JERSEY CITY | Project Rundown - Under Construction, Approved, Proposed, and Renovated

[Lecom]

"New York's Sixth"... Hell, JC is more of a New York borough than Staten Island, both in location and in spirit.

[macmini]

Two 48-story buildings a go

Planning Board demands dog run for phase II of Columbus Towers

Ricardo Kaulessar -- Hudson Reporter -- 08/03/2007

The Jersey City Planning Board approved the second phase of 50 Columbus Drive at their meeting on July 24. While the first phase, a 35-story tower, is near completion, the second phase will include two 48-story towers and a hotel.

The project, also known as Columbus Towers, is located on a long stretch of Christopher Columbus Drive between Marin Boulevard and Warren Street, in the Exchange Place area.

The site is being developed by PKG Associates, a company operated by local attorney and builder Joseph Panepinto in partnership with Hoboken-based Applied Companies.

Upon completion, 50 Columbus Drive's three towers will house 942 rental units, a 144-room hotel, 1120 parking spaces, and over 12,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

The first phase of the project, a 35-story tower with 392 units and 804 parking spaces, is near completion. Rentals are scheduled to start this month.

The second phase will be two 48-story towers with a total of 550 units, the hotel, retail and 316 parking spaces.

The board voted unanimously (7-0) to allow the rest of the project to go forward, but added some conditions, including creating access to the nearby Marin Boulevard entrance to the PATH and ensuring a dog run is built at the 50 Columbus site.

Where's the dog run?

At the meeting, several representatives for the project made a presentation of the 50 Columbus preliminary site plan to the Planning Board.

A preliminary site plan is used for new construction and additions located on land zoned for commercial and residential use. Any project built in a redevelopment area, as is the case with 50 Columbus Drive (in Exchange Place North), usually gets first approval and later comes back in front of the board for final approval.

After the presentation, the board approved the project with six conditions that have to be met by the developers.

Among them was putting in a dog run.

Board Commissioner Roseanne Petruzelli pointed out there was no place within the site plan for a dog run. Board Chairman Michael Ryan said there is supposed to be at least one dog run on the premises.

At the meeting, the developers' attorney Nevis McCann claimed 50 Columbus will be "pet friendly," when asked whether or not pets will be allowed.

But McCann said there was no room for dog run.

"The dogs will have to walk the streets like everyone else," he said. And another of the developers' attorneys, Francis Schiller, said a surface parking lot designed for the second phase of the project would be built in the location where the dog run was to be placed.

But the developers' representatives later agreed they will look for space on the site for a dog run.

Also, the board insisted upon an entrance from the lobby of the hotel that will allow guests and residents of 50 Columbus to gain easier access to the Exchange Place PATH station.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

[macmini]

24 YEARS IN THE MAKING

Saturday, July 28, 2007By LYSA CHEN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

More than 20 years after the original plans were drawn, Jersey City's massive Liberty Harbor is ready to become a reality.

The first residents of the Jersey City's newest Downtown neighborhood are expected to move in by the end of the summer, bringing to an end the first phase of a development that first went before the city planning board as Liberty Harbor North in 1983.

"We're literally weeks away from human beings living, socializing and participating in life at Liberty Harbor," said Peter Mocco, the project's developer. "People are going to be moving in, going to restaurants, going to retail stores and taking advantage of our waterfront."

Jeffery Zak, project manager and developer, said 700 units of housing and approximately 20,000 square feet of retail are nearly complete, and 80 percent of the condos offered for sale since October 2006 have already been sold. Now developers are just waiting for a few finishing touches on the project's first phase of construction before residents can move in, Zak said.

"All finished surfaces, streetscapes, bluestone sidewalks and decorative pavings are being installed at this moment, so the project visually is really coming to life," he said.

The 80-acre Liberty Harbor - which will take a total of about 15 to 20 more years to fully complete - was heralded in the 1980s as a cross between New York's Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side. It was also hyped as the project that would lead the way in the redevelopment of the Downtown area.

Liberty Harbor is bordered by the Morris Canal to the south, Marin Boulevard to the east, Grand Street to the north and Jersey Avenue to the west. Different versions of the plan had been under discussion for 20 years before it finally came together in 2003. The original plan called for the project to cover 3,000 acres.

Leon Yost, a member of the Jersey City planning board, said it is rewarding to see the project finally come to fruition.

