Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer 03/07/2006
Number 77 Hudson St. will soon be another new destination on the Jersey City waterfront. The address once designated for a 32-story office building instead will be occupied by a 48-story, 901-unit luxury twin-tower building.
The Planning Board approved the building for construction at a meeting on Feb. 7.
One tower will contain approximately 420 condominium units with 420 parking spaces and 10,914 square feet of retail space. The tower will be built by nationally known homebuilders K. Hovnanian Companies of Edison.
The other tower will contain 481 rental units with the same number of parking spaces and 10,181 square feet of retail space. That tower will be built by EQR-Urban Renewal of Vienna, Va.
All parking spaces will be in a garage.
The building is being considered for a 20-year tax abatement by the City Council, with the final approval to be granted at their next meeting this Wednesday.
At 500 feet, the building will be the second-largest building on the block - after 30 Hudson St., the state's tallest building at 791 feet.
Construction is expected to start in late spring or early summer this year, with K. Hovnanian and EQR building simultaneously.
Growing up six years later
In April 2000, the Jersey City Planning Board approved a 32-story office tower with 646 parking spaces for 77 Hudson St. The developers were to have been Secaucus-based commercial real estate developers Hartz Mountain Industries, also owners of the property.
But a Hartz Mountain representative said recently that the office market boom that occurred in the late 1990s in Jersey City began to slow down by 2003, and the decision was made not to go ahead with building a new office space.
Architectural renderings of 77 Hudson St. show that entrances for the building will be on Hudson Street for the east tower and Greene Street for the west tower, with the parking garage entrance on Sussex Street.
Doug Fenichel, spokesperson for K. Hovnanian, commented last week on the uniqueness of the project for the firm.
"It's certainly our first skyscraper, so we are very excited," Fenichel said. "Usually we are known for our portfolio of single-family homes, but this project shows our diversity in urban building."
Fenichel did not give details of how much K. Hovnanian's part of the project will cost and could not give the prices because those amounts, as well as the square footage for the condos, are still being determined. K. Hovnanian plans to build 42 studio, 232 one-bedroom, 110 two-bedroom, and 36 three-bedroom condos.
Using the pricing figures of the condos at the near-completed K. Hovnanian at Exchange Place in Paulus Hook, one-bedroom condos could average $450,000 and up, while two-bedroom units could go for at least $650,000.
K. Hovnanian was also the developer of the Droyers Point community, located on Kellogg Street near Route 440.
EQR did not return a call for comment. They are planning to construct 113 studio, 238 one-bedroom and 130 two-bedroom apartments.
EQR is the developer of several luxury apartment complexes in Downtown Jersey City, including Portside Towers on Washington Street, Hudson Pointe on Dudley Street, and The Pier.
Based on their other Jersey City developments, pricing for the EQR apartments could range from $1,775 for a studio apartment at Portside Towers to $6,000 for a three-bedroom, also at Portside.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at
rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.
. Per the pictures above it not just a proposal anymore.
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