, they’ve only built one taller than three floors (the one being 166 Van Reipen at 13 floors, which actually does look quite similar to the renderings they posted all the way back in 2022) so the jump up to 47/51 floors would be quite a jump.

I guess all of this leads me to speculate that there will probably be quite a few design changes, but never say never!

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Fingers crossed White Castle reopens in ground floor :hamburger: :crossed_fingers:

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After my original post, a 4-story parking bonus was enacted for this site. 51 stories is almost certainly the height.

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What is the parking bonus?

4 floor bonus for having some parking. I think 2 about 2 of the added floors end up being parking, and 2 end up being housing.

Applies to the D and E corners on this map. It is why we are seeing 3000 JFK, Bergen Arches Plaza and 96 Cottage St go to 50-51 floors as well, and why Imperial Tower was able to go to 55 (47 floors + 4 floor parking bonus + 4 floor variance).

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