"It's been excruciatingly long," he said. "There have been plenty of people who said it wouldn't happen, and it's happening."

Bill Bromirski, a member of the planning board throughout the project's early stages, agreed.

"The project has overcome a lot of adversity," he said.

Bromirski, who sat on the board for more than 30 years, said he was involved in many of the city's redevelopment projects that are just now starting to sprout up.

"It took a while for them to catch on, but they're going to be here for a long time after we're gone," Bromirski said. "I'm very proud of everything I did."

Liberty Harbor, in particular, is something to be proud of, Mocco said, describing it as the "most unique project in the country right now."

Mocco said the city is focusing on the look of the project, which currently has more than 18 different architects designing buildings and drafting plans. The goal is to create "really nice neighborhoods and livable streets," he said.

Bromirski said he has noticed the project's attention to detail during his walks past the construction area.

"Each building is not uniform, so everything is extra special," he said.
Half of the first phase's housing units are rentals which will range in price from $1,500 to $3,000 per month, Zak said. The other half are condos ranging from $275,000 to $600,000, he said.

board, will add 1,000 residential units and 80,000 square feet of retail, Zak said. Construction will begin next year, he said.
Reply With Quote

[macmini]

Plan for Square towers revised
Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The twin-tower development proposed for Jersey City's Journal Square is changing shape.

Originally proposed as two towers of more-or-less equal size, the latest design for of the mixed-use development to be built on the block adjacent to the Journal Square Transportation Center calls for a south tower between 35 and 40 stories and a north tower stretching 55 to 65 stories, according to the developer.

The City Council is scheduled to introduce the change at its meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the Mary McLeod Bethune Center, 140 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

"Both towers have been designed to maximize views and unit layout," said Liz Opacity, spokeswoman for MEPT Journal Square Urban Renewal, LLC, the developer. "And the height difference is for aesthetics when you are looking at the towers."

Lowell Harwood, managing partner of Jersey City-based Harwood Properties - a partner in the limited liability company formed to undertake the development - said Monday the design change was made at the request of his development partner, Washington D.C.-based Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT), a national real estate equity fund.

MEPT referred all questions to Opacity.

Even though there is no change in the 1.2 million gross square footage of the development, Planning Director Bob Cotter said the design change would likely add more units to the projects, a number originally pegged at 1,034.

But, Opacity said, the developers are "still assessing the market and working on architectural drawings to determine the number and layout of units."

The $400 million development, to include multiple levels of parking and retail, is still considered a rental project, Opacity said, but "the feasibility of the condominiums will continue to be explored."

Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Antonicello predicted existing structures on the entire block would be leveled by the end of the year so construction can begin.

McDonald's, at 15-16 Journal Square, still hasn't relocated.

KEN THORBOURNE

[macmini]

New Condo Complex Sets City Record for Penthouse Sales
Published: August 13, 2007

By Kelly Sheehan, Online News Editor

Jersey City, N.J.—K. Hovnanian Homes has sold two penthouse condominiums to one buyer for $6 million. The units are part of 77 Hudson, a new condo complex located in Jersey City, N.J.

The sale sets a new record price for a penthouse sold in the city. The penthouses, on floors 48 and 49, total 4,188 square feet.

Designed by New York-based architect firm Cetra/Ruddy, the community is currently under construction and is slated for completion in May 2009. Upon completion, it will feature 420 condos.

Units are priced from the $500,000s to $3 million, and they will include floor-to-ceiling windows as well as washers and dryers. About three-quarters of the residences will feature views of Manhattan’s skyline.

The community will feature a glass curtain wall façade, and will feature amenities such as a roof deck, dog park, pool, fitness center, café, lobby with art gallery, community lounge, game room, private dining room, screening room, virtual golf area, business center, barbeque area, hot tub, jogging path, massage room, yoga and Pilates studio, sauna and steam rooms, and party room. Residents will also have access to concierge services, state-of-the-art security systems, Wi-Fi in public areas and grocery delivery services.

[macmini]

Lehman Brothers Expands on Jersey City Waterfront

Financial Services Firm Increases Occupancy at 101 Hudson to 270,000 SF
Global financial services firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has renewed and expanded at Mack-Cali's 101 Hudson St. office tower in Jersey City, NJ.

The firm is extended a deal for 8,741 square feet for seven years and inked a 62,763-square-foot expansion, which runs through January 2018. The new lease increases its total occupancy in the 1.25 million-square-foot building to more than 270,000 square feet.

