This site is currently a surface parking lot taking up the entire block between Hudson St, Sussex St, Greene St, and Morris St.
Plans call for a “56-story mixed-use tower containing 1,017 dwelling units, 37,185 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail, 25,561 sq. ft. of retail on the second floor, new parking garage with 387 new parking spaces and tenant amenity space.”
637ft is a bit of a disappointment for this site. This was probably Jersey City’s most realistic supertall prospect if I’m remembering correctly. For years the planning department had it slated for a 95 story building.
Definitely disappointing height. But if 99 Hudson was chopped because of the FAA, wouldn’t it have happened here as well?
I’m just very happy there’s a substantial retail component. As more people move into the area, these office buildings are opening more of the ground floor office spaces and turning them into retail use.
I just looked at the zoning. A 95-story building isn’t allowed by the zoning on either of the sites. At 55 Hudson the height limit is 675’ (Block 14505 Lot 1), and at 50 Hudson the limit is 500’ (Block 14502 Lot 13).
This is probably going back to 2015 or so. Covid probably ended any big plans like that. Obviously a variance would have been sought. If Goldman Sachs was the party concerned its unlikely the city would have denied it.
Great find! Thanks! Unfortunately they would’ve needed a rezoning passed by the City Council (variances for more than 10% increase in height aren’t allowed in Redevelopment Plans). Looks like, for whatever reason, their negotiations with the mayor and council fell through. That article says they wanted to do an office/commercial building at that time. It’s a lot easier to convince the council to upzone for an office building than for residential (what the current plan calls for). Probably they decided the office market wasn’t strong enough. So when they switched to a residential building plan, they decided they couldn’t get a rezoning and went with a plan that respected the existing zoning height limits instead. Would’ve been cool though!
In the map below, the only sites with no height limits are Zones 1, 10, and 12.
Zone 10 is the 808 Pavonia site; those buildings will be 55 floors max. Zone 12 is the 30 Journal Square site; that one will be less than 72 floors.
Zone 1 includes 1 Journal Square, Journal Squared, and 501 Summit, which max out at 64, 72, and 53 floors, respectively. Only sites with more than 60,000 square feet in Zone 1 really have potential to go taller. The only site left that’s big enough is the Port Authority’s land. Unless and until the Port Authority plans to redevelop those lands, a tower taller than Journal Squared II is unlikely.
Or one of the approved sites in Zone 10 or 12 could come back for a revision with a taller design, which is also unlikely.
I find it interesting (and not surprising) that a bunch of new proposals from these developers all adhere to the zoning requirements because they do not want to trigger the IZO. It’s unfortunate. The extra height they could have gotten!
I was listening in on the Embankment hearing on Wednesday and it’s the same case there. The developers are nixing the proposal for a smaller one just to not trigger the IZO.
Also, >60,000sqft of retail is planned under 55. That is a lot. They must have a major tenant already signed or something to be confident with that much retail. It’s a great location though for it! Near PATH, ferry, light rail, and with 2000 more units the area will be fairly busy with locals.
Agreed - that’s a lot of retail space. This area is becoming highly residential and a lot of the empty retail spaces are slowly being leased out to restaurants, etc. Maman, sweetgreen, Bluestone Lane comes to mind. The retail is divided between the ground floor and the third floor though…I wonder how that works out.
Incredibly basic design with bonus unsightly PTACs adorning the facade. Oh well. Guess going beyond a glass box would have required too much money being paid to the architects.
PTACs, sadly. Though in one rendering they had enough sense to not have them pointing out at the waterfront. So they know they are unsightly and accounted for that. No clue if those units will use HVAC or just have ptacs on the north-south windows.
