A slew of properties about halfway down the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza are abuzz with construction as a pair of developments that will add two large storefronts and 68 new residences are underway.
Last month, work began to revitalize the former Sleep Cheap building at 155 Newark Street. The property once had plans to be converted into a cannabis dispensary during Jersey City’s great “marijuana rush” of 2022, but that proposal went up in smoke.
Jersey City’s Planning Board approved a new vision for the property last July and design firm Weckenmann Architecture recently posted to social media that underground work has begun at the site. The property, which spans 4,585 square feet, is slated to house to a mixed-use development that rises six stories.
The ground floor of the project includes 3,312 square feet of ground-floor retail space, with entrances on both Newark Avenue and Christopher Columbus Drive. While no parking for cars is included in the project, space for 16 bicycles will be featured in the basement.
The upper floors of the project will house a mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units, ranging from 475 to 902 square feet. The penthouse level will feature a 767-square-foot common roof deck fronting Newark Avenue, as well as an additional 282-square-foot private deck overlooking Christopher Columbus Drive.
“We are excited to offer a mindful approach to city living with the addition of this new construction, concrete building on Historic Newark Avenue in Jersey City,” co-owner Lauren Cimiluca tells Jersey Digs. “With something in mind for everyone, there will be an array of different units at different price points, meeting the needs of our growing community.”
155 Newark Avenue joins an even more ambitious development that has also begun work next door at the former Fabco Shoes building. That endeavor will see a 41-unit L-shaped development built that includes several lots along Barrow Street that have been vacant for many years.
Designed by Inglese Architecture and Engineering, the seven-story development at 157 Newark Avenue features stepbacks from Newark Avenue at the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors. Units at the future development will skew smaller, breaking down as 19 studios, 21 one-bedrooms, and one two-bedroom residence.
Several of the upper floor penthouse units will feature private outdoor spaces. On the street level, the future ground floor storefront at the development is slated to span 4,377 square feet and features entrances both along Newark Avenue and Barrow Street.
The development of these two properties will essentially “complete” this block of the pedestrian plaza, as the storefronts at the addresses have been notably vacant for a few years. No estimated timelines for completion have been released for either project.