Robert Alexander, Michael Geoghegan and Andrew Sussman of CB Richard Ellis New York handled the deal for Lehman Brothers. Christopher DeLorenzo and Thomas Savoca represented Mack-Cali in-house.

The distinctive 42-story high-rise was constructed in 1992 on an entire city block on the Jersey City waterfront. Other tenants in the building include National Union Fire Insurance Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co., according to CoStar information.

Mack-Cali acquired the property in 2005 for $329 million.

[macmini]

http://www.therealdeal.net/breaking_...1187390042.php


August 17, 4:40 pm
Penthouse condo sets Jersey City record

A $6 million penthouse purchase in a K. Hovanian tower has shattered the record for Jersey City's most expensive condo, tripling the city's previous record.

The buyer, whose name has not been released, purchased the penthouse units on the top two floors of a 48-story tower at 77 Hudson Street, Hovnanian announced today. Samuel L. Jackson reportedly set the previous record of $2.3 million for a penthouse in the Beacon that he bought in February.

The combined 77 Hudson Street units are 4,188 square feet. The two-tower glass-façade development, slated to open in May 2009, is rising a block from Goldman Sachs' Jersey City tower.

The buyer is a married Manhattan businessman with children, who liked the short commute from Jersey City and 77 Hudson's Manhattan-style design and views, said Eve McGrath, a Hovanian spokeswoman.

Hovanian has touted the project's location, a mile from Ground Zero, and its roof deck, party rooms, pools, dog parks, café and Fresh Direct room. A 14,200-square-foot indoor spa/fitness center features a yoga room, massage room, steam and sauna areas, screening room, game room and virtual golf.

These amenities are similar to the Trump Organization's two-tower project, just steps away in the Powerhouse Arts District. The Beacon, a mega-complex in the old Jersey City Medical Center, a less gentrified neighborhood, has promoted its resident-only parks, stores and shuttle buses.

After launching restricted sales two weeks ago, half of 77 Hudson's 100 released units have sold. Prices for the 420 condo units start in the upper $400,000s. Another tower has 480 rentals.

The development, designed by New York-based Cetra/Ruddy, is near the Exchange Place Path Station, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System and the New York Waterway Ferry.

Tom Graham, a project executive, has said the Paulus Hook neighborhood offers a mix of old brownstones and new waterfront towers. By John Celock Copyright © 2003-2005 The Real Deal

[macmini]

September 2007
Jersey City developers bet on Newark Avenue


Building boom moves inland, reaching final frontier of gentrification
By John Celock

Grove Pointe, a condo project on top of the Grove Street PATH Station, is the anchor of Newark Avenue's revival.

The gentrification of Jersey City is making its way to Newark Avenue, a corridor long described as the final frontier.

Home mostly to discount stores and factories, Newark Avenue was largely overlooked as developers and buyers focused instead on the waterfront neighborhood of Paulus Hook and other downtown areas. As Jersey City's building boom shifts inland, developers have begun to look at the corridor, sandwiched in between the family neighborhood of Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park, which draws a younger professional population.

Boosters say its time has arrived, though it's not a universally shared view.

"That is the next spot to take off," said Jonathan Schwartz, third-generation owner of Millennium Homes, which seeks to develop buildings along Newark Avenue, where at least 700 new residential units are planned.

This is a turnaround from just a few years ago when the area sat still, resting in the shadow of the new high-rises of the Powerhouse Arts District in the far western portion of Jersey City's downtown.

Grove Pointe, a 700,000-square-foot, 525-unit project being developed by SK Properties, is the anchor of Newark Avenue's revitalization and sits on top of the Grove Street PATH Station. The mostly rental two-tower building had units ready for occupancy at the end of July, with 90 percent of its 67 condos sold last summer. The building contains a total of 458 rental units, along with 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Condo prices range from $500,000 to $800,000.

Jonathan Kushner, a principal at Bridgewater-based SK Properties, said the building is mainly drawing young professionals from Manhattan, Brooklyn and suburban New Jersey. The Grove Street PATH Station serves both Midtown and Lower Manhattan, which is a five-minute ride away.

Ji Yoo, an agent with the Armagno Agency, said more young prospective buyers ask about Newark Avenue. She said apartments there run between $300,000 and $500,000 for one-bedrooms and $350,000 to $700,000 for two-bedrooms, some of which are renovated from their original construction. She said prices are in line with parts of downtown Jersey City.

