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Old Posted Jan 27, 2015, 3:18 PM
drumz0rz drumz0rz is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 623
With 99 Hudson St looking to break 950ft I wanted to spin off the conversation about Jersey City development in general.

Personally, I love the receptiveness the city has towards these tall towers, and the eagerness of developers to build. I hope the market remains to absorb all the new available space.

I see a few things that hold Jersey City back though.

First, is commercial development. Everything that's going up is residential. While there are a number of commercial towers dotting the waterfront, I think Jersey City really needs to up it's game and lure more business across the river. I know of a few companies with offices in JC that are considering moving back to NY.

Second is retail. Washington Boulevard is surrounded by slender towers with bunker parking garages around their base. Retail along the waterfront is sparse. The Newport Center mall isn't enough to anchor the area. Without many shops, restaurants, cafes, etc., there is no feeling of community or culture. It's just a stark grid of towers and nothing else. While I acknowledge it'll never be like say Hoboken, it would be really nice to see development in this regard.

Finally, and most importantly, transportation. Being right next to the Holland tunnel and I-78 is great. The light rail is also very useful to get around. My big beef is with the Port Authority and the PATH system. The PATH is the single most convenient and frustrating way to get across the river. When it runs, you can be whisked to Manhattan in minutes. Newport and Exchange Place provide quick and easy access to NY making it an attractive place for city workers to live. However the PATH doesn't always run. It seems like every day there are 'switch problems' or other 'service disruptions'. They even talked about suspending late night service all together. I think Jersey City's single biggest Achilles heal is the PATH. Until the PA can pull their heads out of each other's asses it's going to be hard to convince people that Jersey City is really worth their long-term investment.
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