The company behind a three-phase development that would add residences, retail, amenities, and greenery to an emerging neighborhood near the Hackensack River in Jersey City has officially submitted an application to move forward with an initial portion.
Plans first emerged last summer looking to revitalize a group of properties near Route 440 in Jersey City, which includes parcels along Water Street, Mallory Avenue, and Culver Avenue. The plots total about 8.29 acres and are owned by Brooklyn-based Bushburg Properties.
Portions of the land will be home to an extension of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail system, an endeavor currently under construction. 3,700 new feet of elevated trackage and a new rail station at the city’s Bayfront project are included in the expansion, a reality that will be worked into Bushburg’s sky-high redevelopment.
Dubbed West Side Crossing, the entire project includes 3,079 residential units and has been designed by Hoboken-based Marchetto Higgins Stieve. Bushburg recently released renderings of the complex and have already submitted plans for the first phase that looks to subdivide the parcels and realign several rights-of-way regarding the Light Rail extension.
Bushburg describes West Side Crossing as a “highly amenitized community with 360-degree views of the West Side and Newark Bay.” The four-tower project is envisioned to include “community-serving amenities including grocery, co-working spaces, and health and fitness outlets.”
Plans submitted for phase one outline a 30-story tower consisting of 473 units and 344 garage parking spaces. 256 spaces for bicycles are included in the first portion, as is 11,600-square feet of ground-floor retail space plus a 4,600-square foot linear park.
The second phase of West Side Crossing would be the largest, consisting of two connected towers rising 55 floors and 39 stories. A total of 1,567 units, 1,118 parking spaces, and 910 bike spaces would be included in this phase plus a whopping 109,310-square feet of leasable retail space.
Phase two would also see the construction of a 20,836-square foot park underneath the future light rail trackage plus another 16,875-square feet of open space that would surround the elevated expansion.
The third phase is slated to feature a final 56-story tower containing another 1,039 residential units, 529 parking spaces, 529 bicycle spaces, and 7,000-square feet of retail. The last portion of the work would add 30,672-square feet of park area underneath the light rail tracks, completing a 119,769-square foot public linear park spanning the complex.
A presentation given before the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) last June stated that West Side Crossing’s current proposal would dedicate about 50% of the land to the future light rail and open space. Bushburg’s application says that their four-tower vision can be built as-of-right, as no deviations are required from the area’s Culver Redevelopment Plan thanks to open space bonus provisions.
Bushburg submitted an initial application to the city last January before the company’s presentation to the JCRA. The planning board still needs to sign off on the proposal, but a date to hear the company’s application has not been announced.