Lauro Arantes, an agent with Weichert Realtors, is not as sanguine as Yoo. He said the area has promise, but few of his clients are looking there, preferring the established downtown neighborhoods and the new development in Liberty Harbor.

"It will take a while," Arantes said. "I have never had clients looking to move there. It is the ugliest part of downtown Jersey City. It is the last part of downtown to be revitalized."

Kushner said the company has been working with the city to redevelop the area surrounding the PATH Station, including a redesign of the station's entrance plaza, and the creation of a pedestrian walkway, which will be open to bus traffic only during rush hour


An avenue in transition

A walk down Newark Avenue finds vacant lots and discount stores dotting the south side of the street, while the north side has newer facades and retail stores. Bob Cotter, Jersey City planning director, said redeveloping the southern portion is a priority. He said the upper floors of many retail buildings and former warehouses could be converted into residential units.

Historically an Italian-American neighborhood, it started to slide 30 years ago as small neighborhood stores closed and many residents moved to the suburbs when crime rates climbed.

Development, particularly in the retail sector, is starting to reverse the trend, says Kushner.

"The city has devoted to making it a place for nightlife," he said. "Part of living in an urban center is coming here at night and walking. It is about having everything at your fingertips."

It's Greek to Me, a restaurant, recently opened across from an upscale art gallery. Two Vietnamese restaurants opened along with LITM, a combination restaurant, bar and art gallery. Two 99-cent stores and a cut-rate clothing store remain, but brokers and local residents have said there are fewer discount stores than a few years ago.

Grove Street, which runs south from the eastern end of Newark Avenue, now has several upscale restaurants, offering Cuban, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine. As retail space there fills up, Newark Avenue gets the overflow.

Arantes said he is currently working with a client looking at a corner space on Newark Avenue for a new restaurant. Rents have climbed to about $7,000 a month for retail storefronts, making the strip one of the most expensive markets in downtown Jersey City. He noted that the Starbucks planned for the ground floor of Grove Pointe has served as a beacon for new retailers.

"They know it will turn," Arantes said of his retail clients. "They want to be pioneers."

Treetop Development recently purchased a long vacant plot of land on the corner of Newark Avenue and Jersey Avenue, and plans to soon break ground on a 76-unit, two-building complex with 3,500 square feet of retail space.

Adam Mermelstein, a principal at Treetop, said marketing is aimed at buyers who are priced out of Manhattan and other parts of Jersey City. One-bedrooms will start at $375,000 and two-bedrooms will start at $495,000, with a projected completion date of September of 2008. These prices run slightly below new construction in more established parts of downtown Jersey City, where prices start in the low $400,000 range for one-bedrooms and around $600,000 for a two-bedroom.


A traffic twist

The New Jersey Turnpike serves as the western end of the corridor and development is taking hold in this area. The Matzel & Mumford Organization, a unit of homebuilder K. Hovanian, is starting sales on a building abutting the turnpike in the middle of August. The 54-unit midrise building is starting in the high $300,000 range. The turnpike has long been considered the dividing line between the gentrified downtown and the rest of Jersey City.

Newark Avenue will see more traffic under a plan by city officials to turn Christopher Columbus Drive into the city's new gateway. It runs parallel to Newark Avenue, into the city's new gateway. Planning director Cotter said the city has placed new signs on the turnpike directing downtown drivers onto Columbus Drive, which meets up with Newark Avenue in front of Grove Pointe. Columbus Drive is lined with warehouses and many of the buildings on the south side of Newark back up to Columbus. Realtors call increased traffic along Columbus a boon for the area.

"We are seeing big changes," Yoo said. "People are taking pride in Newark Avenue. There are new stores and restaurants opening up all the time."

http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/SE...1188596323.php

[macmini]

Towering inferno
Fire director: Standpipe 3 floors short of fire
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
BY MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The top floor of the unfinished highrise condominium building known as 77 Hudson on the Jersey City waterfront caught fire last night, setting off a spectacular blaze that sent yellow flames into the sky and was visible from Manhattan.

The K. Hovnanian condos on the top two floors of the building were recently purchased for a city record $6 million. The building, at Greene and Sussex streets, was projected to be 49 stories.

The blazing fire on the 17th and 18 floors popped and crackled and threw burning embers as firefighters sent jets of water onto the blaze. Emergency vehicles clogged the streets and Light Rail service was disrupted.

