The most exciting culturally anchored, transit-based, mixed-use community in Hoboken’s hottest market is yours to call home.
Immediately adjacent the 9th Street/Congress Street NJ Transit Light Rail Station and the core of Hoboken’s bourgeoning Northwest sub-market; Monroe Center is a luxury mixed-use development project with 435 condominiums, 125,000 square feet of retail, 1,120 parking spaces and the internationally renowned Monroe Center for the Arts. Monroe Center offers city living with a softer edge™. Features include stunning views of NYC, an emphasis on the arts, ample open space, rooftop gardens, a sense of community, and the charm of Hoboken.
ABOUT TO BREAK GROUND � The developers of the Monroe Center believe that their artist friendly and transit-accessible project will attract area home buyers.
Monroe Center Development, LLC is ready to break ground on Jan. 27 on a high-rise condominium tower at 800 Monroe St.
This will ultimately be part of a 435-unit development on a 5.5-acre site just steps from the Ninth Street stop of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail.
Not only is this one of the largest projects in the city, it is also one of the most ambitious. Just a decade ago the city's west side was filled with blighted and underutilized properties. But with Hoboken's real estate boom, and the western alignment of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, the conditions were right for construction.
The developers hope to create a mixed use transit village, with condos, restaurants and shopping, while supporting and bolstering the local artist community.
Nuts and bolts
When completed, the Monroe Center project, which will be built between Seventh and Ninth streets on Monroe and Jackson streets, will include four high-rise residential buildings of between 10 and 13 stories, with ground floor retail, commercial arts space, and mezzanine space. The residential component will be built in several phases.
On Jan. 27, the developers are scheduled to break ground on the 123 unit tower at 800 Monroe St. This building will take between 16 and 18 months to complete, said the developers.
In addition, two former industrial buildings at 700 Monroe St. which house the Monroe Center for the Arts' office and loft spaces, theaters and galleries, are being completely renovated.
The total project also will include be 125,000 square feet of retail space.
Dil Hoda, the managing partner of the development team, added that he is looking forward to finally starting construction. "When we started out, many people this property was really far out on the west side of the city," Hoda said. "But now it's an area that is blossoming."
Artists and small businesses
Already underway is the renovation of the interior of the existing Monroe Center for the Arts at 720 Monroe St. Since opening in 1990, the converted Levelor Blinds Factory has maintained an eclectic mixture of businesses that now include ad agencies, interior designers, cake bakers, architects, toy makers, dance instructors, and yoga studios.
Over the years, the Monroe Center has gained the reputation for attracting some of the city's best artists and most innovative small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Currently, 95 percent of the 110,000 square feet of office space located within the center is being leased by 70 artists and 130 small businesses.
Hoda said that featuring the artists will helps everyone involved. "[The condo owners] will have full access to all of these services. Imagine being able to walk next door to take lessons from a Julliard-trained musician, or take a pottery or dance class. But the artists also benefit because they have a new customer base just steps way," Hoda said.
The new construction of the project will also include seven new artist work and live loft spaces, a two-screen independent movie theater, and a public open area with outdoor performance space.
An 'urban transit village'
Another selling point, said Hoda, is the project's location. Hoda said that because of the property's proximity to the light rail, this project will be a good example of the "smart growth" principle of a "transit friendly community."
A transit village is a state-promoted planning initiative to redevelop and revitalize communities around transit facilities, making them appealing choices for people to live in, while lessening their reliance on cars.
More than required parking
In Hoboken, parking is always an issue, and this is one of the few projects that will provide more parking spaces than the zoning requires. When fully built out, the project will have 1,120 garage parking spaces to complement the surrounding off-street parking.
Park space
According to the developers, outdoor areas at Monroe Center will include one large plaza with stylistic fountains, seating decks and a "hammock park." Each new building at the community will also feature rooftop gardens. "Monroe Center's appeal as a destination will be enhanced by its substantial outdoor public areas," points out Gerard Saddel, a partner of Monroe Center Development, LLC. "A series of public parks and a plaza will be scattered throughout the entire development."
According to the developers, condominiums will run between $450,000 and $1.5 million, and they expect to have a Web site and sales office open in the next month or so.