The building's standpipe only went up to the 14th floor and firefighters originally planned to fight the blaze from there, but the flames proved so intense they were ordered to pull back, said Fire Director Armando Roman.

Firefighters fought the blaze from the ground floor, with some directing their hoses from the top of ladders on fire trucks.

Residents on Greene Street, between Sussex and Grand streets, were evacuated because of the falling embers, Roman said. He said seven or eight families were affected and shelter was set up for them at School 16 on Sussex Street.

K. Hovnanian Homes opened 77 Hudson for VIP sales in August, with more than 300 appointments set for the initial sales release of condos. Approximately 50 percent of the 100 residences released were reported sold in August. An ad in The Jersey Journal's Weekend Urge last week listed studio apartments at the building as starting in the $400,000 range, with one-, two-, and three-bedroom condos ranging from the $500,000s to $2.75 million. Occupancy was slated for the summer of 2009.

The first alarm was at 8:48 p.m. and quickly accelerated into three alarms.

No injuries were reported. Several square blocks were closed off by police as spectators gathered.

Roman said the top floors were all wood forms. Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said: "It's worrisome because we should have learned from our mistakes," referring to Liberty Towers, which is one block away on Morris Street. That building also was the scene of a top-floor fire while it was under construction. That 2002 fire was on the 29th floor and the standpipe only went up to the 23rd floor.

[macmini]

FINAL APPROVAL
Planning Board gives go-ahead to Square skyscraper project
Friday, October 05, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The two-tower development planned for the old Hotel on the Square block in Journal Square has received final site plan approval from the Jersey City Planning Board.

In a 7-0 vote on Tuesday, the board gave the $500 million mixed-use project a unanimous thumbs up.

"The new buildings are quite impressive, very stylish," said Leon Yost, the board's vice chairman, yesterday. "These are going to be icons for Jersey City."

The 1,500-unit project is to consist of a seven-story base with retail and parking, and two residential towers rising from the base - a 58-story north tower and a 38-story south tower. Construction is scheduled to start in the spring.

The development team is comprised of three entities: The Multi-Employer Property Trust based in Bethesda, Md., a national real estate equity fund that invests union pension funds; Harwood Properties, based in Jersey City; and the Fairfield, Conn.-headquartered Becker + Becker, an architectural, planning, preservation and development firm.

With $6.2 billion in assets, MEPT is expected to self-finance most of the construction.

"When pension funds start investing in your town, you know you're on solid ground," said Planning Director Robert D. Cotter. "They have deep pockets and need guaranteed return over the long haul. They are looking for sure things."


The New Rendering

[Lecom]

Nice, such a development will really help Journal Square develop its own skyline, which now largely consists of only one, though a nice, old and a large, highrise complex.

[mello]

Holy Crap does anyone have renderings of what the Hoboken/Jersey City skylines will look like in a couple of years?

That would be awesome to see.

[macmini]

Holy Crap does anyone have renderings of what the Hoboken/Jersey City skylines will look like in a couple of years?

That would be awesome to see.

Some one made a rendering of what JC would look like in a couple of years but I have to find it again. Only difference in Hoboken is the W Hotel other then that it still looks the same.

New blog on JC Construction http://jcconstruction.blogspot.com/

Found a great photo on flickr taken by hammernet you can see progress on the condo side of 77 Hudson.

[njbeliever777]

I am so excited to see all the happenings in the near future. Jersey City is turning out to be like a real city. All these highrises that going up. I wouldnt be suprised by the 2010 census that Jersey City reaches 300,000

[vanman]

I was in Jersey City for the first time earlier this month. I was definitely impressed by all the new buildings and harbour as well as the much older,established dense neighborhoods. It looks like it would be a great place to live. I took a few pics.

[macmini]

City council OKs 100-acre development deal on west side

by Ken Thorbourne Thursday January 10, 2008, 12:59 PM


A rendering of a development project that was approved Wednesday night.

The Jersey City City Council has approved a tentative settlement with Morristown-based Honeywell International Inc. that promises to spur the development of thousands of housing units, plus commercial, retail, and open space on the city's west side.
The deal, negotiated over the course of a year by city officials, settles at least three lawsuits filed by the city against Honeywell and a counter-suit against the city filed by Honeywell, the successor company to Mutual Chemical, which polluted roughly 100 acres of land with chromium, a known carcinogen.

"I look forward to the west side of the city being developed," said Ward D Councilman Bill Gaughan, joining with colleagues Wednesday to unanimously approve the agreement. "This is a landmark project."

City President Mariano Vega called the deal, which still must be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the courts, a "historic settlement." The biggest initiative of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's administration, the deal would spur up to 8,000 units of housing, along with more than 1 million square feet of commercial and retail development. Twenty of the 100 acres would be open space.

Honeywell would be named the "master redeveloper" and charged with cleaning up the tainted sites and selling development rights.

The city, which owns 41 of the 100 acres, would reap 40 percent of the revenue from land sales. This amounts to $60 million to $150 million coming into city coffers over the 20-year period, city officials said. When fully built, the project will contribute $50 million a year to taxes, officials said.

Initial plans called for relocating the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and Department of Public Works to land owned by Edwin Seigel at the PJP landfill site. But Ward B Councilwoman Mary Spinello objected and the city is looking at alternative sites. Honeywell is chipping in $13 million toward relocation, officials said.

The Municipal Utilities Authority, also located on the tainted land, would remain on site, but it would be rebuilt to take up less space, officials said.

This deal also offers an immediate payoff for an administration trying to cope with this year's budget that ends June 30.

Honeywell has agreed to upfront payments of $15 million this year and $10 million next year, money that would come out of the city's 40 percent share on the land sales.

[macmini]

Photos from tbal on wired New York

77 Hudson
The condo side of the building continues to rise as the rental side loose floors after the fire.









Liberty Harbor Phase I
Phase I of the huge project is almost complete











Another midrise building with a concrete structure is rising at the end of a cluster of low-rise buildings close to the Jersey Ave Light Rail station:



Overview of the Phase II area





Liberty National Clubhouse
The clubhouse should open in 2008. While the club is private, the word is that there will be an upscale restaurant in the clubhouse, open to the public.

[njbeliever777]

wow. looking good. jersey city is really becoming a major hub. does anyone else have photos of trump tower. or any more news on supertall construction?

[macmini]

Originally Posted by njbeliever777

wow. looking good. jersey city is really becoming a major hub. does anyone else have photos of trump tower. or any more news on supertall construction?

For more pictures of the Trump Tower & and other Towers under construction in Jersey city you can go to. http://newyorkssixth.com/newyorkssix...log/index.html and http://jcconstruction.blogspot.com/



OK for 3 towers in arts district
Thursday, January 17, 2008
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City Planning Board last night gave its unanimous approval to the Toll Brothers plan to build three high-rise towers around the Manischewitz property in the Powerhouse Arts District, pleasing developers but disappointing artists and conservationists.

In voting 8-0 to recommend that the City Council approve an amendment to the Powerhouse Arts District Redevelopment Plan that would allow for building residential towers of 30, 35 and 40 stories, it determined the proposal is consistent with the Jersey City Master Plan.

"We worked very hard on the project and are obviously very pleased with the decision," said James C. McCann, attorney for Toll Brothers. "I think it will change the Powerhouse Arts District in a good way."

Toll Brothers is offering to build a 550-seat performing arts theater with gallery space and 25,000-square-foot Provost Square in return for allowing it to build 950 apartments in the three high-rise towers, and for the right to knock down two warehouses and all but the façade of the former Manischewitz plant. The builder could also be allowed to dedicate less housing to artist's live/work spaces.

The decision left around 70 members of Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association and other preservation groups which turned up at Middle School 4 on Bright Street last night disappointed but vowing to fight on.

"We have nothing against the plaza, but at what cost?" asked Jill Edelman, president of the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association, after the meeting. "We bought into a very specific plan, which we have seen succeed, and we are the beneficiaries of that success."

There was no public comment at the meeting, but a few shouted their objections to the Planning Board.

Toll Brothers and the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association made their opposing presentations at a five-hour meeting in November.

The neighborhood association did, however, win one small victory when the developer said he would reuse Provost Street cobblestones in the plaza - but not old railway tracks.

Under the proposal, Toll Brothers can market 10 percent of the housing to "working families" rather than artists for the first 180 days after the units are built. Half of those could be built off site. Just 12 units will comply with requirement for live-and-work loft space, and one of those will be dedicated to artists.

Robert Cotter, director of the Planning Department, spoke in favor of the plan, saying that it would create a vibrant theater and arts district.

[njbeliever777]

nice projects being approved. what do you think the population will be in 3-5 years?